"Obsculta, o fili, præcepta magistri, et inclina aurem cordis tui...
Listen carefully, my son, to your master's precepts, and incline the ear of your heart..."
The opening words from the rule of St. Benedict († 547) have inspired the Luxembourgish composer/pianist David Ianni to write a piece about the nature of silence. All music emerges from silence and leads back into silence. Only by listening with our hearts, can the essence of silence be heard and understood. The composing process naturally led to a quotation of the ancient Gregorian Chant "Ubi Caritas" ("where charity and love are, God is there"), a Chant that David already recorded with his friends, the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz (Austria) in 2011.
When David met the filmmaker Vitùc in late 2011, he knew that Vitùc had exactly the sensitivity, the passion and the skills to transpose the message of his music into visuals. In May of 2012, Vitùc and David visited the Abbey of Heiligenkreuz for a week. Inspired by the music, the beauty of the monastery and the friendliness of the monks, Vitùc composed a wonderful music clip that reveals some of the unutterable nature of silence and listening - the genesis of all true art.
Script, Camera & Post Production:
Vitùc
Music composed and performed by:
David Ianni
Recorded, edited and mixed by:
Rainer Oleak
Set Assistants:
Robert Grossklos
Fr. Kilian Müller OCist
SPECIAL THANKS:
STIFT HEILIGENKREUZ, AUSTRIA
Abbot Maximilian Heim OCist
Fr. Prior Simeon Wester OCist
Fr. Subprior Bernhard Vosicky OCist
Fr. Raynald Heffenmeyer OCist
Fr. Karl Wallner OCist
Fr. Johannes Paul Chavanne OCist
Fr. Raphael Statt OCist
Fr. Edmund Waldstein OCist
Fr. Kilian Müller OCist
Br. Cornelius Schwall OCist
Br. Moses Hamm OCist
Br. Matthias Schäferhoff OCist
Fr. Roman Nägele OCist
Fr. Nikodemus Betsch OCist
The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz
The Cistercian Monks of Kloster Stiepel
POTSDAM/BERLIN, GERMANY
Monika & Manfred Schulz-Fieguth
Rainer Oleak
LUXEMBOURG
Daniele & Costa Mirti-Tenace
Robert Grossklos
CMNord
Martina, Antonio, Raphael & Giulia
Mara, Ivan & Elena
davidianni.com
vimeo.com/vituc
stift-heiligenkreuz.at
kloster-stiepel.org
© Vitùc 2012
Music: © David Ianni 2012
You can find the German version of the press text here:
davidianni.tumblr.com/post/26688955576