With the first performance of the Rosary Mass of Rathgeber's Opus VII in the Catholic pilgrimage church St. Kilian Oberelsbach on May 13 by the vocal and instrumental ensemble of the Training College for Music Bad Königshofen i.Gr. under the direction of Wolfram Bieber, the Valentin-Rathgeber-Society Oberelsbach took the veneration of Mary in the month May especially in account. Mary is also highly regarded by Rathgeber in numerous compositions. By the cooperation with the Training College for Music another hidden treasure of sacred music could be recovered  This Marian Mass is in a way special since Rathgeber treads another unusual harmonic way not typical for him. Moreover he used polytexture (the text is attributed to different voices at the same time) to set concisely  the text of the Ordinarium to music so that it won't be boring for the musicians and the audience alike.

P. Fidelis Ruppert from Münsterschwarzach was invited as celebrant and preacher: By celebrating mass he particularly emphasized his Benedictine relationship to the monk Valentin Rathgeber. His sermon especially underlines the love to music and to singing what was a major topic not only for the chuch fathers, but also for Rathgeber himself what is evident in his prefaces. He cited St. Augustine ("Who sings prays twice") who wanted to show the emotions and ardency of singing. In conclusion P. Fidelis sang the Easter Halleluja together with the congregation.

Besides the Rosary Mass several other works of Rathgeber have been performed for the first time: the Rosary Offertory of Opus XIV, some sets of the instrumental concertos of Opus VI and finally the Salve Regina of Opus XVI in which Rathgeber cited the choral melody. Rathgeber usually does not cite chorals. In that respect this setting of the Salve Regina claims a prominent place within the works of Rathgeber.

With this choice of compositions of Rathgeber, the organizers offered an ear candy to the congregation which will be available on CD soon. This anniversary CD celebrates not only the 325th Anniversary of Rathgeber, but also the 25th anniversary of the Training College for Music Bad Königshofen. We can only hope that this was not the only fruitful cooperation between the Valentin-Rathgeber-Society and the Training College for Music for this could enable synergies which could recover not only the musical heritage of the region but also delight a lot of music lovers.