A FESTIVAL OF MASSES
June 3, 4, 5, 2011
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
Program Notes by Sanford Dole
To conclude our 2010-2011 season we are taking a look at one of the primary genres in Western choral music, the Mass. We are presenting three examples of the Mass from different centuries and countries to illustrate the evolution of musical styles and language. It is amazing that the same texts could inspire such contrasting musical settings! Each of our composers―representing the Renaissance, Romantic and 20th-century/Modern periods―has molded the texts of the Mass to his own style, highlighting the meanings in a way that suited him and his era. To frame the Masses I’ve included two other liturgical works. The opening motet by Victoria introduces his Mass, and the final Benedictio concludes our survey on an upbeat, contemporary note.
Considered to be of crucial importance in the development of monophonic and polyphonic styles, unified settings of the five choral texts always heard in the Roman Catholic liturgy became a genre in their own right in the 15th century. These five texts―Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus-Benedictus, and Agnus Dei―belong to what is called the “Ordinary of the Mass.” They are heard in every service, whether sung (High or Solemn Mass) or spoken (Low Mass). This differentiates them from the “Propers,” those parts of the service that vary according to the day in the church calendar, including the Introit, Gradual, Offertory, and Communion. Settings of the Ordinary became one of the seminal forms in European art music and continue to capture the attention of composers of all nationalities working today.
Although Masses are intended to be sung as part of a church service, the genre quickly outgrew the confines of liturgy. Even by the late Renaissance and certainly in the Baroque era, Mass settings, such as J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and later the theatrical Requiem Masses of Berlioz and Verdi, were heard in concert settings. Today, Masses such as those by Rheinberger and Poulenc are much more likely to be performed as concert works. Whether intended as a strict espousal of Christian dogma (Victoria was a priest) or as a more general nod to universal truths (Poulenc omits the creed, as many other contemporary Masses do) the Mass, as an art form, offers a broad palette to the artists and listeners alike. Be it the gentle pleas for mercy and peace in the Kyrie and Agnus Dei, the ecstatic praises to God in the Gloria and Sanctus, or the pathos of remembering Christ’s death and resurrection in the Credo, there is a lot of variety in the text, making the Mass an ideal genre for longer-form choral works.
Tomás Luis de Victoria is considered the greatest composer of the Spanish Renaissance. Some even proclaim him to be the greatest composer of church music in the Europe of his day. Born in the province of Ávila in 1548, he learned the rudiments of music while a choirboy at the local cathedral. As a teenager he was sent to a Jesuit college in Rome. There he gained fluency in Latin as well as mastery of Italianate compositional style, as practiced by Palestrina, who was maestro di cappella at a nearby seminary. Victoria stayed in Rome, working as the maestro at a college for German seminarians and becoming a priest himself. After serving in various other capacities and publishing his first compositions, he expressed his desire to return to his home country in the dedication of a new Mass honoring King Philip II of Spain. The king, as a reward for his homage, named Victoria chaplain to his sister, the Dowager Empress Maria, who lived in retirement at a convent.
Life at the convent suited him well. The 33 nuns heard Mass daily, attended by priests who were required to be accomplished singers. He led a choir of 12 such priests (three to a part) plus 4 boys and employed instruments for high holidays. Best of all, he enjoyed benefits as chaplain not available to a maestro di cappella in a cathedral. These included a personal servant, meals served in private quarters adjacent to the convent and a month’s holiday every year.
Victoria’s Missa O quam gloriosum is one of the 15 of his 20 published Masses known as a “parody” Mass. The typical 15th century Mass was built around a cantus firmus, a pre-existing melody, such as a chant or other song. Usually heard in the tenor part and often moving at a slow rate, the tune was embellished as the other voices wove more florid contrapuntal lines above and below. By the 16th century, however, the “parody”, or what might more accurately be called the “imitation” Mass came to the fore. In this case, rather than quote an entire melody, the composer makes use of shorter motifs or fragments, adding or removing voices from the original, or using a fragment only at the beginning of each movement.
We will begin by performing the motet on which Victoria based his Mass, O quam gloriosum, an anthem for All Saints Day. The Mass is one of seven he composed based on his own motets intended for use on specific feast days. The casual listener will find no obvious quotation of the motet in the Mass. However, a closer study reveals a paraphrase of the motet’s tenor line used in the opening tenor line of the Kyrie. This same motif, which begins with the interval of an ascending fourth, is heard at the start of several sections. The soprano line in the original motet serves as the basis for the start of the Gloria and elsewhere. Finally, the descending line heard in the motet’s last line of text “sequuntur Agnum, quocumque ierit” (they follow the Lamb wherever he goes) serves as the basis for the Benedictus, as well as the end of the Agnus Dei.
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a native of Liechtenstein and emerged as a child prodigy by the age of five. He was only seven when he became the organist at the town church (with a special device created to allow his feet to reach the pedals), a post he held until he entered the Munich Conservatory at age twelve. He received his degree at the age of fifteen, and later returned to begin a long career there. His pupils included the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Hans von Bülow. Although he was well lauded in his lifetime, the public’s enthusiasm for the emotionalism of Wagner and Liszt resulted in Rheinberger’s music becoming eclipsed in the annals of music history. While organists throughout the 20th century have been familiar with his work, only in recent years has his music in other genres begun to be performed with any regularity.
In 1877 Rheinberger was appointed Hofkapellmeister by “Mad” King Ludwig II of Bavaria, which gave him responsibility for the music at the Royal Chapel of All Saints. One of his first compositions in this new position was his Mass in E flat major, Opus 109, for double choir. Employing a judicious balance between homophony and counterpoint, with the texts clearly declaimed, this work pays homage to the classical models of Gabrieli and Monteverdi. Indeed, such an a cappella, antiphonal work would be right at home in the dual galleries of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Rheinberger’s Mass is dedicated to Pope Leo XIII, who rewarded the composer with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of St. Gregory.
Born into a wealthy family of pharmaceutical manufacturers, Francis Poulenc was well educated and was familiar with Parisian society. His first published composition is dedicated to some of the more famous composers to whom he was introduced, including Honneger, Milhaud, and Satie. He was a member of Les Six, a loose-knit group of young Swiss and French composers with links to Jean Cocteau and the Dada movement. All of this happened before he began formal studies in composition at the age of 22. By mutual consent with his teacher, Charles Koechlin, Poulenc’s involvement with counterpoint went no further than Bach chorales. Indeed, throughout his work, especially the choral music, homophonic chord progressions predominate. This simplicity and directness led early critics to dismiss him as a serious composer. However, he persevered, and by the time of his death in 1963 he was considered, along with Messiaen, to be one of the most distinguished French composers since Fauré.
Commentators often discuss Poulenc’s personal life apart from his musical influences. Considered by some to be the first openly gay composer, his first serious relationship was with painter Richard Chanlaire. But he also had relationships with women and is thought to have fathered a daughter, although he never admitted this. More germane to the work at hand is his religious upbringing. Having been born and raised a Roman Catholic, he struggled throughout his life between coming to terms with his “unorthodox” sexual appetites and maintaining his religious convictions. In 1936, the death of a composer friend in an automobile accident prompted Poulenc to visit the shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour, where he experienced a life-changing transformation. This rediscovery of his Roman Catholic faith led to a series of compositions based on religious themes, beginning with the Litanies à la vierge noire (1936) and including the Mass in G (1937).
The Mass is punctuated by pungent harmonies and maintains interest through abrupt textural changes (small groups or soloists alternating with the full choir) and sudden dynamic variations. To me, this work clearly speaks of the place and time of its creation—France just as World War II was looming.
Because Mass settings generally end softly, with the text “grant us peace,” I decided to conclude the concert with the lively benediction of Estonian composer Urmas Sisask that we used in our 2006 program “Mass Transit.” Sisask graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatory in 1985. At an early age he began exploring the connection of astronomy and music. In pursuing research into the theory of astronomically governed sounds, Sisask worked out theoretical sound values for the rotations of different planets, obtaining a five-pitch series of C#-D-F#-G#-A, and was astonished to discover that this succession of notes is an exact counterpart of a Japanese pentatonic scale known as Kumayoshi. His several large piano works are based on the Kumayoshi, as is his most famous work, Gloria Patri (1988), a set of 24 a cappella hymns on Latin texts for mixed chorus, lasting almost an hour and a half in performance. Sisask lives today in a small Estonian village, in the tower of an old castle. The tower serves as an observatory-planetarium, a music studio and concert hall.
Sisask’s Benedictio (1991) is built up from short melodic fragments, which are repeated and layered in numerous combinations, eventually converging into a monophonic texture that drives relentlessly to an exciting conclusion.
Considered to be of crucial importance in the development of monophonic and polyphonic styles, unified settings of the five choral texts always heard in the Roman Catholic liturgy became a genre in their own right in the 15th century. These five texts―Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus-Benedictus, and Agnus Dei―belong to what is called the “Ordinary of the Mass.” They are heard in every service, whether sung (High or Solemn Mass) or spoken (Low Mass). This differentiates them from the “Propers,” those parts of the service that vary according to the day in the church calendar, including the Introit, Gradual, Offertory, and Communion. Settings of the Ordinary became one of the seminal forms in European art music and continue to capture the attention of composers of all nationalities working today.
Although Masses are intended to be sung as part of a church service, the genre quickly outgrew the confines of liturgy. Even by the late Renaissance and certainly in the Baroque era, Mass settings, such as J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, and later the theatrical Requiem Masses of Berlioz and Verdi, were heard in concert settings. Today, Masses such as those by Rheinberger and Poulenc are much more likely to be performed as concert works. Whether intended as a strict espousal of Christian dogma (Victoria was a priest) or as a more general nod to universal truths (Poulenc omits the creed, as many other contemporary Masses do) the Mass, as an art form, offers a broad palette to the artists and listeners alike. Be it the gentle pleas for mercy and peace in the Kyrie and Agnus Dei, the ecstatic praises to God in the Gloria and Sanctus, or the pathos of remembering Christ’s death and resurrection in the Credo, there is a lot of variety in the text, making the Mass an ideal genre for longer-form choral works.
Tomás Luis de Victoria is considered the greatest composer of the Spanish Renaissance. Some even proclaim him to be the greatest composer of church music in the Europe of his day. Born in the province of Ávila in 1548, he learned the rudiments of music while a choirboy at the local cathedral. As a teenager he was sent to a Jesuit college in Rome. There he gained fluency in Latin as well as mastery of Italianate compositional style, as practiced by Palestrina, who was maestro di cappella at a nearby seminary. Victoria stayed in Rome, working as the maestro at a college for German seminarians and becoming a priest himself. After serving in various other capacities and publishing his first compositions, he expressed his desire to return to his home country in the dedication of a new Mass honoring King Philip II of Spain. The king, as a reward for his homage, named Victoria chaplain to his sister, the Dowager Empress Maria, who lived in retirement at a convent.
Life at the convent suited him well. The 33 nuns heard Mass daily, attended by priests who were required to be accomplished singers. He led a choir of 12 such priests (three to a part) plus 4 boys and employed instruments for high holidays. Best of all, he enjoyed benefits as chaplain not available to a maestro di cappella in a cathedral. These included a personal servant, meals served in private quarters adjacent to the convent and a month’s holiday every year.
Victoria’s Missa O quam gloriosum is one of the 15 of his 20 published Masses known as a “parody” Mass. The typical 15th century Mass was built around a cantus firmus, a pre-existing melody, such as a chant or other song. Usually heard in the tenor part and often moving at a slow rate, the tune was embellished as the other voices wove more florid contrapuntal lines above and below. By the 16th century, however, the “parody”, or what might more accurately be called the “imitation” Mass came to the fore. In this case, rather than quote an entire melody, the composer makes use of shorter motifs or fragments, adding or removing voices from the original, or using a fragment only at the beginning of each movement.
We will begin by performing the motet on which Victoria based his Mass, O quam gloriosum, an anthem for All Saints Day. The Mass is one of seven he composed based on his own motets intended for use on specific feast days. The casual listener will find no obvious quotation of the motet in the Mass. However, a closer study reveals a paraphrase of the motet’s tenor line used in the opening tenor line of the Kyrie. This same motif, which begins with the interval of an ascending fourth, is heard at the start of several sections. The soprano line in the original motet serves as the basis for the start of the Gloria and elsewhere. Finally, the descending line heard in the motet’s last line of text “sequuntur Agnum, quocumque ierit” (they follow the Lamb wherever he goes) serves as the basis for the Benedictus, as well as the end of the Agnus Dei.
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a native of Liechtenstein and emerged as a child prodigy by the age of five. He was only seven when he became the organist at the town church (with a special device created to allow his feet to reach the pedals), a post he held until he entered the Munich Conservatory at age twelve. He received his degree at the age of fifteen, and later returned to begin a long career there. His pupils included the likes of Engelbert Humperdinck, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Hans von Bülow. Although he was well lauded in his lifetime, the public’s enthusiasm for the emotionalism of Wagner and Liszt resulted in Rheinberger’s music becoming eclipsed in the annals of music history. While organists throughout the 20th century have been familiar with his work, only in recent years has his music in other genres begun to be performed with any regularity.
In 1877 Rheinberger was appointed Hofkapellmeister by “Mad” King Ludwig II of Bavaria, which gave him responsibility for the music at the Royal Chapel of All Saints. One of his first compositions in this new position was his Mass in E flat major, Opus 109, for double choir. Employing a judicious balance between homophony and counterpoint, with the texts clearly declaimed, this work pays homage to the classical models of Gabrieli and Monteverdi. Indeed, such an a cappella, antiphonal work would be right at home in the dual galleries of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Rheinberger’s Mass is dedicated to Pope Leo XIII, who rewarded the composer with the Knight’s Cross of the Order of St. Gregory.
Born into a wealthy family of pharmaceutical manufacturers, Francis Poulenc was well educated and was familiar with Parisian society. His first published composition is dedicated to some of the more famous composers to whom he was introduced, including Honneger, Milhaud, and Satie. He was a member of Les Six, a loose-knit group of young Swiss and French composers with links to Jean Cocteau and the Dada movement. All of this happened before he began formal studies in composition at the age of 22. By mutual consent with his teacher, Charles Koechlin, Poulenc’s involvement with counterpoint went no further than Bach chorales. Indeed, throughout his work, especially the choral music, homophonic chord progressions predominate. This simplicity and directness led early critics to dismiss him as a serious composer. However, he persevered, and by the time of his death in 1963 he was considered, along with Messiaen, to be one of the most distinguished French composers since Fauré.
Commentators often discuss Poulenc’s personal life apart from his musical influences. Considered by some to be the first openly gay composer, his first serious relationship was with painter Richard Chanlaire. But he also had relationships with women and is thought to have fathered a daughter, although he never admitted this. More germane to the work at hand is his religious upbringing. Having been born and raised a Roman Catholic, he struggled throughout his life between coming to terms with his “unorthodox” sexual appetites and maintaining his religious convictions. In 1936, the death of a composer friend in an automobile accident prompted Poulenc to visit the shrine of the Black Virgin of Rocamadour, where he experienced a life-changing transformation. This rediscovery of his Roman Catholic faith led to a series of compositions based on religious themes, beginning with the Litanies à la vierge noire (1936) and including the Mass in G (1937).
The Mass is punctuated by pungent harmonies and maintains interest through abrupt textural changes (small groups or soloists alternating with the full choir) and sudden dynamic variations. To me, this work clearly speaks of the place and time of its creation—France just as World War II was looming.
Because Mass settings generally end softly, with the text “grant us peace,” I decided to conclude the concert with the lively benediction of Estonian composer Urmas Sisask that we used in our 2006 program “Mass Transit.” Sisask graduated from the Tallinn State Conservatory in 1985. At an early age he began exploring the connection of astronomy and music. In pursuing research into the theory of astronomically governed sounds, Sisask worked out theoretical sound values for the rotations of different planets, obtaining a five-pitch series of C#-D-F#-G#-A, and was astonished to discover that this succession of notes is an exact counterpart of a Japanese pentatonic scale known as Kumayoshi. His several large piano works are based on the Kumayoshi, as is his most famous work, Gloria Patri (1988), a set of 24 a cappella hymns on Latin texts for mixed chorus, lasting almost an hour and a half in performance. Sisask lives today in a small Estonian village, in the tower of an old castle. The tower serves as an observatory-planetarium, a music studio and concert hall.
Sisask’s Benedictio (1991) is built up from short melodic fragments, which are repeated and layered in numerous combinations, eventually converging into a monophonic texture that drives relentlessly to an exciting conclusion.
