Missa Papae Marcelli

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Missa Papae Marcelli, individual part ( cantus ) of Kyrie

The Missa Papae Marcelli is still the most famous mass by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina . It bears its name after Pope Marcellus II , who served as Pope for three weeks in April 1555. The mass was traditionally sung on the occasion of the papal coronation , until John Paul I and his successors waived this ceremony.

Like most Renaissance masses , the Missa Papae Marcelli consists of a Kyrie , Gloria , Credo , Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei . For the most part, it is composed of six voices , with double tenor and bass parts . The second, final Agnus Dei deviates from this rule and requires seven parts , with two sopranos , two altos , a tenor and two basses. In contrast to other settings in the Ordinarium of Palestrina, the Missa Papae Marcelli is freely composed and contains neither a cantus firmus nor a parody of a given theme.

Impact history

The date of origin of the mass is set at around 1562. It was published in Palestrina's second fair book in 1567. Its title may indicate that on Good Friday 1555, the third day of his three-week pontificate , Pope Marcellus II convened the singers of the papal band and informed them that the music for Holy Week should be solemn and that the words should be reproduced as clearly as possible.

Since the end of the 16th century, a legend has been circulating that the Council of Trent was on the verge of banning polyphonic church music because of the incomprehensibility of the words, and that Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, through the beauty of Palestrina's music and its simple, declamatory style, disapproved of this project was removed. This hypothesis was recorded in 1607 by the composer and music theorist Agostino Agazzari , continued by Jesuit musicians of the 17th century and persisted over the following centuries. In his 1828 biography of Palestrina, the historian Giuseppe Baini called Palestrina the "savior of polyphony". Even Hans Pfitzner's opera Palestrina , premiered in 1917, is based on this understanding of the Tridentine decisions. There is no evidence, however, that the council intended to ban polyphony altogether or that Palestrina's Mass would dissuade it from doing so.

literature

  • Alfred Einstein (Ed.): Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina. Missa Papae Marcelli. Drei Masken-Verlag, Munich 1921.
  • Irving Godt: A New Look at Palestrina's "Missa Papae Marcelli". In: College Music Symposium Vol. 23, No. 1 (Spring, 1983), pp. 22-49 ( JSTOR 40374161 at jstor.org, subscription access).
  • Michael Heinemann : Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and his time. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 1994, ISBN 3-89007-292-5 , pp. 79-100.
  • Karl Gustav Fellerer : Palestrina. Life and work. Schwann, Düsseldorf 1960.
  • Reinhold Schlötterer: The composer Palestrina. Basics, appearances and meaning of his music. Wißner, Augsburg 2002, ISBN 3-89639-343-X .
  • Marcus Stäbler: Missa Papae Marcelli. In: Hans Gebhard (Ed.): Harenberg Chormusikführer. Harenberg, Dortmund 1999, ISBN 3-611-00817-6 , pp. 651-653.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ MGG , 2nd edition Person Part, Volume 13, p. 9
  2. ↑ Article "Palestrina" , Oxford Music Online