Petite fair solennelle

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The Petite Messe solennelle is a mass setting by Gioachino Rossini . It is considered to be the most important work of Rossini's last phase of work and one of his most important sacred compositions.

history

The Petite Messe Solennelle was created in 1863, 34 years after the composition of Rossini's last opera Guillaume Tell , in Passy , where Rossini spent the last decades of his life. It is a commissioned composition for Comte Alexis Pillet-Will (1805–1871) and his wife Louise Pillet-Will, to whom the work is dedicated. The first performance took place on March 14, 1864 at the inauguration of the private chapel of the count couple in Paris . Albert Lavignac directed the performance from the harmonium . Among the audience were personalities such as Daniel-François-Esprit Auber , Giacomo Meyerbeer and Ambroise Thomas . The first public performance followed the next day at the Théâtre-Italy in Paris and was a great success.

In terms of its external dimensions and its name, the mass follows the tradition of the Missa solemnis , but was nevertheless given the attribute petite ("small") by the composer . Rossini writes in an ironic dedication: “Dear God. Here it is, poor little mess. Have I really made sacred music (musique sacrée) , or at least condemned music (sacrée musique) ? I was born for the opera buffa . You know it well! A little skill, a little heart, that's all. So be praised and grant me paradise. "

The unusual line-up of the mass for voices, two pianos and harmonium is part of the Neapolitan harpsichord tradition of the 18th century. Three years after the composition, Rossini also worked out an orchestral version - mainly out of fear that the mass could be distorted after his death by the editing of someone else: “If you now find it in my estate, Mr. Sax comes with his saxophones or Mr. Berlioz and other giants of the modern orchestra want to use it to orchestrate my mass and kill my few voices, which would happily kill me too. ”Nevertheless, Rossini preferred the version with piano and harmonium and ordered that the orchestral version only after his death could be performed. It was first performed on February 24, 1869 in the Théâtre-Italien in Paris. While performances of the orchestral version predominated in the first few years, the ratio has meanwhile shifted back in favor of the original version.

occupation

1st version (1863)

  • Solos: soprano , alto , tenor , bass
  • Choir (double quartet) SATB , partly with part division
  • 2 pianos , harmonium (since the 2nd piano largely has no musical function of its own and, above all, the 1st piano doubles in loud places, it is often left out during performances)

2nd version (1866/67)

The performance lasts approx. 85 minutes.

Work description

  1. Kyrie
    • Kyrie eleison - Coro (SATB)
    • Christe eleison - Coro
    • Kyrie eleison - Coro
Beginning of Kyrie
  1. Gloria
    • Gloria in excelsis Deo - (Soli SATB, Coro)
    • Et in terra pax - solos, coro
    • Terzettino: Gratias agimus tibi - (Soli ATB)
    • Solo: Domine Deus - (tenor)
    • Duetto: Qui tollis peccata mundi - (Soli SA)
    • Solo: Quoniam tu solus Sanctus - (Basso)
    • Cum Sancto Spiritu - (Coro)
  2. Creed
    • Credo in unum Deum - (Soli, Coro)
    • Crucifixus - (Soprano solo)
    • Et resurrexit - (solos, choir)
    • Et vitam venturi - (Soli con Coro)
  3. (Prélude religieux l'Offertoire) , ( Offertory - instrumental)
  4. Sanctus
    • Ritornelle Pour le Sanctus - (Harmonium)
    • Sanctus - (Solos, Coro)
  5. O salutaris hostia - (soprano solo)
  6. Agnus Dei - (Alto solo, Coro)

The structure of the mass follows the traditional ordinarium . Following the French mass tradition, Rossini composed a purely instrumental Prélude religieux l'Offertoire , which is intended for the offertory . The O salutaris hostia, a stanza from the hymn to Corpus Christi Verbum supernum prodiens , added Rossini to the mass after the performance in 1865.

The Christe eleison did not come from Rossini's pen. As the American organist Kurt Lueders discovered, Rossini has taken over a composition by his friend, the French composer Louis Niedermeyer , into his Petite Mass without comment . As the editors of the new Urtext edition of the score (September 2010), Patricia B. Brauner and Philipp Gosset, at Verlag Bärenreiter Kassel, report, the Christe eleison is a literal quotation from Et incarnatus est from the mass solennelle von Niedermeyer, which was held on the occasion of the celebrations for Cecilia Festival was premiered in November 1849. As evidence, the Niedermeyersche original of the new edition is attached as Appendix I.

The reasons for the half-minute ritornello in C major before the Sanctus are unknown; It can be assumed that it serves as an intonation aid for the Sanctus, which is also in C major, especially since the previous Prélude religieux ends in G major. Perhaps Rossini wanted to pay attention to the harmonium with a short solo piece so that it would be perceived as a separate sound element of the mass and as valuable as the piano.

In the orchestral version, the Prélude religieux and the ritornello are played by an organ - with the exception of the first and last few bars of the Prélude religieux, which are played by the wind instruments.

Pop culture reception

The rapper Arrest Warrant quotes the first bars of Crucifixus in a recording with the Moldovan male soprano Radu Marian at the beginning of his song Chabos Know Who the Babo is from 2012.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Emil Naumann: Italian sound poets. Berlin 1883. Quoted from: Klaus Döge , preface to the piano reduction of the Petite Messe solennelle. Carus, Stuttgart 1993, ISMN M-007-07572-9
  2. ^ Gioachino Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle. Score based on the original text. Edited by Patricia B. Brauner and Philipp Gosset. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2010 (BA 10501)
  3. ^ Gioachino Rossini: Petite Messe solennelle. Score based on the original text. Edited by Patricia B. Brauner and Philipp Gosset. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2010 (BA 10501) p. 188