Post by erik on Feb 6, 2021 18:39:24 GMT -5
An early setting of the Latin Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn (the longest since Bach's famous B Minor) is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Haydn: MASS NO. 5 IN C MAJOR (ST. CECILIA MASS)
Every large form of classical music, be it symphony, concerto, or opera is often known to concentrate a composer’s mind in a way that smaller forms don’t. This is especially true when a composer sets the text of the Latin Mass. In this form, the massive B Minor Mass of Johann Sebastian Bach set the bar extremely high. But inside the Classical Era, there was Franz Joseph Haydn. Apart from having elevated both the symphony and the string quartet to a huge art form during the mid-to-late 18th century, Haydn was tasked to composer choral music as the court composer for the Esterhazy estate in Eisenstadt. What is known to have been his fifth such setting of the Latin Mass, the Saint Cecilia Mass, was composed for that court in 1766. Two years later, however, a fire at Eisenstadt destroyed Haydn’s original manuscript; and as such, Haydn had to totally recompose it from memory. Oddly enough, it is believed that the original manuscript envisioned a work of forty-five minutes or so; but when he recomposed it, he had expanded the Gloria section of the Mass; and as a result, Haydn’s St. Cecilia Mass, with a length of 70 minutes, was the longest setting of the Latin Mass since Bach, and even longer than the settings of the Mass that he made following his return to Vienna from his London sojourn at the turn of the 19th century. The length of the St. Cecilia Mass belies the fact that it is fairly traditionalist in terms of its orchestration (pairs of oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and timpani, along with the full string compliment and organ), along with mixed chorus and soloists. The work is not often performed because of its length, even in comparison to Bach’s setting (which in itself is close to 105 minutes long), but it does remain significant all the same.
Soprano: LUCIA POPP
Mezzo-Soprano: DORIS SOFFEL
Tenor: HORST LAUBENTHAL
Bass: KURT MOLL
Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/RAFAEL KUBELIK (Orfeo)
Haydn: MASS NO. 5 IN C MAJOR (ST. CECILIA MASS)
Every large form of classical music, be it symphony, concerto, or opera is often known to concentrate a composer’s mind in a way that smaller forms don’t. This is especially true when a composer sets the text of the Latin Mass. In this form, the massive B Minor Mass of Johann Sebastian Bach set the bar extremely high. But inside the Classical Era, there was Franz Joseph Haydn. Apart from having elevated both the symphony and the string quartet to a huge art form during the mid-to-late 18th century, Haydn was tasked to composer choral music as the court composer for the Esterhazy estate in Eisenstadt. What is known to have been his fifth such setting of the Latin Mass, the Saint Cecilia Mass, was composed for that court in 1766. Two years later, however, a fire at Eisenstadt destroyed Haydn’s original manuscript; and as such, Haydn had to totally recompose it from memory. Oddly enough, it is believed that the original manuscript envisioned a work of forty-five minutes or so; but when he recomposed it, he had expanded the Gloria section of the Mass; and as a result, Haydn’s St. Cecilia Mass, with a length of 70 minutes, was the longest setting of the Latin Mass since Bach, and even longer than the settings of the Mass that he made following his return to Vienna from his London sojourn at the turn of the 19th century. The length of the St. Cecilia Mass belies the fact that it is fairly traditionalist in terms of its orchestration (pairs of oboes, bassoons, trumpets, and timpani, along with the full string compliment and organ), along with mixed chorus and soloists. The work is not often performed because of its length, even in comparison to Bach’s setting (which in itself is close to 105 minutes long), but it does remain significant all the same.
Soprano: LUCIA POPP
Mezzo-Soprano: DORIS SOFFEL
Tenor: HORST LAUBENTHAL
Bass: KURT MOLL
Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra/RAFAEL KUBELIK (Orfeo)