A Cambridge Mass

Last updated

A Cambridge Mass
Missa brevis by Ralph Vaughan Williams
TextCredo and Sanctus from the Mass ordinary
LanguageLatin
Composed1899 (1899)
Performed3 March 2011 (2011-03-03)
Movements5
Scoring
  • four soloists
  • double choir
  • orchestra

A Cambridge Mass is a choral work in G major by Ralph Vaughan Williams written between 1898 and 1899 [1] [2] as part of his studies in Cambridge for his Doctorate of Music. It is one of two large scale choral works with orchestral accompaniment by Vaughan Williams surviving from this period, the other being a cantata setting of Swinburne's poem The Garden of Proserpine . [3] [4]

Contents

History

Composition

Returning to Cambridge from a period in Berlin taking lessons from Max Bruch, [5] Vaughan Williams was set the task of composing a large scale (40-60 minute) choral/orchestral work containing the following: [4]

  1. Sections for one or more soloists along with major portions for an eight voice choir;
  2. Examples of both canons and fugues;
  3. An orchestral section in sonata form, either as an overture or intermezzo; and
  4. A single section for voice(s) alone, the rest being with full orchestral accompaniment.

Vaughan Williams responded with a concert setting of the Credo and Sanctus of the mass in a quasi-symphonic structure with two choral movements with orchestral accompaniment flanking a central movement for orchestra alone. It is not known why Vaughan Williams did not set the complete mass. McClarney in his thesis speculates that it may have either been due to time constraints or personality clashes with his teacher Stanford, citing a letter to Holst in which the composer talks both of a lack of sleep due to time spent writing out the score and of a disagreement with Stanford over the structure of the completed composition. [6]

Rediscovery

After being submitted for Vaughan Williams' doctorate, the mass was stored in the university archives until it was put on display in 2007, where it was noticed by conductor Alan Tongue, who recognized its potential significance and obtained permission from the Vaughan Williams Charitable Trust for a performing version to be made from the manuscript score. [4]

Performance history

The first performance of the mass took place on 3 March 2011 at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon. [1] Subsequent performances have taken place in Bath [7] [8] and in the United States at Smith College, Northampton. [9]

Recording

In October 2014, Albion Records released a recording of the premiere performance of the Mass. [10]

Movements

The composition is a missa brevis for orchestra, double choir and four soloists, and is divided into three movements: [1]

  1. Credo: Andante Maestoso - Adagio molto - Allegro moderato - Allegro [8]
  2. Offertorium: Allegro moderato
  3. Finale (Sanctus - Benedictus - Hosanna): Adagio - Allegro - Andante sostenuto - Allegro

Related Research Articles

<i>Great Mass in C minor</i>, K. 427 Musical mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Great Mass in C minor, K. 427/417a, is the common name of the musical setting of the mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which is considered one of his greatest works. He composed it in Vienna in 1782 and 1783, after his marriage, when he moved to Vienna from Salzburg. The large-scale work, a missa solemnis, is scored for two soprano soloists, a tenor and a bass, double chorus and large orchestra. It remained unfinished, missing large portions of the Credo and the complete Agnus Dei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass No. 2 (Schubert)</span>

Mass No. 2 in G major, D 167, by Franz Schubert was composed in less than a week in early March 1815 and remains the best known of his three short settings, or missae breves, dating between his more elaborate No. 1 and No. 5. Apart from some passages for soprano, its solistic interventions are modest; Schubert, characteristically, inclines toward a devotional mood. The First Mass had been successfully performed in the composer's parish the year before.

<i>Nelson Mass</i> 1798 Mass by Joseph Haydn

The Missa in angustiis, commonly known as the Nelson Mass, is a Mass setting by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn. It is one of the six masses written near the end of his life that are seen as a culmination of Haydn's composition of liturgical music.

<i>Sancta Civitas</i> Oratorio by Ralph Vaughan Williams

Sancta Civitas is an oratorio by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Written between 1923 and 1925, it was his first major work since the Mass in G minor two years previously. Vaughan Williams began working on the piece from a rented furnished house in the village of Danbury, Essex, found for him by his former pupil, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs.

<i>Missa solemnis</i> (Bruckner)

The Missa solemnis, WAB 29, is a solemn mass composed by Anton Bruckner in 1854 for the installation of Friedrich Mayer as abbot of St. Florian Monastery on 14 September 1854.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida</span>

The Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida is a mass in B-flat major by Joseph Haydn, Hob. XXII:10, Novello 1, was written the same year as the Missa in tempore belli (1796), and it "may have been the first mass Haydn wrote after his return from England." Yet it may also have been the second. It is usually given as Haydn's ninth setting of the mass, though its Hoboken number is XXII:10. This mass was written in honor of St. Bernard of Offida, a Capuchins who devoted himself to helping the poor; a century after the friar's death, he was beatified by Pope Pius VI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae</span>

The Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae in C major by Joseph Haydn, Hob. XXII:5, Novello 3, was originally written in 1766, after Haydn was promoted to Kapellmeister at Eszterháza following the death of Gregor Joseph Werner. The original title as it appears on the only surviving fragment of Haydn's autograph score, that has been discovered around 1970 in Budapest, clearly assigns the mass to the pilgrimage cult of Mariazell, Styria. Until that discovery, the work was known as Missa Sanctae Caeciliae, or in German Cäcilienmesse, a title probably attributed to the mass in the 19th century. Whether the alternative title refers to a performance of the piece by the St. Cecilia's Congregation, a Viennese musician's fraternity, on some St. Cecilia's day, as has been suggested, remains speculation.

Austrian composer, Michael Haydn's Missa Hispanica or Missa a due cori, Klafsky I:17, MH 422, was presumably written for Spain, but there is no evidence of its ever having been performed there during Haydn's lifetime. The mass is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns in low C, F and G, 2 trumpets in C, timpani, strings, basso continuo, SATB soloists, and two mixed choirs.

Michael Haydn completed the Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae, Klafsky 1:18, MH 546, on August 5, 1793, probably for use at the ceremony in which Ursula Oswald, the daughter of a friend, professed her religious vows at the Benedictine Abbey of Frauenwörth Chiemsee. Because of that fact, the Mass is sometimes known as the Chiemsee Mass.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Francis Mass</span>

The St. Francis Mass is the shorter name for the Missa sub titulo Sancti Francisci Seraphici composed by Michael Haydn. He completed it on 16 August 1803, apparently at the request of Empress Maria Theresa for a name day celebration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in C major, K. 259 "Organ solo"</span>

The Missa brevis No. 8 in C major, K. 259, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1776. It is scored for SATB soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, 2 oboes, 2 clarini, 3 trombones colla parte, timpani and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in C major, K. 167 "in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis"</span>

The Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis in C major, K. 167, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in June 1773. It is scored for SATB choir, violin I and II, 2 oboes, 2 clarini, 2 trumpets, timpani and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in C major, K. 66 "Dominicus"</span>

The Missa solemnis in C major, K. 66, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1769. It is scored for SATB soloists and choir, violins I and II, viola, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 clarini, 2 trumpets and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in D major, K. 194</span>

The Missa brevis in D major, K. 194/186h, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on 8 August 1774. It is scored for SATB soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, 3 trombones colla parte, and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in C major, K. 262 "Missa longa"</span>

The Missa longa in C major, K. 262/246a, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in May 1776. Other sources claim it was composed in May 1775. It is scored for SATB soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 clarini, 3 trombones colla parte, timpani and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in D minor, K. 65</span>

The Missa brevis in D minor, K. 65/61a, is a mass composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on 14 January 1769. It is scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, 3 trombones colla parte, and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in G major, K. 49</span>

Mozart's Mass in G major, K. 49/47d), is his first full mass. It is a missa brevis scored for SATB soloists and choir, violin I and II, viola, and basso continuo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass No. 4 (Schubert)</span>

Mass No. 4 in C major, D 452, is a mass composed by Franz Schubert in 1816. It was originally scored for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, SATB choir, violin I and II, and basso continuo. It is classified as a missa solemnis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass No. 6 (Schubert)</span>

Mass No. 6 in E-flat major, D 950, is a mass composed by Franz Schubert, a few months before his death. It is scored for two tenor soloists, soprano, alto and bass soloists, SATB choir with divisi, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, violin I and II, viola, cello, and double bass. It was Schubert's final setting of the order of Mass, and is classified as a missa solemnis.

Missa Sancti Nicolai, Mass No. 6 in G major, Hob. XXII/6, also known as the Nicolaimesse, is a mass by Joseph Haydn, composed around 1772 and revised in 1802.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 ( Whitehouse 2011 )
  2. ( McClarney 2013 , p. 6)
  3. ( Rooksby 2011 )
  4. 1 2 3 ( Tongue 2011 )
  5. ( Day 1961 , p. 15)
  6. ( McClarney 2013 , p. 3 & 4)
  7. "Bath Choral Society Concert Notes: A Cambridge Mass" . Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  8. 1 2 ( Williams 2011 )
  9. ( Montanari 2012 )
  10. ( Quinn 2014 )
Sources