A Mass of Life

Last updated

A Mass of Life (German: Eine Messe des Lebens) is a cantata by English composer Frederick Delius, based on the German text of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885). [1] [2] In 1898, Delius had written a male choir and orchestral setting of "Midnight Song" from the same work, and this was revised to form part of the Mass. [1]

Contents

Eine Messe des Lebens is the largest of Delius's concert works, being written for four SATB soloists, double choir and orchestra. [1] It was dedicated to Fritz Cassirer, who had had an important hand in choosing the passages from Nietzsche's text. Lionel Carley and others, writing in Grove Music Online , describe it as the composer's "grandest project" and say that "Delius responded to Nietzsche's rich poetry in some of his most virile and exultant music, as well as in passages of a profoundly hypnotic and static calm." [3]

The work was completed in 1905. Part 2 was first performed in Munich in 1908, with a complete performance in London a year later. [1]

In September 2022 the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir performed the Norwegian premiere of the work, conducted by Mark Elder and with Roderick Williams singing the lead role of Zarathustra. A recording featuring the same performers was issued in 2023. [4]

In a collaborative project supported by the Delius Trust, Choir of the Earth, led by Musical Director/Conductor Ben England, worked closely with Bergen Philharmonic Choir to create a first-of-its-kind performance, blending a live performance with individual voices recorded in choristers' homes around the world. [5] Both Choirs simultaneously rehearsed the choral parts of A Mass of Life, both separately and in livestreamed rehearsals led by Ben England and Bergen's Choral Director Håkon Matti Skrede. At the Bergen premiere in September 2022, Choir of the Earth's sound engineers captured high-fidelity recordings and used these to produce guide tracks, allowing choristers around the world to record their voices at home in perfect synchronicity with the Bergen Philharmonic Choir. The combined performance featuring Choir of the Earth's recordings alongside the live performance recorded in Bergen premiered on YouTube in October 2023. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Delius</span> English composer (1862–1934)

Frederick Theodore Albert Delius was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce. He was sent to Florida in the United States in 1884 to manage an orange plantation. He soon neglected his managerial duties, and in 1886 returned to Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Henderson (baritone)</span> British opera singer (1899–2000)

Roy Galbraith Henderson CBE was a British baritone singer, conductor and teacher.

<i>Also sprach Zarathustra</i> 1896 symphonic poem by Richard Strauss

Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical 1883–1885 novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Strauss conducted its first performance on 27 November 1896 in Frankfurt. A typical performance lasts roughly thirty-three minutes.

<i>Messe de Nostre Dame</i> Mass setting by Guillaume de Machaut

Messe de Nostre Dame is a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut. Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of medieval music and of all religious music, it is historically notable as the earliest complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass attributable to a single composer.

James Philip Edwin Whitbourn was a British composer and conductor.

<i>On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring</i>

On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is a tone poem composed in 1912 by Frederick Delius. Together with Summer Night on the River it is one of Delius's Two Pieces for Small Orchestra. The two were first performed in Leipzig on 23 October 1913, conducted by Arthur Nikisch. On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring is the longer of the two pieces, with a typical playing time of between six and seven minutes. There have been numerous recordings of the piece, which Delius's champion Sir Thomas Beecham described as much the best known of the composer's works.

James Anthony O'Donnell is a British organist, choral conductor and academic teacher who has been a professor of organ at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music in Connecticut, United States, since 2023.

Sea Drift is among the larger-scale musical works by the composer Frederick Delius. Completed in 1903–04 and first performed in 1906, it is a setting for baritone, chorus and orchestra of words by Walt Whitman.

The Bach Choir is a large independent musical organisation founded in London, England in 1876 to give the first performance of J. S. Bach's Mass in B minor in Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kennedy Scott</span> English organist and choral conductor

Charles James Kennedy Osborne Scott was an English organist and choral conductor who played an important part in developing the performance of choral and polyphonic music in England, especially of early and modern English music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fritz Cassirer</span> German conductor

Friedrich (Fritz) Leopold Cassirer, was a German conductor. He was one of the early proponents of the music of Frederick Delius, and conducted the premiere of Delius's first opera.

Roderick Gregory Coleman Williams OBE is a British baritone and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Requiem (Delius)</span>

The Requiem by Frederick Delius was written between 1913 and 1916, and first performed in 1922. It is set for soprano, baritone, double chorus and orchestra, and is dedicated "To the memory of all young artists fallen in the war". The Requiem is Delius's least-known major work, not being recorded until 1968 and having received only seven performances worldwide by 1980.

Songs of Sunset is a work by Frederick Delius, written in 1906–07, and scored for mezzo-soprano and baritone soli, SATB chorus and large orchestra. The words are by Ernest Dowson.

<i>Windhaager Messe</i>

The Windhaager Messe, WAB 25, is a missa brevis composed by Anton Bruckner in 1842.

<i>Ecce sacerdos magnus</i> (Bruckner) 1885 motet composed by Anton Bruckner

Ecce sacerdos magnus, WAB 13, is an 1885 sacred motet by the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner. It is a musical setting of the antiphon of the same title.

<i>Os justi</i> (Bruckner) 1879 motet composed by Anton Bruckner

Os justi, WAB 30, is a sacred motet composed by Anton Bruckner in 1879. Os Justi is a Gregorian chant used as gradual of the Commune Doctorum, and as introit I and gradual II of the Commune Confessoris non Pontificis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Children's Chorus</span> American choir

The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children's Chorus of the United States of America (NCC) is a private, non-profit organization, and one of the largest children's choruses in the world. It has 1,000 choristers and its members are between the ages of five and eighteen, and divided into Junior Division and Senior Division across its seven chapter cities – Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas and Boston.

A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and send their digital recordings, sometimes including video, to be collated into a choral performance. There may be a series of rehearsals which singers can watch online, and their performance recordings may be made while watching a video of the conductor, and in some cases listening to a backing track, to ensure unanimity of timing. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inspired a large growth in the number of virtual choirs, although the idea was not new.

Lionel Carley was an English archivist and author on musical matters.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Kennedy, Michael, ed. (2013). "Mass of Life, A". The Oxford Dictionary of Music (6th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-957810-8.
  2. "About A Mass of Life". Naxos Records. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  3. Carley, Lionel; Anderson, Robert; Payne, Anthony (20 January 2001). "Delius, Frederick [Fritz](Theodore Albert)". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.49095. ISBN   978-1-56159-263-0.
  4. Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Eine Messe des Lebens, LAWO Classics LWC1265
  5. "Digital Eent – Delius Mass of Life: play-through and commentary with Choir of the Earth". News. Delius Society. Retrieved 24 March 2022.
  6. "Delius - A Mass of Life". Choir of the Earth. Retrieved 24 March 2022.

Further reading