| Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae | |
|---|---|
| Mass by William Lloyd Webber | |
| Text | Mass Ordinary |
| Language | Latin |
| Composed | 1979 |
| Vocal | Choir |
| Instrumental | Organ |
The Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae (Mass of St. Mary Magdalene) is a mass composed by William Lloyd Webber in 1979 for choir and organ. [1]
Saint Mary Magdalene, sometimes called simply the Magdalene, was a Jewish woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to his crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. She is mentioned by name twelve times in the canonical gospels, more than most of the apostles. Mary's epithet Magdalene most likely means that she came from the town of Magdala, a fishing town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.
The mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the liturgical sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman liturgy, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many masses written in English for the Church of England. Musical masses take their name from the Catholic liturgy called "the mass" as well.
William Southcombe Lloyd Webber was an English organist and composer, achieving some fame as a part of the modern classical music movement yet commercially facing mixed opportunities. Besides his long and prestigious career, composing works ranging from choral pieces to instrumental items and more, he is known for being the father of both fellow composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and virtuoso cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. He also notably served as a teacher, instructing pupils on music theory at the Royal College of Music for a time.
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Lloyd Webber, who was the father of the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, was the organist and choirmaster of All Saints, Margaret Street, London between 1939 and 1948. From 1958 he served as director of music at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. During this time, he composed two Latin masses for choir and organ, Missa Princeps Pacis in 1962 and Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae in 1979. [2]
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals, notably "The Music of the Night" and "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera, "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita, "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and "Memory" from Cats. In 2001 The New York Times referred to him as "the most commercially successful composer in history". Ranked the "fifth most powerful person in British culture" by The Daily Telegraph in 2008, the lyricist Don Black stated "Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical."
Julian Lloyd Webber is a British cellist, conductor and the principal of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
All Saints, Margaret Street, is a Grade I listed Anglican church in London. The church was designed by the architect William Butterfield and built between 1850 and 1859. It has been hailed as Butterfield's masterpiece and a pioneering building of the High Victorian Gothic style that would characterize British architecture from around 1850 to 1870.
The mass sets all part of the Mass Ordinary, except the Credo as it is customary in the Anglican Church, and is thus a missa brevis. It was published by Kevin Mayhew. [3] A new edition appeared in 2014, to mark the composer's centenary. [4]
Missa brevis is Latin for "short Mass". The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relatively short.
The mass was recorded in 1996, with the Hickox Singers conducted by Richard Hickox. [5] A reviewer notes: " The Mass shows impressive contrapuntal craftsmanship and the Hickox Singers display great precision and clarity." [6]
Richard Sidney Hickox, CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.
