Recently I've been listening to several old favourite recordings of symphonic Masses from the 18th and 19th centuries. When I say "symphonic Masses" many people will automatically think of Beethoven's monumental Missa Solemnis, which is actually a choral symphony in all but name.
What many music lovers do not realize is that the Missa Solemnis, as grand as it is, really is as much evolutionary as revolutionary. The same, by the way, is also true of its close neighbour, the Ninth Choral Symphony. In these two huge works, Beethoven did not rework the art of music wholesale as some would have you believe, but developed the received traditions and conventions further and faster than they had ever been taken before. None the less, he was working within a long tradition of composing Mass settings with full orchestra when he wrote the Missa Solemnis.
Indeed, the symphonic Mass developed almost hand-in-hand with the Viennese symphony itself, and to demonstrate that you have to look no further than Haydn. Alongside his 104 symphonies, Haydn composed well over a dozen settings of the Mass with orchestras of varying sizes. His church orchestra was no different from the orchestra employed in his symphonies at the same period. Where the Haydn Masses differ from the Baroque models is in the employment of the group of soloists from time to time as a quartet, alternating with the full chorus. Haydn's practice in the use of soloists set a model that continued to be followed by composers for well over a hundred years.
The Great Seven were composed near the end of his career for the nameday of Princess Esterhazy, and are all fine works worth your time. My own favourite, though, is the earlier Missa cellensis (often inaccurately called the "St. Cecilia Mass"). This huge setting (about 65 minutes long) reaches back to the Baroque tradition for its structural model. It's a "cantata mass" in which each of the six sections of the Ordinary is broken into further sub-movements, alternating solos and choral numbers. However, the first movement with its plain slow introduction followed by an allegro that can only be called "jolly" is pure unadulterated Haydn, at his most irrepressibly cheerful.
Already, conventions had grown up around the composition of such Masses, and Haydn duly observes them, notably the use of fugues for such climactic passages as Cum sancto spiritu, Et vitam venturi saeculi, Osanna in excelsis and Dona nobis pacem. There are also marvellous inventions like the dark bass aria (not baritone, bass) of the Agnus Dei. But the general tone of the whole Mass is joyful and energetic, and it's great fun to sing too. For this or any of the Haydn Masses your best bet is the marvellous cycle conducted by Richard Hickox on Chandos Records' Chaconne early music label.
Some years later, the Prince Esterhazy commissioned another nameday Mass for the Princess from none other than Beethoven. It's only because of the monumental Missa Solemnis that Beethoven's Mass in A Major is considered unworthy. That's an unfair judgement, because in any other company it would be acclaimed a masterpiece. It's odd, too, because no one suggests that the grandeur of the Eroica and Choral Symphonies in any way negates the value of # 1 and # 2!
The Mass in A lasts about an hour, and is plainly written within the same received tradition that Haydn and Mozart did so much to establish. It's a more noble, serious work than the Missa Cellensis, and the orchestra carries its fair share of the musical argument alongside the singers. There are the obligatory fugal passages but, like Haydn, Beethoven has put in a fair share of ear-catching innovations and memorable melodies as well. I have a beautiful old DGG recording under Karl Richter, who was a leading choral conductor in Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. His performance is nimble and thoughtful at the same time, and the recorded balance is clear for both orchestra and choir. In the CD reissue it comes coupled with an early-stereo account of the better-known Coronation Mass by Mozart, conducted with great vigour by Igor Markevitch.
The third Mass I want to mention today is a later work from the Romantic era. However, Franz Schubert was plainly working within the same received tradition. His Mass No.6 in E-Flat is another hour-long work, written for a normal Schubert orchestra and choir, and five soloists -- the unusual number includes 2 tenors. Like the other composers I've mentioned today, Schubert uses his soloists from time to time as an ensemble and includes several of the obligatory fugues. Where this Mass scores over the others is in its use of melody. Schubert, ever the supreme melodist, certainly could not switch off his melodic gift just because he was composing to a sacred text. That brings up an interesting point: Schubert's Mass settings are all unusable for the church service because in each case he deliberately omitted the line "et in unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam" from the setting of the Credo. Exactly why he did so is not definitely known, although there has been much speculation about the omission -- certainly not an accidental one!
The centrepiece of this Mass, and one of its most unforgettable moments, is the setting of Et incarnatus est. It opens as a gently lilting 9/8 song for tenor with a typically Schubertian outpouring of lyrical melody. At the second iteration the tenor is joined by a baritone, and then by another tenor, and each of the singers is given a new melody with its own distinctive character which miraculously harmonizes with the others. The music then clouds over and, with no change of tempo or rhythm, rolls right into the restlessly energetic minor-key setting of Crucifixus which rises to a chromatic climax evoking the tragedy of Golgotha.
My recording of this Mass comes on a Telarc CD conducted by the noted American choral conductor
Robert Shaw with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. It comes in harness with the earlier, and even lovelier, chamber-scaled Mass # 2 in F Major. With the splendid performances, and Telarc's realistic sound, this is a record to treasure.
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