Missa Salisburgensis à 53 voci
Encyclopedia
The Missa Salisburgensis à 53 voci is, perhaps, the most large-scale piece of extant sacred Baroque music
, an archetypical work of the Colossal Baroque
. The author of this work is anonymous
, however, recent studies of the work suggest that is almost certainly the work of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Until recently, this Mass
has been considered to have been a composition of Orazio Benevoli
, or, more likely, Andreas Hofer
, Biber's close contemporary and associate. The attribution to Biber is now universally accepted. The sole manuscript source narrowly escaped being used by a greengrocer to wrap vegetables for sale in the 19th century. The work is scored for very large forces and is polychoral in structure.
*Note: in concerto refers to the vocal soloists and in cappella refers to vocal tuttis where extra singers join the soloists in the vocal lines. When the cappella choir is employed, the vocal lines are less complex than the solo parts for the voices in concerto. All of the viole lines are in C clefs and it is unclear whether the composer required instruments from the violin
family, i.e. "violas da braccio" or viols, i.e. violas da gamba on these lines. The four "Flauti" lines require two descant (soprano), treble (alto), and tenor recorders. The "Trombettæ" are natural trumpets in C. The two "Clarini" are soloistic trumpet parts, composed predominantly for the highest octave
of the natural trumpet
.
. The vocal parts feature in concerto (soloists) and in cappella (the full choir) parts across the sixteen vocal lines. However, several times in the Mass, the composer "collapses" all the voices into simple four part harmony (SATB) and uses some of the instrumental groups, the cornetto
and trombone
choir, in particular, to play in unison with the human voices. The work is in C major
throughout - necessitated by the used of ten clarino trumpets in C
. All the instruments have solo sections except the two oboes, which always play in unison
with the first and second flauti (recorder
s).
The work is stylistically similar to Biber's Vesperæ à 32 voci, and the Te Deum Laudamus à 23 voci of Andreas Hofer
.
The appendix of the score, housed in Salzburg's Carolino Augusteum Museum, contains the equally scored hymn
Plaudite tympana, that accompanies the mass.
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
, an archetypical work of the Colossal Baroque
Colossal Baroque
The Colossal Baroque style is a name which has been coined to describe a number of compositions from the 17th and 18th centuries composed in an opulent, magnificent and large-scaled style. Such works frequently make use of polychoral techniques and often feature instrumental forces considerably...
. The author of this work is anonymous
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
, however, recent studies of the work suggest that is almost certainly the work of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber. Until recently, this Mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
has been considered to have been a composition of Orazio Benevoli
Orazio Benevoli
Orazio Benevoli or Benevolo , was an Italian composer of large scaled polychoral sacred choral works; one work featured 48 vocal and instrumental lines....
, or, more likely, Andreas Hofer
Andreas Hofer (composer)
Andreas Hofer was a German composer of the Baroque age.Hofer was born at Reichenhall. He was a contemporary of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, whose predecessor he was in Salzburg in his office of Inspector and "Hofkapellmeister", i.e. director of the court orchestra. Like Biber, Hofer was...
, Biber's close contemporary and associate. The attribution to Biber is now universally accepted. The sole manuscript source narrowly escaped being used by a greengrocer to wrap vegetables for sale in the 19th century. The work is scored for very large forces and is polychoral in structure.
Scoring
The work is scored thus:- Choro I: SSSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
AAAltoAlto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...
TTTenorThe tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
BB in concerto* & in cappella*, Organo - Choro II: 2 Violini, 4 Viole
- Choro III: 4 FlautiRecorderThe recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
, 2 OboiOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, 2 ClariniClarinois the brand name of a synthetic leather-like material, commonly used in gloves, footwear, handbags, and law enforcement duty gear. Versions are made that simulate suede and top-grain leather. It is manufactured by Kuraray Co., Ltd...
* (the oboe parts may have been added later; both parts appear to have been simply copied from the Flauto I and Flauto II lines, and there are no oboe solosSolo (music)In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
in the entire MassMassMass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
) - Choro IV: 2 CornettCornettThe cornett, cornetto or zink is an early wind instrument, dating from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods. It was used in what are now called alta capellas or wind ensembles. It is not to be confused with the trumpet-like instrument cornet.-Construction:There are three basic types of...
i, 3 TromboniTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
(each of the cornetto parts are almost certainly intended to be played on the CornettinoCornettinoThe cornettino was the descant instrument of the cornetto family. Cornettini usually featured a primary scale of C or D major, with middle C or the adjacent D the pedal note of the instrument. The regular cornett was the 'treble' instrument of the family....
) - Choro V: SSAATTBB in concerto & in cappella
- Choro VI: 2 Violini, 4 Viole
- Loco I: 4 TrombettæTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, TimpaniTimpaniTimpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet... - Loco II: 4 Trombettæ, Timpani
- OrganoOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
e Basso continuo
*Note: in concerto refers to the vocal soloists and in cappella refers to vocal tuttis where extra singers join the soloists in the vocal lines. When the cappella choir is employed, the vocal lines are less complex than the solo parts for the voices in concerto. All of the viole lines are in C clefs and it is unclear whether the composer required instruments from the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
family, i.e. "violas da braccio" or viols, i.e. violas da gamba on these lines. The four "Flauti" lines require two descant (soprano), treble (alto), and tenor recorders. The "Trombettæ" are natural trumpets in C. The two "Clarini" are soloistic trumpet parts, composed predominantly for the highest octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
of the natural trumpet
Natural trumpet
A natural trumpet is a valveless brass instrument that is able to play the notes of the harmonic series.-History:The natural trumpet was used as a military instrument to facilitate communication ....
.
Styles and compositional techniques
The Missa Salisburgensis is a polychoral composition which takes advantage of the multiple organs and various locations available for groups of singers and musicians to perform in Salzburg Cathedral, probably for the 1682 celebrations marking the 1100th anniversary of the founding of the Archbishopric of SalzburgArchbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
. The vocal parts feature in concerto (soloists) and in cappella (the full choir) parts across the sixteen vocal lines. However, several times in the Mass, the composer "collapses" all the voices into simple four part harmony (SATB) and uses some of the instrumental groups, the cornetto
Cornetto
Cornetto may refer to* Cornett, a Renaissance period musical wind instrument* Cornetto , a branded frozen ice cream cone* Cornetto Italian word for Croissant, typically to be consumed with Cappuccino....
and trombone
Trombone
The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
choir, in particular, to play in unison with the human voices. The work is in C major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
throughout - necessitated by the used of ten clarino trumpets in C
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
. All the instruments have solo sections except the two oboes, which always play in unison
Unison
In music, the word unison can be applied in more than one way. In general terms, it may refer to two notes sounding the same pitch, often but not always at the same time; or to the same musical voice being sounded by several voices or instruments together, either at the same pitch or at a distance...
with the first and second flauti (recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
s).
The work is stylistically similar to Biber's Vesperæ à 32 voci, and the Te Deum Laudamus à 23 voci of Andreas Hofer
Andreas Hofer (composer)
Andreas Hofer was a German composer of the Baroque age.Hofer was born at Reichenhall. He was a contemporary of Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, whose predecessor he was in Salzburg in his office of Inspector and "Hofkapellmeister", i.e. director of the court orchestra. Like Biber, Hofer was...
.
The appendix of the score, housed in Salzburg's Carolino Augusteum Museum, contains the equally scored hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
Plaudite tympana, that accompanies the mass.
Recordings
- Otto Schneider Festival Concert Orchestra, St. Anthony Cathedral Choir, Hugo Schmid, organ, directed by Otto Schneider. Musical Heritage Society LP MHS 503 S (1950s)
- Escolania de MontserratL'EscolaniaL'Escolania choir school is a boys' choir of sopranos and altos based at the Benedictine abbey Santa Maria de Montserrat near Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain...
, Tölzer KnabenchorTölzer KnabenchorThe Tölzer Knabenchor is a boys' choir with roots in the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz.The choir group is still led by director and singing master Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, who founded the choir in 1956 when he was only nineteen years old. The founder was once a student of Carl Orff's and worked with him...
, Collegium Aureum directed by Ireneu Segarra. Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD RD77050 (1974) - Musica Antiqua KölnMusica Antiqua KölnMusica Antiqua Köln was an early music group that was founded in 1973 by Reinhard Goebel and fellow students from the Conservatory of Music in Cologne. Musica Antiqua Köln devoted itself largely to the performance of the music of the 17th and 18th centuries...
directed by Reinhard GoebelReinhard GoebelReinhard Goebel is a German conductor and violinist specialising in early music on authentic instruments. Goebel received his first violin lessons at the age of twelve...
, Gabrieli Consort & Players directed by Paul McCreeshPaul McCreeshPaul McCreesh is an English conductor.Paul McCreesh is founder and artistic director of the Gabrieli Consort & Players, with whom he has established himself at the highest level in the period instrument field; he is recognised for his authoritative and innovative performances on the concert...
. Archiv Produktion CD 457 611-2 (1998) - Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & ChoirAmsterdam Baroque Orchestra & ChoirThe Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir is a Dutch early-music group based in Amsterdam.The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir was created in two stages by the conductor, organist and harpsichordist Ton Koopman. He founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in...
directed by Ton KoopmanTon KoopmanTon Koopman is a conductor, organist and harpsichordist.Koopman had a "classical education" and then studied the organ , harpsichord and musicology in Amsterdam...
. Erato CD 3984 25506 2 (1998) - La Stagione Armonica directed by Sergio Balestracci. Amadeus "Speciale" 173