Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno
Encyclopedia
The Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno is a musical setting of the Ordinary of the Mass
, for 40 and 60 voices, by Florentine
Renaissance
composer Alessandro Striggio
. It probably dates from 1565–6, during the reign of his employer Cosimo I de' Medici. Lost for more than 400 years, it was recently rediscovered in Paris. Most of the mass is for five separate choirs of 8 voices each, with the closing Agnus Dei being for five separate choirs of 12 voices each; all of the voice parts are fully independent. With its huge polychoral forces, climaxing on sixty fully independent parts, it is the largest known polyphonic
composition from the entire era.
The court of the Medici
was long known for its patronage of the arts, including music, and the Medici rulers, from Lorenzo the Magnificent to Cosimo I de' Medici, were particularly noted for their love of music. Keenly aware that their status depended on not only employing the most talented artists and musicians, but having them create spectacular works and having them disseminated, they encouraged composers to write music which exceeded that of their contemporaries in size and scope. During the 1530s and 1540s, Francesco Corteccia
, who was the principal composer for the first part of Cosimo's reign, wrote series of elaborate intermedii
-- groups of madrigal
s designed to be performed between the acts of plays, sung by actors in costume and accompanied by instruments. This musical form was one of the predecessors of opera.
In the realm of sacred music, the desire of the Medici for opulence was no less. Instead of decorating plays with madrigals interspersed between the acts, however, the Medici's court composer – who was Striggio by the 1560s – chose to create works for larger groups of voices than had been attempted before, and to accompany these already massive vocal forces with instruments. His first attempt was apparently the Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno, and some time later he followed this with a 40-voice motet setting, Ecce beatam lucem, a piece which has long been known. Some other gigantic polychoral works from the same time include Thomas Tallis
's famous and often-performed Spem in alium nunquam habui
, for 40 voices, which may have been a response to hearing either the motet or the Mass in 1567; Stefano Rossetto
's 50-voice motet Consolamini popule meus; and Cristofano Malvezzi's 30-voice intermedio for another Medici marriage, O fortunato giorno. Both Rossetto and Malvezzi were associated with the Medici court. Preceding these works was a 40-voice motet produced in Munich in 1564 by Orlande de Lassus
, which has been lost.
When Striggio completed the enormous mass setting, he carried it with him during a diplomatic trip across Europe to strengthen the dynastic relation brought on by the recent marriage of Francesco de' Medici to Johanna of Austria, who was a Habsburg
. His trip consisted of a series of visits to new Medici in-laws, including Maximilian II
, the Holy Roman Emperor. It was necessary to give them something splendid, and this was likely a performance of the colossal 40 and 60 voice mass, along with a copy for their archives. Leaving Florence
in December 1566, he visited Mantua
, and then made the difficult winter trek over the Brenner Pass
, visiting Vienna
, Brno
, Munich
, and Paris
. In June 1567 he made his way to London
with the specific purpose of meeting "the virtuosos in the profession of music that were there" (as he wrote in a letter to Francesco I de' Medici, dated 18 May 1567). While in England, he almost certainly met Thomas Tallis
, and it is now considered likely that the Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno was performed in a private residence – likely the London seat of the Earl of Arundel
, Arundel House
– in order not to offend the authorities (since performance of the Roman Catholic Mass was at that time prohibited in Protestant England).
, the court of Albrecht V
in Munich, the court of Charles IX of France
– all copies had been lost. However, a copy of the mass was made in the early 17th century in France, presumably from the copy Striggio left in Paris for Charles IX. Because of several corruptions and copyist errors both on the manuscript and in the card catalogue, when the enormous document, which had been transferred to Louis XV in 1726, from the library of composer Sébastien de Brossard
, and then passed to the Paris Bibliothèque nationale, the mass was attributed to an "Alessandro Strusco" and the "40 voices" had been amended to "4 voices" (presumably the copyist thought the "40" was in error, and removed the extra zero). It was only in July 2005 that the work was recovered and identified by Davitt Moroney
. Its first performance in modern times was on 17 July 2007 at a Proms
concert in Royal Albert Hall
in London, where it was sung by the BBC Singers and Tallis Scholars
, conducted by Moroney.
The Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno is probably a parody mass
, i.e. one based on a pre-existing polyphonic work, in this case named "Ecco sì beato giorno". However, no song of this name has yet been found: it may be a lost work of Striggio himself, or may even be a reference to his similarly titled 40-voice motet Ecce beatam lucem. The repetition of musical phrases at certain key points in the Mass suggests use of the parody technique, but it has also been suggested that parts of the mass are contrafacta – music originally written with different words.
Like most settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, the work is in five major divisions:
Striggio saves the full complement of 40 and 60 voices for climactic sections. The opening "Kyrie Eleison" begins with only one choir of eight voices; the "Christe Eleison" uses two choirs, totalling 16 voices; and the return of the "Kyrie" brings in yet another choir, totalling 24. The full 40 voices sing together for the first time in the "Gloria", at the words Glorificamus te (we glorify Thee), presenting the work's first climax.
Textural contrasts abound. The "Credo", typically the longest section of any mass setting, uses 40 voices in many places, but intersperses many passages for smaller units. Sections of the mass which normally have a fuller, more exuberant musical setting, such as the "Et Resurrexit" (and He was resurrected) have all 40 voices, while those which more sedate or sorrowful, for example the "Crucifixus", have the smallest groupings (in this case, only eight voices of one choir sing).
The closing "Agnus Dei", with 60 voices in five groups of 12, has more independent parts than any other polyphonic composition of the Renaissance. It begins with all sixty voices entering, one after another, in imitation; once they have all entered, they all sing until the end of the piece, forming a climax to the entire work.
was in attendance; the event was similar to one a year later, described by Massimo Troiano
, in which another Striggio piece for 40 voices was heard. After Munich, the piece was performed in Paris, at the house of Luigi Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, and then it was performed in England, where it was heard by English composer Thomas Tallis
. Only Tallis, however, seems to have been inspired to match or out-do it, with his 40-voice Spem in alium
. In this motet, the singers were probably arranged in a full circle around the listeners. The imitation pattern that begins Spem in alium is the same as that which begins this closing Agnus Dei in the Striggio mass, which has been seen as evidence that it was indeed this piece which Tallis heard in London in 1567.
in March 2011.
Ordinary of the Mass
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Eucharist or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed...
, for 40 and 60 voices, by Florentine
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
Renaissance
Renaissance music
Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance. Defining the beginning of the musical era is difficult, given that its defining characteristics were adopted only gradually; musicologists have placed its beginnings from as early as 1300 to as late as the 1470s.Literally meaning...
composer Alessandro Striggio
Alessandro Striggio
Alessandro Striggio was an Italian composer, instrumentalist and diplomat of the Renaissance. He composed numerous madrigals as well as dramatic music, and by combining the two, became the inventor of madrigal comedy...
. It probably dates from 1565–6, during the reign of his employer Cosimo I de' Medici. Lost for more than 400 years, it was recently rediscovered in Paris. Most of the mass is for five separate choirs of 8 voices each, with the closing Agnus Dei being for five separate choirs of 12 voices each; all of the voice parts are fully independent. With its huge polychoral forces, climaxing on sixty fully independent parts, it is the largest known polyphonic
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
composition from the entire era.
Background
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
was long known for its patronage of the arts, including music, and the Medici rulers, from Lorenzo the Magnificent to Cosimo I de' Medici, were particularly noted for their love of music. Keenly aware that their status depended on not only employing the most talented artists and musicians, but having them create spectacular works and having them disseminated, they encouraged composers to write music which exceeded that of their contemporaries in size and scope. During the 1530s and 1540s, Francesco Corteccia
Francesco Corteccia
Francesco Corteccia was an Italian composer, organist, and teacher of the Renaissance. Not only was he one of the best known of the early composers of madrigals, and an important native Italian composer during a period of domination by composers from the Low Countries, but he was the most...
, who was the principal composer for the first part of Cosimo's reign, wrote series of elaborate intermedii
Intermedio
The intermedio, or intermezzo, in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with music and often dance which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts. It was one of the important predecessors to opera, and an influence on...
-- groups of madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....
s designed to be performed between the acts of plays, sung by actors in costume and accompanied by instruments. This musical form was one of the predecessors of opera.
In the realm of sacred music, the desire of the Medici for opulence was no less. Instead of decorating plays with madrigals interspersed between the acts, however, the Medici's court composer – who was Striggio by the 1560s – chose to create works for larger groups of voices than had been attempted before, and to accompany these already massive vocal forces with instruments. His first attempt was apparently the Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno, and some time later he followed this with a 40-voice motet setting, Ecce beatam lucem, a piece which has long been known. Some other gigantic polychoral works from the same time include Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
's famous and often-performed Spem in alium nunquam habui
Spem in alium
Spem in alium is a forty-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed circa 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. The sacred text has been used as a basis for other choral settings, such as and the...
, for 40 voices, which may have been a response to hearing either the motet or the Mass in 1567; Stefano Rossetto
Stefano Rossetto
Stefano Rossetto was an Italian composer of the late Renaissance, born in Nice, who worked mainly in Florence for the powerful Medici family, and in Munich.-Life:His life has not yet been thoroughly studied...
's 50-voice motet Consolamini popule meus; and Cristofano Malvezzi's 30-voice intermedio for another Medici marriage, O fortunato giorno. Both Rossetto and Malvezzi were associated with the Medici court. Preceding these works was a 40-voice motet produced in Munich in 1564 by Orlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
, which has been lost.
When Striggio completed the enormous mass setting, he carried it with him during a diplomatic trip across Europe to strengthen the dynastic relation brought on by the recent marriage of Francesco de' Medici to Johanna of Austria, who was a Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
. His trip consisted of a series of visits to new Medici in-laws, including Maximilian II
Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II was king of Bohemia and king of the Romans from 1562, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1564 until his death...
, the Holy Roman Emperor. It was necessary to give them something splendid, and this was likely a performance of the colossal 40 and 60 voice mass, along with a copy for their archives. Leaving Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in December 1566, he visited Mantua
Mantua
Mantua is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic, cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the country as a whole...
, and then made the difficult winter trek over the Brenner Pass
Brenner Pass
- Roadways :The motorway E45 leading from Innsbruck via Bolzano to Verona and Modena uses this pass, and is one of the most important north-south connections in Europe...
, visiting Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, Brno
Brno
Brno by population and area is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the administrative centre of the South Moravian Region where it forms a separate district Brno-City District...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. In June 1567 he made his way to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
with the specific purpose of meeting "the virtuosos in the profession of music that were there" (as he wrote in a letter to Francesco I de' Medici, dated 18 May 1567). While in England, he almost certainly met Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
, and it is now considered likely that the Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno was performed in a private residence – likely the London seat of the Earl of Arundel
Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel
Henry FitzAlan, 19th Earl of Arundel was an English nobleman, who over his long life assumed a prominent place at the court of all the later Tudor sovereigns, probably the only person to do so.-Court career:...
, Arundel House
Arundel House
Arundel House was a town-house or palace located between the Strand and the Thames, near St Clement Danes.It was originally the town house of the Bishops of Bath and Wells, during the Middle Ages. In 1539 it was given to William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton...
– in order not to offend the authorities (since performance of the Roman Catholic Mass was at that time prohibited in Protestant England).
Loss and recovery
After Striggio's exhausting 1567 European tour with his work, it disappeared for more than four centuries. While he left copies of it at several locations he visited – the court of Maximilian II, Holy Roman EmperorMaximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian II was king of Bohemia and king of the Romans from 1562, king of Hungary and Croatia from 1563, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation from 1564 until his death...
, the court of Albrecht V
Albert V, Duke of Bavaria
Albert V was Duke of Bavaria from 1550 until his death. He was born in Munich to William IV and Marie Jacobaea of Baden.-Early life:Albert was educated at Ingolstadt under good Catholic teachers...
in Munich, the court of Charles IX of France
Charles IX of France
Charles IX was King of France, ruling from 1560 until his death. His reign was dominated by the Wars of Religion. He is best known as king at the time of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre.-Childhood:...
– all copies had been lost. However, a copy of the mass was made in the early 17th century in France, presumably from the copy Striggio left in Paris for Charles IX. Because of several corruptions and copyist errors both on the manuscript and in the card catalogue, when the enormous document, which had been transferred to Louis XV in 1726, from the library of composer Sébastien de Brossard
Sébastien de Brossard
Sébastien de Brossard was a French music theorist.Brossard was born in Dompierre, Orne. After studying philosophy and theology at Caen, he studied music and established himself in Paris in 1678 and remained there until 1687. He briefly was the private tutor of the young son of Nicolas-Joseph...
, and then passed to the Paris Bibliothèque nationale, the mass was attributed to an "Alessandro Strusco" and the "40 voices" had been amended to "4 voices" (presumably the copyist thought the "40" was in error, and removed the extra zero). It was only in July 2005 that the work was recovered and identified by Davitt Moroney
Davitt Moroney
Davitt Moroney is a British-born and educated musicologist, harpsichordist and organist. His parents were of Irish and Italian extraction – his father was an executive with the Anglo-Dutch Unilever conglomerate...
. Its first performance in modern times was on 17 July 2007 at a Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
concert in Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London, where it was sung by the BBC Singers and Tallis Scholars
Tallis Scholars
The Tallis Scholars are a British vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers.Formed in 1973 by their director Peter Phillips, they specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music written during the Renaissance by composers from all over Europe...
, conducted by Moroney.
Music
Unlike the massive polychoral compositions of the Venetian School, in which performance groupings were positioned in lofts across from each other in a large space, the choirs in Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno were probably not meant to be significantly spatially separated. Although Striggio left no performance directions, the most likely arrangement was for the singers to be positioned in a large semicircle, with the instrumentalists in its center, in view of the singers. The exact instruments used, and their number, is not known, but probably varied from performance to performance. An unusual feature of the mass is the existence of two partbooks for a Bassus ad organum, a part which doubles the composite bass line of the entire composition. Presumably Striggio used this as a compositional tool, to keep track of the harmonies as he wrote forty to sixty voice parts above it; it also foreshadowed the development of the basso continuo in the 17th century.The Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno is probably a parody mass
Parody mass
A parody mass is a musical setting of the mass, typically from the 16th century, that uses multiple voices of another pre-existing piece of music, such as a fragment of a motet or a secular chanson, as part of its melodic material. It is distinguished from the two other most prominent types of...
, i.e. one based on a pre-existing polyphonic work, in this case named "Ecco sì beato giorno". However, no song of this name has yet been found: it may be a lost work of Striggio himself, or may even be a reference to his similarly titled 40-voice motet Ecce beatam lucem. The repetition of musical phrases at certain key points in the Mass suggests use of the parody technique, but it has also been suggested that parts of the mass are contrafacta – music originally written with different words.
Like most settings of the Ordinary of the Mass, the work is in five major divisions:
- KyrieKyrieKyrie, a transliteration of Greek κύριε , vocative case of κύριος , meaning "Lord", is the common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, which is also called the Kýrie, eléison ....
– Christe – Kyrie - GloriaGloria in Excelsis Deo"Gloria in excelsis Deo" is the title and beginning of a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology and the Angelic Hymn. The name is often abbreviated to Gloria in Excelsis or simply Gloria.It is an example of the psalmi idiotici "Gloria in excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the highest")...
- CredoCredoA credo |Latin]] for "I Believe") is a statement of belief, commonly used for religious belief, such as the Apostles' Creed. The term especially refers to the use of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed in the Mass, either as text, Gregorian chant, or other musical settings of the...
- SanctusSanctusThe Sanctus is a hymn from Christian liturgy, forming part of the Order of Mass. In Western Christianity, the Sanctus is sung as the final words of the Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer, the prayer of consecration of the bread and wine...
– Benedictus - Agnus Dei
Striggio saves the full complement of 40 and 60 voices for climactic sections. The opening "Kyrie Eleison" begins with only one choir of eight voices; the "Christe Eleison" uses two choirs, totalling 16 voices; and the return of the "Kyrie" brings in yet another choir, totalling 24. The full 40 voices sing together for the first time in the "Gloria", at the words Glorificamus te (we glorify Thee), presenting the work's first climax.
Textural contrasts abound. The "Credo", typically the longest section of any mass setting, uses 40 voices in many places, but intersperses many passages for smaller units. Sections of the mass which normally have a fuller, more exuberant musical setting, such as the "Et Resurrexit" (and He was resurrected) have all 40 voices, while those which more sedate or sorrowful, for example the "Crucifixus", have the smallest groupings (in this case, only eight voices of one choir sing).
The closing "Agnus Dei", with 60 voices in five groups of 12, has more independent parts than any other polyphonic composition of the Renaissance. It begins with all sixty voices entering, one after another, in imitation; once they have all entered, they all sing until the end of the piece, forming a climax to the entire work.
Influence
The enormous work impressed many of its listeners, beginning in Munich, where Orlande de LassusOrlande de Lassus
Orlande de Lassus was a Franco-Flemish composer of the late Renaissance...
was in attendance; the event was similar to one a year later, described by Massimo Troiano
Massimo Troiano
Massimo Troiano was an Italian Renaissance composer, poet, and a brief, but vivid chronicler of life at the court of Bavaria's ruler, Duke Albrecht V in the late 1560s, the only period in which Troiano is known to history.-Life:...
, in which another Striggio piece for 40 voices was heard. After Munich, the piece was performed in Paris, at the house of Luigi Ludovico Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, and then it was performed in England, where it was heard by English composer Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis was an English composer. Tallis flourished as a church musician in 16th century Tudor England. He occupies a primary place in anthologies of English church music, and is considered among the best of England's early composers. He is honoured for his original voice in English...
. Only Tallis, however, seems to have been inspired to match or out-do it, with his 40-voice Spem in alium
Spem in alium
Spem in alium is a forty-part Renaissance motet by Thomas Tallis, composed circa 1570 for eight choirs of five voices each. The sacred text has been used as a basis for other choral settings, such as and the...
. In this motet, the singers were probably arranged in a full circle around the listeners. The imitation pattern that begins Spem in alium is the same as that which begins this closing Agnus Dei in the Striggio mass, which has been seen as evidence that it was indeed this piece which Tallis heard in London in 1567.
Recordings
A commercial recording featuring voices and period instruments was released by the British ensemble I FagioliniI Fagiolini
I Fagiolini is a British vocal ensemble specialising in early music and contemporary music. Founded by Robert Hollingworth at Oxford in 1986, the group won the UK Early Music Network’s Young Artists’ Competition in 1988 and a Royal Philharmonic Society Award in 2006...
in March 2011.
External links
- Complete performance by the Tallis ScholarsTallis ScholarsThe Tallis Scholars are a British vocal ensemble normally consisting of two singers per part, with a core group of ten singers.Formed in 1973 by their director Peter Phillips, they specialise in performing a cappella sacred vocal music written during the Renaissance by composers from all over Europe...
broadcast on BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
, October 28, 2007 (begins at 28:40 following performance and discussion of Tallis' Spem in alium, etc.) [requires Real Player] - "The Pope, the Emperor and the Grand Duke", lecture by Moroney on the piece at Gresham CollegeGresham CollegeGresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...
, 18 June 2007 (available for download as an audio or video file, as well as a text file) - I Fagiolini Striggio Microsite, historical notes and further information about the I Fagiolini recording