Petite messe solennelle

Kyrie: Maestoso

Gloria

Gloira in excelsis Deo: Allegro maestoso –

Laudamus te: Andante mosso –

Gratias: Andante grazioso –

Domine Deus: Allegro giusto –

Qui tollis: Andante –

Quoniam: Allegro maestoso -

Cum Sancto Spiritu: Allegro maestoso

Credo

Credo in unum Deum: Allegro Christiano –

Crucifixus: Andantino sostenuto –

Et resurrexit: Allegro –

Et vitam venturi: Allegro –

Prélude religieux: Andante maesto – Andantino mosso

Sanctus: Andantino mosso

O salutaris: Andante mosso

Agnus Dei: Largo

Rossini wrote the last of his not far short of forty operas in 1829. Why he abandoned the theatre when he was still only in his thirties – Verdi was to go on composing operas until he was eighty – no one really knows. It does seem, however, that after Guillaume Tell, his last operatic masterpiece, Rossini succombed to a debilitating combination of mental and physical illness. Certainly, he needed help from a colleague to finish the first version of the Stabat Mater in 1832 and did not produce a version entirely of his own making until nearly ten years later. While he wrote many shorter pieces (notably those included in the Soirées musicales and the Péchés de vieillesse) the only other major score of his last 39 years, along with the Stabat Mater, was the Petite messe solennelle.

Written in 1863 for the inauguration of a private chapel in the home of rich banking friends in Paris the following year, the Petite messe solennelle is clearly a sincerely intentioned devotional work. That is particularly clear from the original version, scored for four soloists, a chorus of eight voices, two pianos and harmonium (hence the “petite” of the title, which indicates not that it is short but that it is written for a small vocal and instrumental ensemble). The composer’s operatic background is evident even in that version, however, and it is inescapable in the orchestral arrangement which, fearing that someone else might do it after his death, Rossini made in 1867.

Kyrie

Even when the harp in Rossini’s orchestral version is replaced by an organ, as on this occasion, much of the work sound as though written for the opera house – which is one of the qualities that give the work its distinctively appealing character. In some cases one can even imagine an operatic situation to go with the music. In the opening bars, for example, the minor harmonies and stealthy footsteps in the bass could almost signal a secret meeting of conspirators. In fact, they introduce a setting of the Kyrie which, between its mildly operatic outer sections, includes a middle section (“Christe eleison”) scored for unaccompanied chorus and taking the form of a double canon in impeccably traditonal Church style.

Gloria

From its splendidly sonorous beginning and by way of a Laudamus te for solo quartet and a Gratias for solo trio, the Gloria avoids anything overtly operatic until the martial tenor solo Domine Deus which (like the Cujus animam in the Stabat Mater) is either gloriously tuneful or, according to taste, glaringly inappropriate. Furnished with atmospheric introduction – which could well be the beginning of an opera scene set in some enchanted landscape – the Qui tollis is an indulgent duet lovingly written for the sisters Carlotta and Barbara Marchisio sisters, Rossini’s favourite operatic soprano and alto respectively. The Quoniam, a bass solo, is another march of dubious propriety but engaging melodiousness. The compensation, if any is needed, is the closing section, Cum Sancto Spiritu, which, beginning with the same sonorous material as the opening section, is an elaborate and brilliantly eventful double fugue with a particularly exhilarating “Amen.”

Credo

The Credo is often a stumbling block for composers. For Rossini it inspired the most impressive demonstration of his mastery. As an experienced opera composer, he knew that he couldn’t just go through the articles of faith one after the other: he had to create a dramatic structure. His strategy is to begin and punctuate the first part with exclamations of “Credo” from the chorus and, for the sake of variety, alternate choral passages with solo quartets. At the emotional heart of the Credo is a lovely Crucifixis for soprano solo, operatic in style perhaps but no less intensely felt for that. The appropriately exuberant Et resurrexit leads by way of more alternating choral and solo passages to further exclamations of “Credo” and another challenging and highly resourceful double fugue, Et vitam venturi. The movement ends artfully with a very quiet “In unum Deum” from the soloists and a last exclamation of “Credo” from the chorus.

Sanctus

Preceded by a Prélude religieux for solo organ (reflecting Rossini’s recent study of Bach’s preludes and fugues), the Sanctus is enhanced in its meaning by a sustained application of unaccompanied choral and solo textures which are all the more effective for their lack of instrumental support. It is followed by a solo-soprano setting of the Latin hymn O salutaris hostia which is not normally included in the Mass (and was apparently not included in the first performances of the work in 1864 and 1865) but which is welcome here as another example of the composer’s melodic genius.

Agnus Dei

Whatever the arguments about the propriety of Rossini’s style in the Petite messe solennelle, it is beyond argument that he found a miraculous amalgam of Church and opera house in the Agnus Dei. Basically, it is a highly expressive alto solo which, with different words, would not be out of place in an emotionally charged situation in one of his operas. But here the soloist gives way three times to unaccompanied choral pleas of “Dona nobis pacem” and at the climax of the movement chorus and soloist are brought together in such a way as to effct both a symbolic reconciliation of the two styles and a thrilling spiritual conclusion.

Gerald Larner ©2007