Sunday, 26 May '24 No other composer expresses so magnificently the mass as the dramatic public confession of faith -- and perhaps nowhere in his work the urgency of this confession. - -
In the last decade of Zelenka's life, during which he composed the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis, in 1736, was overshadowed not only by the lack of recognition for his work but also by his increasingly weak state of health. The sombre background mood of the work - even the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" is in a minor key - only occasionally lightens. After his death, Zelenka soon fell into obscurity for the most part; his works, however, are almost completely preserved in the Saxon State Library Dresden. Only a few sources are to be found in other places. Among Zelenka’s twenty or so musical settings for the Ordinary Liturgy, the five late masses stand out. The series begins with the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis", composed in 1736, and ends with the "Missa Omnium Sanctorum" in 1741. The orchestration in the late masses may be on a small scale but the works themselves are wide-ranging and varied in form: great concertante choral movements are interspersed with impressive choral fugues, extended solo arias and solo ensemble movements. In the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis Zelenka does not subordinate himself either to the requirements of court prestige or to the restrictions arising from the integration of the mass into the liturgy. The instrumental ensemble is - as in almost all Zelenka’s late works - reduced to chamber music dimensions with two violins and supporting oboes, viola and basso continuo. Solo obbligato instruments such as transverse flutes /in No. 2, Christe eleison, and No. 6, Quoniam tu solus Sanctus/ as well as a chalumeau /in No. 17, Agnus Dei I/ supplement this ensemble. This instrument, which was occasionally used in the early 18th century, had a simple reed and cylindrical pipe and is considered a forerunner of the clarinet.
Suggestions regarding the chalumeau: "single" reed would be better and perhaps "cylindrical bore." For more: th-cam.com/video/riIpboxWv3U/w-d-xo.html - -
Other Masses (Z.1-23) > th-cam.com/play/PLBbL1YJd7_Wr4NRfNe9APKP147z9ok0sV.html
Sunday, 26 May '24
No other composer expresses so magnificently the mass as the dramatic public confession of faith -- and perhaps nowhere in his work the urgency of this confession.
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❤❤❤❤❤❤
What a masterpiece!
In the last decade of Zelenka's life, during which he composed the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis, in 1736, was overshadowed not only by the lack of recognition for his work but also by his increasingly weak state of health. The sombre background mood of the work - even the "Gloria in excelsis Deo" is in a minor key - only occasionally lightens. After his death, Zelenka soon fell into obscurity for the most part; his works, however, are almost completely preserved in the Saxon State Library Dresden. Only a few sources are to be found in other places.
Among Zelenka’s twenty or so musical settings for the Ordinary Liturgy, the five late masses stand out. The series begins with the "Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis", composed in 1736, and ends with the "Missa Omnium Sanctorum" in 1741. The orchestration in the late masses may be on a small scale but the works themselves are wide-ranging and varied in form: great concertante choral movements are interspersed with impressive choral fugues, extended solo arias and solo ensemble movements.
In the Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis Zelenka does not subordinate himself either to the requirements of court prestige or to the restrictions arising from the integration of the mass into the liturgy. The instrumental ensemble is - as in almost all Zelenka’s late works - reduced to chamber music dimensions with two violins and supporting oboes, viola and basso continuo. Solo obbligato instruments such as transverse flutes /in No. 2, Christe eleison, and No. 6, Quoniam tu solus Sanctus/ as well as a chalumeau /in No. 17, Agnus Dei I/ supplement this ensemble. This instrument, which was occasionally used in the early 18th century, had a simple reed and cylindrical pipe and is considered a forerunner of the clarinet.
Suggestions regarding the chalumeau: "single" reed would be better and perhaps "cylindrical bore."
For more: th-cam.com/video/riIpboxWv3U/w-d-xo.html
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so good...