Messa (Puccini)

*Messa*
Messa
Mass by Giacomo Puccini
	The composer
Other name	Messa di Gloria
Occasion	graduation exercise
Performed	12 July 1880: Lucca
Movements	six
Scoring	tenor; baritone; SATB choir; orchestra;

Giacomo Puccini's Messa or Messa a quattro voci (currently more widely known under the apocryphal name of Messa di Gloria)^[1] is a Mass composed for orchestra and four-part choir with tenor and baritone soloists. Strictly speaking, the piece is a full Mass, not a true Messa di Gloria (which contains only the Kyrie and Gloria and omits the Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei).

History

Puccini composed the Mass as his graduation exercise from the Istituto Musicale Pacini. It had its first performance in Lucca on July 12, 1880. However, the Credo had already been written and performed in 1878 and was initially conceived by Puccini as a self-contained work. Puccini never published the full manuscript of the Messa, and although well received at the time, it was not performed again until 1952 (first in Chicago and then in Naples). However, he re-used some of its themes in other works, such as the Agnus Dei in his opera Manon Lescaut and the Kyrie in Edgar.

At the end of World War II, Fr. Dante Del Fiorentino purchased an old copy of the manuscript of the Messa from the Vandini family in Lucca, imagining it was the original score. However, the autograph, in the possession of the Puccini family, was given by his daughter-in-law to Ricordi, Puccini's publishing firm. The ensuing legal battle was finally resolved by dividing the rights to the work between Ricordi and Mills Music (the publishers of Fiorentino's manuscript). ^{[citation needed]}

Structure

Movement	Timing	Title	Movement indication	Solo
Kyrie	5 min.	Kyrie eleison	Larghetto
Gloria	20 min.	Gloria in excelsis Deo	Allegro ma non troppo
		Et in terra pax	Andante
		Laudamus te, benedicimus te	Andante
		Gratias agimus tibi	Andante sostenuto	tenor
		Gloria in excelsis Deo	Tempo I
		Domine Deus	Andante sostenuto
		Qui tollis peccata mundi	Andante mosso
		Quoniam tu solus sanctus	Maestoso
		Cum Sancto Spiritu	Fugue (Allegro)
Credo	16 min.	Credo in unum Deum	Andante
		Et incarnatus	Moderato	tenor
		Crucifixus	Adagio	baritone
		Et resurrexit	Allegro
		Et in Spiritum Sanctum	Tempo I
		Et unam sanctam catholicam	Larghetto
		Et vitam venturi saeculi	Andantino
Sanctus – Benedictus	3 min. 40 s	Sanctus	Andante
Sanctus – Benedictus	3 min. 40 s	Benedictus	Andantino	baritone
Agnus Dei	2 min. 40 s	Agnus Dei	Andantino	tenor, baritone

Recordings

Alfonso Scarano (cond.), Aleš Briscein (tenor), Roman Janál (baritone), Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, 2014
Martin Elmquist (cond.), Marcello Bedoni (tenor), Jeff Speres (baritone), Luxembourg Philarmonia, Classico, 2010
Karl Rathgeber [de] (cond.), Bernhard Schneider (tenor), Christian Schmidt-Timmermann (baritone), Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, 2006
Ingo Schulz (cond.), Daniel Magdal (tenor), Stefan Stoll (baritone), Ölberg chor, 2004
Pier Giorgio Morandi (cond.), Antonello Palombi (tenor), Gunnar Lundberg (baritone), Hungarian Opera Orchestra and Radio Choir, Naxos, 2002
Jürgen Budday (cond.), Willi Stein (tenor), Thomas Pfeiffer (baritone), Kantorei Maulbronn (Choir), South West German Radio Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, K&K Verlagsanstalt, 2001
Antonio Pappano (cond.), Roberto Alagna (tenor), Thomas Hampson (baritone), London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, EMI Classics, 2001
Wilfried Maier (cond.), Rolph Romei (tenor), Guillermo Anzorena (baritone), Schwäbischer Sängerbund, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, 1999
Volker Hempfling [de] (cond.), Kölner Philarmoniker, Motette Records, 1995
András Ligeti (cond.), Dénes Gulyas (tenor), Balazs Poka (baritone), Chœurs de la Radio-Télévision Hongroise, Orchestre Symphonique de Budapest, Hungaroton Classic, 1992
Claudio Scimone (cond.), José Carreras (tenor), Hermann Prey (baritone), The Ambrosian Singers, Philharmonia Orchestra, Erato, 1984
Eliahu Inbal (cond.), Kari Løvaas (soprano),^[2] Werner Hollweg (tenor), Barry McDaniel, Chor des Westdeutschen Rundfunks, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Philips Classics, 1975
Michel Corboz (cond.), William Johns (tenor), Philippe Huttenlocher (baritone), Chœur symphonique et orchestre de la foundation Gulbenkian de Lisbonne, Erato, 1974

Score

Messa di Gloria: Free scores at the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
G. Puccini: Messa di Gloria - published choral score
G. Puccini: Messa di Gloria – version for chamber orchestra

References

^ The mistaken title, Messa di Gloria, was first used in 1951 by the publishers of the first printed edition, Mills Music of New York. See Michele Girardi, Puccini: His International Art, University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 17. ISBN 0-226-29757-8
^ Le solo des soprani du Qui tollis peccata mundi est ici chanté par une soprano solo.

Further sources

Paul Filmer, Programme Notes: Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), Messa di Gloria (1880) (sic), North London Chorus, April 2005.
Gabriella Biagi Ravenni, Breve nota sul nome della Messa, Centro studi Giacomo Puccini, 1999.

[1] The mistaken title, Messa di Gloria, was first used in 1951 by the publishers of the first printed edition, Mills Music of New York. See Michele Girardi, Puccini: His International Art, University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 17. ISBN 0-226-29757-8

[2] Le solo des soprani du Qui tollis peccata mundi est ici chanté par une soprano solo.

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