10/17, Saturday, 10am.
Seattle Bach Festival's education lecture on
Bach's B minor Mass.
Speaker Miguel Rodé talked the history of chant in churches, mass as a musical avenue by itself,
structure of Bach's Mass, the arrangement of voices and instrument, and their relations to the text.
He also played parts of the recording and pointing at the score at the same time to illustrate the interpretation.
He spoke non-stop for over 2 hours.
Here're some notes from his slides:
History of Mass as a music form Pre-Paroque ● 9-11th centuries: surviving written chants of sections of the Ordinary. Proper also sung in chant. ● 11-13th centuries: first polyphonic settings. Composers' focus on the ordinary starts developing ● 14th century: first complete settings - Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame, -1360 ● 15-16th centuries: "golden age" of the polyphonic Mass (Dufay, Ockeghem, Jasquin, Palestrina) 17-early 18th centuries ● Styistic diversity. stile antigo (prima pratica) <-> stile moderno (or "concerted") (seconda pratica) ● Vienna (Caldara, Conti) and Dresden (Heinichen, Zelenka. Hasse): Mass absorbs operatic and concerto eiements, choral segments, ceremonial splendor. Text starts to get divided into movements. ● Bach synthesizes all these layers The tradition continues ● Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven begin to create tension with the use of the musical Mass in the liturgy ● Romantic camposers (Schubert. Bruckner), and bevond, bring the tradition forward Genesis of the Mass in B minor ● "unrelated precedents": Four "Kyrie + Gloria" masses, BWV 233-236. in the early 1730s; ● 1724 Sanctus - standalone composition for Christmas Day in 1724, with repeated performances in later years. Revised in 1748 for inclusion in the Mass ● 1733 "Missa" (Kyrie + Gloria) - presented to Friednich Augustus II, new Elector of Saxony, in hope of obtaining the Dresden "court composer" title (granted 3 years later, in 1736) ● Symbolum Nicenum and Osanna/Benedictus/Agnus Dei/Dona nobis pacem --1748 / 1749 Organized in 4 "fascicles" #1 Missa (Kyrie + Gloria) #2 "Symbolum Nicenum" (Credo) #3 "Sanctus" #4 "Osanna, Benedictus, Agnus Dei, Dona nobis pacem"I'm not a fan of Bach, but thouroughly enjoyed this lecture. It increased my appreciation of Bach's artistry. I immediately signed up for the next 2 lectures on Seattle Bach Festival's website. Surprisingly the lecturer Miguel Rodé is an IT professional. But his enthusiasm is palpable.
