Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

composed his Mass between 1944 and 1948. This 19-minute setting of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

exhibits the austere, Neoclassic, anti- Romantic aesthetic that characterizes his work from about 1923 to 1951. The Mass also represents one of only a handful of extant pieces by Stravinsky that was not commissioned. Part of the motivation behind its composition has been cited by

Robert Craft Robert Lawson Craft (October 20, 1923 – November 10, 2015) was an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate professional relationship with Igor Stravinsky, on which Craft drew in producing numerous recordings and books. ...

and others as the product of a spiritual necessity, as Stravinsky intended the work to be used functionally.

History

Stravinsky completed the Gloria on December 20, 1944 and finished the Kyrie at about the same time. His work on the Mass was then interrupted for several years in which his wrote his

Symphony in Three Movements The Symphony in Three Movements is a work by Russian expatriate composer Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky wrote the symphony from 1942–45 on commission by the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York. It was premièred by the New York Philharmoni ...

, '' Ebony Concerto'', Concerto in D, and the ballet ''

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with Jaso ...

''. He resumed work on it in the fall of 1947 and completed it March 15, 1948. On February 26, 1947,

Irving Fine Irving Gifford Fine (December 3, 1914 – August 23, 1962) was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neoclassical, romantic, and serial elements. Composer Virgil Thomson described Fine's "unusual melodic grace" while Aaron Copland noted ...

conducted the Kyrie and Gloria, accompanied by two pianos. The first complete performance occurred on October 27, 1948 in Milan.

Ernest Ansermet Ernest Alexandre Ansermet (; 11 November 1883 – 20 February 1969)"Ansermet, Ernest" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 435. was a Swiss conductor. Biography Ansermet ...

conducted members of the chorus and orchestra of La Scala.

Orchestration

The work is scored for mixed

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

and an ensemble of wind instruments comprising two

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. A ...

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...

, two

bassoon The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...

s, two

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, and three

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

s. There is also some minor solo material (often sung by members of the choir) in the second and fourth (Gloria and Sanctus)

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

. Stravinsky specifies in the score that "children's voices should be employed" for both the

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and

alto The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: ''altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In 4-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in choruses by ...

parts, but, as with Stravinsky's ''

Symphony of Psalms The ''Symphony of Psalms'' is a choral symphony in three movements composed by Igor Stravinsky in 1930 during his neoclassical period. The work was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orch ...

'', concert performances of the Mass usually employ adult singers.

Structure

Like his 1955 work ''

Canticum Sacrum ''Canticum Sacrum ad Honorem Sancti Marci Nominis'' is a 17-minute choral-orchestral piece composed in 1955 by Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) in tribute "To the City of Venice, in praise of its Patron Saint, the Blessed Mark, Apostle." The piec ...

'', the Mass forms a symmetrical plan on a large scale. The outer movements (the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei) contain homophonic choral statements with instrumental interludes, and share a tonal vocabulary including

octatonic An octatonic scale is any eight-Musical note, note musical scale. However, the term most often refers to the symmetric scale composed of alternating major second, whole and semitone, half steps, as shown at right. In classical theory (in contras ...

diatonic Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize Scale (music), scales, and are also applied to musical instruments, Interval (music), intervals, Chord (music), chords, Musical note, notes, musical sty ...

, and modal

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

. By contrast, movements 2 and 4 (the Gloria and the Sanctus) feature florid solo lines which alternate with the choral statements, and the harmony is more recognizably and consistently diatonic.Edward Lundergan. "Modal Symmetry and Textural Symbolism in the Credo of the Stravinsky Mass. ''Choral Journal'' 45, no. 8 (March 2006): 9. The central movement, the Credo, is the longest. It features static, syllabic, and declamatory text-setting with a limited harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary. The final movement, Agnus Dei, obeys tradition of allowing for repeats by using a double wind quintet ritornello to break up vocal parts, essentially meaning the movement can start over as many times as necessary. Long stretches of text often repeat a single chord, evoking the

reciting tone In chant, a reciting tone (also called a recitation tone) can refer to either a repeated musical pitch or to the entire melodic formula for which that pitch is a structural note. In Gregorian chant, the first is also called tenor, dominant or tuba ...

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

or the

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

liturgical

chant A chant (from French ', from Latin ', "to sing") is the iterative speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two main pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes ...

that Stravinsky would have known from his childhood in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Clear setting of the text is favored over an expressive interpretation of its meaning, as is the tradition for conservative mass music. The music features examples of

polyvalency In chemistry, polyvalency (or polyvalence, multivalency) is the property of chemical species (generally atoms or molecules) that exhibit more than one valence by forming multiple chemical bonds (Fig. 1). A bivalent species can form two bonds; ...

.Leeuw, Ton de (2005). ''Music of the Twentieth Century'', p.88. .

Faith

Stravinsky chose to compose this Roman Catholic Mass despite his own Orthodox faith. He stated that this was because: :“I wanted my Mass to be used liturgically, an outright impossibility as far as the Russian Church was concerned, as Orthodox tradition proscribes musical instruments in its services- and as I can endure unaccompanied singing in only the most harmonically primitive music.” Michael Steinberg. "Igor Stravinsky: Mass." ''Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 272. Stravinsky also said of the Credo: :“One composes a march to facilitate marching men, so with my Credo I hope to provide an aid to the text. The Credo is the longest movement. There is much to believe.”

Recordings

Below is a list of recordings—ordered alphabetically by conductor—of the Mass as of 2016. * Ančerl, Karel, dir. 1967 (re-released 2004). ''Stravinsky: Les Noces/Mass/Cantata'', from Ančerl Gold Edition 32. Czech Philharmonic Orchestra & Prague Philharmonic Choir. Supraphon 3692, CD. * Bernstein, Leonard, dir. 1988. ''Stravinsky: Les Noces/Mass''. English Bach Festival Chorus & Orchestra, and the Trinity Boys Choir. Deutsche Grammophon 20th Century Classics ADD 0289-423-2512-8-GC, compact disc. * Craft, Robert, dir. 2006. ''Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Three Russian Sacred Choruses/Mass/Cantata/Babel''. The Gregg Smith Singers, Orchestra of St. Luke, and Philharmonia Orchestra. Naxos 8.557504, compact disc. * Davis, Colin, dir. 1963 (re-released 2007). ''Stravinsky: Cantata/Mass''. English Chamber Orchestra, and St. Anthony Singers. Deutsche Grammophon ADD 0289-475-8716-3-DH, compact disc. *Ferguson, Duncan, dir. 2016. ''Stravinsky: Choral Works''. Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh. Delphian Records Ltd DCD34164, compact disc. * Herreweghe, Philippe, dir. 2010. ''Igor Stravinsky: Monumentum/Mass/Symphonie de Psaumes, J.S. Bach/Stravinsky: Choral-Variationen''. Collegium Vocale Gent, and the Royal Flemish Philharmonic. Pentatone Classics PTC 5186349, compact disc. * Higginbottom, Edward, dir. 2005. ''Twentieth Century Masters · Volume 3: Copland and His American Contemporaries''. Choir of New College Oxford and instrumentalists. Avie AV2086, compact disc. * Leeuw, Reinbert de, dir. 1999. ''Stravinsky: Sacred Choral Works''. Netherlands Chamber Choir, and the Schönberg Ensemble. Philips 454477, compact disc. * Marlow, Richard, dir. 1995. ''Stravinsky: Mass & Gesualdo: Responsoria''. The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge, London Musici. Conifer 51232, compact disc. * O’Donnell, James, dir. 1993. ''Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Mass/Canticum Sacrum''. The Choir of Westminster Cathedral, and City of London Sinfonia. Hyperion CDA 66437. * Preston, Simon, dir. 2008. ''Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms/Canticum Sacrum/Mass, Poulenc: Motets''. Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Philip Jones Wind Ensemble, London Sinfonietta. London Decca 430346, compact disc. * Reuss, Daniel, dir. 2006. ''Stravinsky: Les Noces/Mass/Cantata''. RIAS Kammerchor and musikFabrik. harmonia mundi HMC 801913, compact disc. *

Stravinsky, Igor Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

, dir. 1960/2007. ''Works of Igor Stravinsky''. Columbia Symphony Orchestra, and Gregg Smith Singers. Sony-BMG 88697–103112, compact disc. 2-disc box set, Mass recording on CD #20*

, dir. 1950. Double Wind Quintet and Chorus of Men and Boys, Warren Foley, chorus master, mono recording, "HMV" La Voix De Son Maitre FBLP 1012, RCA Victor Red Seal LM-17

References

{{Authority control Compositions by Igor Stravinsky

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...

1948 compositions