The Mass in E, Op. 5, is a choral work by American composer
Amy Beach. It was the first
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 ...
written by an American woman and Beach's first acclaimed composition. The Mass is a 75-minute work for chorus,
quartet
In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations o ...
, organ, and orchestra.
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Composition
Beach began work on her Mass in E-flat in 1886.
The Handel and Haydn Society premiered the Mass in Boston in 1892. The same group had performed Luigi Cherubini
Luigi Cherubini ( ; ; 8 or 14 SeptemberWillis, in Sadie (Ed.), p. 833 1760 – 15 March 1842) was an Italian Classical and Romantic composer. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the gre ...
's ''Deuxième Messe Solenelle'' in D minor in 1883 and played selections from Bach's Mass in B minor
The Mass in B minor (), BWV 232, is an extended setting of the Mass ordinary by Johann Sebastian Bach. The composition was completed in 1749, the year before the composer's death, and was to a large extent based on earlier work, such as a Sanctu ...
in 1887. There are parallels in overall structure, and in some phrases, between Beach's Mass and Cherubini's.Gloria
Gloria may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music
* Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise
* Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise
** Gloria (Handel)
** Gloria (Jenkins) ...
in 4 movements, Credo in 4 movements, Sanctus
The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition.
In Western Christianity, the ...
, and Agnus Dei
is the Latin name under which the " Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and ...
. Written in a Romantic style, the Mass is rich in harmony and tonality. It was praised for its contrast in instrumentation and the solos for harp, cello, English horn, and oboe.
Beach was apparently unfamiliar with how Latin is stressed, as accents in the music may not agree with those in expected in words such as 'altissimus'.
Influences
In movements of the Gloria, most prominently in the "Quoniam," Beach uses double-dotted rhythms that also appear in Cherubini's Kyrie.[Block, 1998, p. 65] These rhythms give a march-like quality to the movement. They are paired with trumpets and drums to evoke a sense of the Church Militant
In some strains of Christian theology, the Christian Church may be divided into:
*the Church Militant (), also called the Church Pilgrim which consists of Christians on earth who struggle as Miles Christianus, soldiers of Christ against Christia ...
. Beach's frequently modulates to third-related keys, as in "Laudamus te", in which she uses the keys of E major, G major, E minor, and C major. Beach frequently uses C major to indicate heaven or light; here, it refers to divinity.
Reception
The premiere in 1892 was reviewed in 27 newspapers, 18 in Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and 9 "out of town." One criticism was that the opening solo trio in the "Laudamus te" had "pitch and ensemble problems." These may have been due to insufficient instrumental support, or the fact that this was a first performance.[Block,1998, p. 71] In general, critics agreed that the work placed Beach "among the foremost rank of American composers."[
One recording of Beach's Mass, by the Michael May Festival Chorus in 1989, was made without a full orchestra. The performance was criticized for inaccurate tempos, inappropriate rearrangements, and overall interpretation.][Block, 1992.] No scholarly reviews have been made of the other recording, from 1995, by the Stow Festival Chorus and Orchestra.
Discography
*Amy Beach: Grand Mass in E major. Performed by the Michael May Festival Chorus. Compact disc, 1989, Newport Classic 60008
*Amy Beach: Grand Mass in E major. Performed by the Stow Festival Chorus and Orchestra. Albany Records, 1995, TROY 179
References
Sources
*Fried Block, Adrienne: ''Amy Beach, Passionate Victorian: The Life and Work of an American Composer, 1867-1944''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
*Fried Block, Adrienne: "St. Peter: an oratorio and Grand Mass in E Major" (in Record Reviews) ''American Music'', Vol. 10, No. 2 (Summer, 1992), pp. 229–232. (''St. Peter'': an Oratorio is a work by John Knowles Paine, 1839-1906)
External links
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1886 compositions
Beach
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...
Compositions by Amy Beach