The ''Messe solennelle'' (

Solemn Mass Solemn Mass ( la, missa solemnis) is the full ceremonial form of a Mass, predominantly associated with the Tridentine Mass where it is celebrated by a priest with a deacon and a subdeacon,"The essence of high Mass is not the music but the deacon ...

) in

C-sharp minor C-sharp minor is a minor scale based on C, with the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature consists of four sharps. The C-sharp natural minor scale is: : Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale ar ...

, Op. 16, is a

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 ...

by the French composer

Louis Vierne Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...

. He composed it in 1899, scored for choir and two organs. It was published in 1900, before it was first performed at Saint-Sulpice in Paris in December 1901. Although scored for two

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

s, it was later adapted for a single organ, as most churches could not provide two such instruments.

History

In 1899, Vierne set the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

text of the

mass ordinary The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Mass or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. It is contrasted to the '' ...

without the Credo, which makes it a formally a short mass or

missa brevis Missa brevis (plural: Missae breves) is . The term usually refers to a mass composition that is short because part of the text of the Mass ordinary that is usually set to music in a full mass is left out, or because its execution time is relati ...

. He imagined a mass for orchestra, but

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of th ...

, his teacher and organist at Saint-Sulpice in Paris advised him to employ organs, for practical reasons. The mass was first performed at Saint-Sulpice in 1901, on the

Feast of the Immaculate Conception The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, also called Immaculate Conception Day, celebrates the sinless lifespan and Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, celebrate ...

, 8 December. The church has a great organ (''grand orgue'') in its back built by

François-Henri Clicquot François-Henri (also Henry) Clicquot (1732 – 24 May 1790) was a French organ builder and was the grandson of Robert Clicquot and son of Louis-Alexandre Cliquot, who were also noted organ builders. Clicquot was born in Paris, where he later ...

which Aristide Cavaillé-Coll had reconstructed and improved in 1862. The choir organ, in the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, was built by Cavaillé-Coll in 1858. Vierne planned the effect of sound from the far ends of the church. In the premiere, Widor played the main organ, while the composer, who was by then organist at

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris (; meaning "Our Lady of Paris"), referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the Seine River), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris. The cathedral, dedicated to the ...

, played the choir organ. The mass was first published in 1900 by Pérégally & Fils in Paris, dedicated to

Théodore Dubois Clément François Théodore Dubois (24 August 1837 – 11 June 1924) was a French Romantic composer, organist, and music teacher. After study at the Paris Conservatoire, Dubois won France's premier musical prize, the Prix de Rome in 1861. He bec ...

. An arrangement for choir and one organ was made by Zsigmond Szathmáry, as the use of two organs is often not practical. Another arrangement for one organ by Markus Frank Hollingshau was published by Dr. J. Butz.

Structure and music

The mass is structured in five

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 ...

, omitting a Credo. The choir is mostly four-part,

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

, but at times divided further. In the following table of the movements, the markings, keys and

signatures A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

are taken from the choral score, using the symbols for

common time The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

(4/4) and

alla breve ''Alla breve'' also known as cut time or cut common timeis a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of . The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning th ...

. Vierne builds on models by his teacher Widor and of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

, but adds more development of themes and "imaginative expression". He uses repeated rhythmic figures in the accompaniment. The Kyrie opens with "awesome solemnity", while the "mysterious antiphonal harmonies of the Benedictus" were new sounds in French church music, and the Agnus Dei ends, after antiphonal exchange between choir and great organ, serenely in C-sharp major when praying "dona nobis pacem" (Grant us peace).

Recordings

Recordings of the work include a 2009 performance by the Chœur d'Oratorio de Paris at the location of the first performance, who integrate the mass in the music of a complete service, with Saint-Suplice organist Daniel Roth on the great organ and Éric Lebrun of Église Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts on the choir organ. The liturgical chants are performed by the Chœur Gregorien de Paris. The recording has been called "musical and spiritual time-travel".

References

External links

*
Messe solennelle
on data.bnf.fr * * Frédéric Muñoz
La messe de Vierne dans son contexte original
(in French) resmusica.com 16 January 2010
Vierne - Messe Solennelle ut mineur
choeurlouveciennesref.com {{italic title Compositions by Louis Vierne Vierne 1899 compositions Compositions in C-sharp minor