The ''Missa primi toni octo vocum'' 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 ...

setting for double choir composed by

Stefano Bernardi Stefano (or Steffano) Bernardi (18 March 1580 – 15 February 1637), also known as "il Moretto", was an Italian priest, composer and music theorist. Born in Verona and ''maestro di cappella'' at the Verona Cathedral from 1611 to 1622, he later mo ...

in 1630 for the

Salzburg Cathedral , native_name_lang = , image = Salzburg Cathedral 1.jpg , imagesize = , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin map ...

where he was music director.

History

Bernardi was called to serve as music director of the

Salzburg Cathedral , native_name_lang = , image = Salzburg Cathedral 1.jpg , imagesize = , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin map ...

, after positions in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

and

Brixen Brixen (, ; it, Bressanone ; lld, Porsenù or ) is a town in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about north of Bolzano. Geography First mentioned in 901, Brixen is the third largest city and oldest town in the province, and the artistic and ...

. The exact time of his appointment is not known, but it was 1627 at the latest. Bernardi introduced the Italian ''

concertato Concertato is a term in early Baroque music referring to either a ''genre'' or a ''style'' of music in which groups of instruments or voices share a melody, usually in alternation, and almost always over a basso continuo. The term derives from It ...

'' style in Salzburg. The new cathedral building was completed and inaugurated in 1628, and Bernardi composed a

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

for 12 choirs for the occasion. Bernardi composed the ''Missa primi toni octo vocum'' for two four-part choirs (

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 ...

) and

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

for the cathedral in 1630. The only extant complete copy is held by the Salzburg Cathedral archive. Separate individual parts were found in

Einsiedeln Abbey Einsiedeln Abbey (german: Kloster Einsiedeln) is a Benedictine Catholic monastery in the village of Einsiedeln in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. The abbey is dedicated to Our Lady of the Hermits, in recognition of Meinrad of Einsiedeln, a he ...

and in the Mondsee parish.

Music

The mass is structured in five movements: # Kyrie # Gloria # Credo # Sanctus # Agnus. The Sanctus comes without a

Benedictus Benedictus may refer to: Music * ''Benedictus'' (''Song of Zechariah''), the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary * The second part of the Sanctus, part of the Eucharistic prayer * "Benedictus" (Simon & Garfunkel song), a ...

setting. The music of both choirs is mostly in homophony. It was usual at the time to have instruments playing ''

colla parte A variety of musical terms are likely to be encountered in printed scores, music reviews, and program notes. Most of the terms are Italian, in accordance with the Italian origins of many European musical conventions. Sometimes, the special mus ...

'' with the voices, in addition to continuo instruments, as described in ''

Syntagma musicum ''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research sources ...

'' by

Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...

. A motif runs in all movements except the

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 ...

, but it is not known if it was quoted, from a

motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...

or a

madrigal A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th c.) and early Baroque (1600–1750) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the number o ...

. << \new StaffGroup << \new Staff \with \addlyrics \new Staff \with >> >> \layout \midi The Sanctus begins with long chords in the first choir, to which the second choir, after a long rest, adds more moving development. << \new StaffGroup << \new Staff \with \addlyrics \new Staff \with \new Staff \with \addlyrics \new Staff \with >> >> \layout \midi

Publication

A publication in 1914 by Vinzenz Goller, as an appendix of ''Musica Diviny'', omitted the Credo and the basso continuo, changed some of the text, added dynamic marking, and changed the note durations. A critical edition was published, edited by

Armin Kircher Armin Kircher (1966 – 12 October 2015) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Life Born in Kufstein, Austria, Kircher grew up in Breitenbach am Inn and completed his matura in 1985 at the College Borrpmaeum in Salzburg. He led the church musi ...

, in 1993 by Comes in the series ''Denkmäler der Musik in Salzburg''.

Uses

The mass has been performed at places such as

St. Florian Monastery St. Florian Monastery (german: Stift Sankt Florian) is an Augustinian monastery in the town of Sankt Florian, Austria. Founded in the early ninth century, and later refounded by Augustinians in the eleventh century, St. Florian is the largest monas ...

in Linz. The Dommusik of Carinthia at the

Klagenfurt Cathedral Klagenfurt Cathedral (german: Klagenfurter Dom; Dom- und Stadtpfarrkirche Hll. Petrus und Paulus) is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt and also the main parish church of Klagenfurt. It was built by Protestants and de ...

used the mass to celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2012. Christmas 2013 was celebrated with the mass at the

Speyer Cathedral , native_name_lang = German , image = Speyer_dom_11.jpg , imagesize = 280px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption = , pushpin ma ...

. It was performed in 2022 for the

livestream Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...

service on Easter Sunday at in

Feldkirchen in Kärnten Feldkirchen in Kärnten ( sl, Trg) is a town in the Austrian state of Carinthia and the capital of the district of the same name. It consists of the Katastralgemeinden ''Fasching'', ''Feldkirchen'', ''Glanhofen'', ''Gradisch'', ''Hoefling'', ''K ...

References

{{Authority control Masses (music) 1630 works