Mass (Jongen)

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Mass
by
Mass ordinary
LanguageLatin
Composed1945 (1945) / 1949 (Credo)
DedicationAlphonse Jongen
Performed23 June 1946 (1946-06-23)
Published1990 (1990)
Movementssix
Scoring
  • choir
  • brass
  • organ

The Mass,

Mass ordinary by Joseph Jongen for choir, brass band and organ. Jongen composed it in 1945 in memory of his brother Alphonse. The full title is Messe en l'honeur du Saint-Sacrement. Five movements were first performed in 1946 at the Liège Cathedral. The work was published by Oxford University Press
in 1990.

History

The Belgian composer

Corpus Christi in Liège.[1]

During world War II, Jongen could not compose anything from August 1944, due to the depressing circumstances of his life at the time. His brother Alphonse who had been a

canon at the Liège Cathedral and to whom he had been close, died after surgery.[2][1] His son Jacques was arrested by the Gestapo. Jacques was freed again in March 1945, and Jongen wrote later: "It was then that I began to write the Mass."[1]

Jongen completed the Mass at

Blessed Sacrament.[2]

The Mass was first performed on Corpus Christi, 23 June 1946, during a

pontifical mass at the Cathédrale Saint-Paul de Liège, conducted by the composer.[2] The work is also known as Messe de la Fête-Dieu, after the feast day.[1]

Jongen completed it to a setting of the full mass by adding the Credo in 1949. It was published by Oxford University Press in 1990.[2]

Structure, scoring and music

The mass is structured in six movements.[2] All four voices SATB are at times divided, mostly in homophony. The voices are marked "solo" at the beginning of the Benedictus. The brass ensemble consists of two trumpets, four horns, three trombones and tuba.[2]

In the following table of the movements, the markings and time signatures are taken from the vocal score.[2][3]

Incipit Voices Marking Key Time
Kyrie SATB Modéré G minor common time
Gloria
 SATTBB Allegro (ma moderato) D major 3/4
Credo SATB Allegro moderato D major 2/2
Sanctus S A T B SATB Maestoso (Fanfare) D major common time
Benedictus
 SATB Andantino (non troppo mosso) G major 12/8
Agnus dei
 SATB Grave E minor common time

Alexis inspired several musical features of the Mass, such including elements from

fugato for "Pleni sunt caeli" of the Sanctus, and counterpoint in the voices in the "Cum Sancto Spiritu" of the Gloria and the "Et resurrexit" of the Credo. Links between movements are subtle, "often texturally rather than thematically related".[1]

Performance and recording

The first performance of the Mass in Germany was performed by the Reger-Chor, conducted by Gabriel Dessauer, in 1988 before it was printed, at the Stiftskirche of Aschaffenburg, repeated in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden.[4]

The Mass was recorded in 1994 by the Brussels Choral Society and the Luc Capouillez Brass Ensemble, conducted by

St. John's College Choir, Cambridge, the London City Brass and organist Paul Provost, conducted by David Hill.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Whiteley, John Scott, ed. (2007). "Messe en l'honeur du Saint-Sacrement, Op 130". Hyperion. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Whiteley, John Scott; Cunningham, Tom, eds. (1990). Mass / Op. 130 / Vocal Score. Oxford University Press.
  3. ISBN 978-0-19-337178-1
    .
  4. ^ Joseph Jongen: Messe, Op. 130 (in German). Reger-Chor. 1988.
  5. ^ "Mass opus 130". arkivmusic.com. 1994. Retrieved 11 December 2015.

External links

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