Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor-Kyrie
August 17, 2009
John Eliot Gardiner conducts the opening Kyrie of Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor, with soprano Barbara Bonney as vocal soloist.
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Comparisons are odious said grandma. I lean to Bach. But Mozart is superb!
There should be more Bach at the end of the week. (I won’t disclose which piece, though).
May I offer a counterpoint to this? Four or five years before Mozart wrote his masterpiece, in Boston William Billings published his Singing Master’s Assistant that has some pearls of sacred music, forming the core of a tradition of American sacred music that continues to this day. Among those pearls is his setting of the first part of the second chapter of the Song of Solomon: I Am The Rose of Sharon” (OK, if you want to be correct, pronounce it sha-RONE, like Ariel Sharon). Here’s a YouTube of a reasonable performance and discussion of the text. Billings’ setting appears disjointed from compositional perspective, but he really lets each portion of this lovely text shine on its own beautiful setting:
http://cnytr.blogspot.com/2009/03/i-am-rose-of-sharon.html
Bach is best, and Mozart is wonderful, but I have a soft spot in my spiritual heart for the best of American white and negro spirituals of the late 18th through mid-19th century (before sentimentalism and individualism became as dominant as they later did).
Liam,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and the “I Am the Rose of Sharon” piece.
I too have soft spot for American spirituals and intend to share some fine ones as I continue my postings.
It is my recipe for ecumenism that the Church simply steal the good Protestant hymns.
Thank you for the musical postings. Certainly more interesting than the rantings about health care.
Gabriel Austin,
I am glad you are enjoying these postings. Look for another from me on Thursday or Friday. As much as I want the music to speak for itself, I feel that I should be giving some introductions. Expect a few more words on each in the future.
Mark,
Bob Benchley [may he rest in peace] said that whenever he felt the urge to exercise, he took two aspirin and lay down until the urge passed.
“As much as I want the music to speak for itself, I feel that I should be giving some introductions. Expect a few more words on each in the future”.
Please please think of that fine example when you feel the urge to comment on Bach, Mozart et al. Two aspirin and a lie down.
Excellent!
Gardiner is one of my favorites as well. His Christmas Oratorio and St. Matthew’s Passion are superb.