Notes on Missa Brevis

On November 21 at 7 PM, St. George’s Choral Society will present our first live-streamed concert, a performance of the newly commissioned Missa Brevis. Tickets for the live stream are now available. Here, composer Phillip Martin gives insight into his work.

Andrew Spina, © 2020

In the Baroque era, a movement of a composition was expected to arouse a single emotion in the listener. Contrast existed between movements but, by design, seldom within a movement. The Classical era changed that. Contrast became crucial to musical narrative, and this was achieved through contrasting themes and the interplay between them. Missa Brevis follows the Classical tradition in focusing on contrast. However, rather than use themes as the element of contrast it uses musical styles.

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

The first Kyrie begins in the minimalist style. Soloists sing the Kyrie theme, a medieval chant, over soft taps in the timpani and an airy, sustained high G in the cello. Slowly, the style begins to change. The choir enters, one voice at a time. Then instruments of the orchestra begin to enter. Soon, the piece has morphed from a minimalist chant into a full-blown Baroque choral fugue. The minimalist style returns briefly, with the choir taking up the timpani’s taps from the beginning of the movement. But this time we hear the two styles combined, as the orchestra simultaneously continues the fugue. The movement builds to a dissonant final chord. When the chord drops away, a single high note in the cello remains. The cello then slowly descends to begin the Christe.

The Christe conflates three traditional forms. First, it is a passacaglia. The cello states an eight-measure theme, which is then repeated 14 times, serving as the bass line for the movement. It is also a ritornello form. A ritornello theme, played by the oboe, appears before each entrance of the soloists. Finally, as is the case in many traditional masses, the Christe follows the form of an operatic love duet. The soprano sings the first verse alone, the alto sings the second verse, then the two sing together for the third. The movement concludes with a fourth verse, in which the oboe joins the singers, playing the ritornello theme as a counterpoint to their lines.

In many masses, the Kyrie repeats after the Christe. In this mass, the Kyrie theme returns, but it is treated differently, incorporating yet another musical style: the Lutheran chorale. In 1831, in the midst of a cholera epidemic in Berlin, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel wrote her Cholera Cantata to commemorate the epidemic’s victims. The cantata incorporated the Bach chorale “O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid.” As a nod to a composer working in similar circumstances, this second Kyrie utilizes the same chorale. The movement begins with a new fugue, based on the same theme as in Kyrie I. The choir then introduces the chorale. The music continues with another fugue, using both the chorale theme and the Kyrie theme combined. Finally, the chorale returns in its original form, sung by the choir and superimposed over the fugue the soloists sang at the movement’s beginning. The movement builds to a final climax, then concludes with a return to the minimalist texture that began Kyrie I, fading away to the lone high G in the cello and soft taps in the timpani.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

The Sanctus offers a respite from the drama and complexity of the Kyrie, utilizing yet another musical style from the Romantic era. This movement would feel quite at home in a 19th-century oratorio. The Hosanna is a lively, playful movement. It combines the feel of a traditional scherzo with a technique from the ars antiqua of the 13th century: hocketing. The word “hosanna” bounces from voice to voice, with one voice beginning the word and another ending it. The instruments of the orchestra employ a similar technique, one instrument beginning an idea and another taking it over.

The Benedictus is similar in style to the Christe. It is also an aria in ritornello form—this time for solo bass. The ritornello theme is played first by the flute, then by the violin.

The Hosanna is then repeated. But this time the timpani joins the fun. The movement is extended by a brief coda.

O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, grant us thy peace.

In the Agnus Dei, we return to the minimalist style that began the mass. An almost inaudible timpani roll and a low sustained note from the double bass act as a drone while the tenor, then the soprano, chant the Agnus Dei theme. In the middle section, the usual roles of the orchestra and choir are reversed. The orchestra plays the thematic material, and the choir accompanies it with an ostinato. This ostinato incorporates a technique from the 14th century: isorhythms. Each voice sings a repeated pattern, but the patterns overlap. This results in the voices becoming out of phase with each other, with accents in one voice no longer coinciding with accents in another.

The mass ends with the Dona Nobis Pacem (“Grant us thy peace”), built from a theme we heard briefly at the end of the first section of the Agnus Dei. The choir alternately ascends, then drops back. Each time, it extends higher, as if slowly but persistently reaching toward heaven. The line concludes with a long, sustained “pacem” over shimmering strings as the solo violin takes over the ascent, carrying the music slowly and peacefully into the stratosphere.