{"id":1106,"date":"2015-08-19T21:52:42","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T21:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.candelalearning.com\/musicappreciation\/?post_type=chapter&p=1106"},"modified":"2015-09-11T21:44:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T21:44:14","slug":"classical-choral-forms","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-musicappreciationtheory\/chapter\/classical-choral-forms\/","title":{"raw":"Classical Choral Forms","rendered":"Classical Choral Forms"},"content":{"raw":"

Mass<\/h2>\r\n

\"Detail<\/a><\/h2>\r\nThe Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy (principally that of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism) to music. Most Masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the liturgical sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman liturgy, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many Masses (often called \"Communion Services\") written in English for the Church of England. Musical Masses take their name from the Catholic liturgy called \"the Mass\" as well.\r\n\r\nMasses can be a cappella<\/i>, that is, without an independent accompaniment, or they can be accompanied by instrumental obbligatos<\/i> up to and including a full orchestra. Many Masses, especially later ones, were never intended to be performed during the celebration of an actual mass.\r\n

Forms of the Mass<\/h2>\r\nA distinction is made between texts that recur for every mass celebration (ordinarium<\/span>, ordinary), and texts that are sung depending on the occasion (proprium<\/span>, proper).\r\n

Ordinarium<\/h3>\r\nA Missa tota (\"full Mass\") consists of a musical setting of the five sections of the ordinarium, as listed below:\r\n

I. Kyrie<\/span><\/h4>\r\nIn the Tridentine Mass, the Kyrie is the first sung prayer of the Mass ordinary. The repeated phrase is\u00a0\"Kyrie, eleison\" (or \"Lord, have mercy\"). It is usually (but not always) part of any musical setting of the Mass. Kyrie movements often have an ternary (ABA) musical structure that reflects the symmetrical structure of the text. Musical settings exist in styles ranging from Gregorian chant to folk.\r\n\r\nAs the Kyrie is the first item in settings of the mass ordinary and the second in the requiem mass (the only mass proper set regularly over the centuries), nearly all of the thousands of composers over the centuries who have set the ordinaries of the mass to music have included a Kyrie movement.\r\n

II. Gloria<\/span><\/h4>\r\nThe Gloria is a celebratory passage praising God the Father and Christ.\r\n\r\nIn Mass settings (normally in English) composed for the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer<\/i> liturgy, the Gloria is commonly the last movement, because it occurs in this position in the text of the service. In Order One of the newer Common Worship<\/i> liturgy, however, it is restored to its earlier season.\r\n

III. Credo<\/span><\/h4>\r\nThe Credo, a setting of the Nicene Creed, is the longest text of a sung Mass.\r\n\r\nOrganizers of international celebrations, such as World Youth Day, have been encouraged by Rome to familiarize congregants in the Latin chants for the Our Father and the Credo, specifically Credo III (17th century, Fifth Mode) from the Missa de Angelis<\/i>. The purpose of singing these two texts in Latin is to engender a sense of unity in the faithful, all of whom thus sing the prayer of Jesus and the shared belief of the universal Church in the same language.\r\n

IV. Sanctus and Benedictus<\/span><\/h4>\r\nThe Sanctus is a doxology praising the Trinity. A variant exists in Lutheran settings of the Sanctus. While most hymnal settings keep the second person pronoun, other settings change the second person pronoun to the third person. This is most notable in J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor, where the text reads gloria ejus<\/i> (\"His glory\"). Martin Luther's chorale Isaiah, Mighty in Days of Old<\/i>, and Felix Mendelssohn's setting of the Heilig!<\/i> (German Sanctus<\/i>) from his Deutsche Liturgie<\/i> also use the third person.\r\n\r\nThe Benedictus is a continuation of the Sanctus. Hosanna in excelsis<\/i> is repeated after the Benedictus<\/i> section, often with musical material identical to that used after the Sanctus<\/i>, or very closely related.\r\n

V. Agnus Dei<\/span><\/h4>\r\nThe Agnus Dei is a setting of the \"Lamb of God\" litany, containing the responses miserere nobis<\/i> (have mercy upon us), repeated twice, and dona nobis pacem<\/i> (grant us peace) once at the end.\r\n\r\nIn a Requiem Mass, the words \"miserere nobis\"<\/i> are replaced by \"dona eis requiem\"<\/i> (grant them rest), while \"dona nobis pacem\"<\/i> is replaced by \"dona eis requiem sempiternam\"<\/i> (grant them eternal rest).\r\n

Short and Solemn Masses<\/span><\/h3>\r\nThere is some additional terminology regarding Mass settings indicating whether or not they include all five usual sections of the ordinarium, and whether or not the mass is intended for exceptionally festive occasions.\r\n

Missa Brevis<\/span><\/h4>\r\nMissa brevis (literally, \"short mass\") may, depending on time and conventions, indicate the setting of a subset of the five ordinary mass parts (e.g. masses containing only a setting of the Kyrie and the Gloria), or a mass containing all these parts, but relatively short in duration, or a mass in a setting that is less extended in vocal and orchestral forces than that of a Neapolitan mass.\r\n\r\nMissa longa (\"long mass\") can indicate the counterpart of Missa brevis when the aspect of duration<\/i> is considered.\r\n

Missa Solemnis<\/span><\/h4>\r\nMissa solemnis indicates a solemn mass, usually for special festive occasions and with an extended vocal and orchestral setting. In that sense Missa brevis is sometimes used to indicate the counterpart of a Missa solemnis.\r\n
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Listen: Missa Solemnis<\/h3>\r\nYou can listen to a performance of W. A. Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor<\/em> below:\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/TGCUPyrk4Eg\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Missa Brevis et Solemnis<\/span><\/h4>\r\nThe Missa brevis et solemnis (short and<\/i> solemn) is an exceptional format, for its best known instances tied to the archbishop of Salzburg Hieronymus Colloredo, although earlier examples are extant. Mozart described it thus in a letter he wrote in 1776 (\"the Archbishop\" in this quotation refers to Colloredo):\r\n
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Our church music is very different from that of Italy, since a Mass with the whole Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Epistle sonata, the Offertory or motet, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei must not last longer than three quarters of an hour. This applies even to the most Solemn Mass spoken by the Archbishop himself. Special study is required for this kind of composition, particularly as the Mass must have a full contingent of instruments\u2014trumpets, drums and so forth.<\/div><\/blockquote>\r\nThe \"brevis et solemnis\" description applies to several of the Masses Mozart composed in Salzburg between 1775 and 1780, the Sparrow Mass<\/i> being considered as its first instance for this composer.\r\n

The Requiem Mass<\/h2>\r\nThe requiem Mass (Mass for the dead) is notable for the large number of musical compositions that it has inspired, including settings by Mozart, Verdi, Dvo\u0159\u00e1k, Faur\u00e9 and Durufl\u00e9. Originally, such compositions were meant to be performed in liturgical service, with monophonic chant. Eventually the dramatic character of the text began to appeal to composers to an extent that they made the requiem a genre of its own, and the compositions of composers such as Verdi are essentially concert pieces rather than liturgical works.\r\n\r\nThe common liturgical\u00a0sections\u00a0for the requiem Mass are the following (you can read the complete texts here):\r\n