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| Messa di Gloria | |
|---|---|
| Mass byGioachino Rossini | |
 Rossini, 1820 | |
| Performed | 24 March 1820; 205 years ago (1820-03-24) Chiesa di San Ferdinando,Naples |
| Movements | 9 |
Messa di Gloria is a nine movementmass, composed byGioacchino Rossini for theArciconfraternità di San Luigi.[1] First performed on 24 March 1820 in the Chiesa di San Ferdinando inNaples, it is in the traditional form of a "Gloria" mass, that is a setting of the first two prayers of the Catholicmass, theKyrie andGloria. (A "Gloria" mass omits theCredo,Sanctus, andAgnus Dei.) TheMessa di Gloria was the only major piece of sacred music written while Rossini was still an activeopera composer.[2]
The "Kyrie" is divided into three portions, the first a dotted-rhythm "Kyrie eleison" for chorus inE-flat minor, the second, a more lyricalE-flat major "Christe eleison" for twotenors with the first minor-key section rounding out the prayer.
The "Gloria" portion takes up the vast majority of the work and is split up into operatic-style "numbers",soprano soloists alternating with tenors,basses, etc. The high point, emotionally, comes at the "Qui tollis", which begins with a slow portion for chorus and tenor, then concludes with a brilliantcabaletta ("Qui sedes"), showing off the extreme upper end of the tenor's range. Critics of the time were slightly scandalized by Rossini's morphing of sacred ceremony intoopera seria, and evenbuffa, at times.[citation needed]
In his 1995 study of theMessa di Gloria, Jesse Rosenberg agrees with contemporary reports that Rossini was helped in the composition of the concluding "number" of theMessa, a four-part doublefugue setting of "Cum sancto spiritu", by another Italian composer more versed incounterpoint,Pietro Raimondi.[3]
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