mass

The tradition & historical record

The mass (Latin: missa, Italian: messa, French: messe, German: Messe) is a form of musical composition that sets the texts of the western Christian Eucharistic liturgy (principally that of the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism) known as the Mass. Typically these are the five movements of the Ordinary of the Mass (Kyrie, Gloria in excelsis, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei) but the cycle may be abbreviated (missa brevis) or expanded to include some or all of the Proper of the Mass (plenary mass or missa plena). A special case of the later is the Requiem, so called from the opening word of its Introit. Until the Second Vatican Council Catholic masses set the liturgy in Latin, the sacred language of the Roman Rite, but there are a significant number written in vernacular languages of non-Catholic countries, beginning with Luther's Deutsche Messe (1526) and the Communion Service of Cramer's Book of Common Prayer (1549). Since 1970 a number of Catholic masses have been written in the approved translations of their various countries, alongside new Latin settings. An older tradition of vernacular singing took place at Low Masses, at which hymns were sung instead of the liturgical texts; Schubert's Deutsche Messe is the most famous example. Masses can be a cappella, that is, for choir without an independent accompaniment, or they can be accompanied by obbligato instruments up to and including a full orchestra, and are frequently performed in a concert hall. ¹

The earliest musical settings of the mass are Gregorian chant. The different unchanging portions of the mass, collectively known as the Ordinary, came into the liturgy at different times, with the Kyrie probably being first (perhaps as early as the 7th century) and the Credo being last (it did not become part of the Roman mass until 1014). In the early 14th century, composers began writing polyphonic versions of the sections of the Ordinary. The reason for this surge in interest is not known, but it has been suggested that there was a shortage of new music since composers were increasingly attracted to secular music, and overall interest in writing sacred music had entered a period of decline. The Ordinary then would have music which was available for performance all the time. Two manuscripts from the 14th century, the Ivrea Codex and the Apt Codex, are the primary sources for polyphonic settings of the Ordinary. Stylistically, these settings are similar to both motets and secular music of the time, with a three-voice texture dominated by the highest part. Most of this music was written or assembled at the papal court at Avignon. Several anonymous complete masses from the 14th century survive, including the Tournai Mass; however, discrepancies in style indicate that the movements of these masses were written by several composers and later compiled by scribes into a single set. The first complete mass we know of whose composer can be identified was the Messe de Nostre Dame (Mass of Our Lady) by Guillaume de Machaut in the 14th century. ¹

The musical setting of the Ordinary of the mass was the principal large-scale form of the Renaissance. The earliest complete settings date from the 14th century, with the most famous example being the Messe de Nostre Dame of Guillaume de Machaut. Individual movements of the mass, and especially pairs of movements (such as Gloria–Credo pairs, or Sanctus–Agnus pairs), were commonly composed during the 14th and early 15th centuries. Complete masses by a single composer were the norm by the middle of the 15th century, and the form of the mass, with the possibilities for large-scale structure inherent in its multiple movement format, was the main focus of composers within the area of sacred music; it was not to be eclipsed until the motet and related forms became more popular in the first decades of the 16th century. Most 15th-century masses were based on a cantus firmus, usually from a Gregorian chant, and most commonly put in the tenor voice. The cantus firmus sometimes appeared simultaneously in other voices, using a variety of contrapuntal techniques. Later in the century, composers such as Guillaume Dufay, Johannes Ockeghem, and Jacob Obrecht, used secular tunes for cantus firmi. This practice was accepted with little controversy until prohibited by the Council of Trent in 1562. In particular, the song L'homme armé has a long history with composers; more than 40 separate mass settings exist. Other techniques for organizing the cyclic mass evolved by the beginning of the 16th century, including the paraphrase technique, in which the cantus firmus was elaborated and ornamented, and the parody technique, in which several voices of a polyphonic source, not just one, were incorporated into the texture of the mass. ¹

The early Baroque era initiated stylistic changes which led to increasing disparity between masses written entirely in the traditional polyphonic manner (stile antico), whose principal advancements were the use of the basso continuo and the gradual adoption of a wider harmonic vocabulary, and the mass in modern style with solo voices and instrumental obbligatos. The Lutheran Michael Praetorius composed a mass for double choir in the old style, which he published in 1611 in the collection of church music for the mass in Latin, Missodia Sionia. Composers such as Henri Dumont (1610–1684) continued to compose plainsong settings, distinct from and more elaborate than the earlier Gregorian chants. A further disparity arose between the festive missa solemnis and the missa brevis, a more compact setting. Composers like Johann Joseph Fux in the 18th century continued to cultivate the stile antico mass, which was suitable for use on weekdays and at times when orchestral masses were not practical or appropriate, and in 19th-century Germany the Cecilian movement kept the tradition alive. František Brixi, who worked at the Prague Cathedral, wrote his Missa aulica, a missa brevis in C, for four voices, trumpets, violin and continuo, "cantabile" but solo voices just singing short passages within chorale movements. The Italian style cultivated orchestral masses including soloists, chorus and obbligato instruments. It spread to the German-speaking Catholic countries north of the Alps, using instruments for color and creating dialogues between solo voices and chorus that was to become characteristic of the 18th-century Viennese style. ¹

By the end of the 19th century, composers were combining modern elements with the characteristics of Renaissance polyphony and plainchant, which continued to influence 20th-century composers, possibly fueled by the motu proprio Tra le sollecitudini (1903) of Pope Pius X. The revival of choral celebration of Holy Communion in the Anglican Church in the late 19th century marked the beginning several liturgical settings of mass texts in English, particularly for choir and organ. ¹

Pope Pius X initiated many regulations reforming the liturgical music of the mass in t… ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Mass (music)”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

mass is form of sacred musical composition that sets the Mass, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 21 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²