Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long l ...

's ''Messa'' or ''Messa a quattro voci'' (currently more widely known under the apocryphal name of ''Messa di Gloria'') is a

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

composed for orchestra and four-part choir with

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors i ...

and baritone soloists. Strictly speaking, the piece is a full Mass, not a true ''Messa di Gloria'' (which contains only the

Kyrie Kyrie, a transliteration of Greek , vocative case of ('' Kyrios''), is a common name of an important prayer of Christian liturgy, also called the Kyrie eleison ( ; ). In the Bible The prayer, "Kyrie, eleison," "Lord, have mercy" derives f ...

and

Gloria Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkin ...

and omits the

Credo In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – or its shorter version, the Apostles' Creed – in the Mass, either as a prayer, a spoken text, or sung as Gregorian chant or other musical set ...

Sanctus The Sanctus ( la, Sanctus, "Holy") is a hymn in Christian liturgy. It may also be called the ''epinikios hymnos'' ( el, ἐπινίκιος ὕμνος, "Hymn of Victory") when referring to the Greek rendition. In Western Christianity, th ...

, Benedictus and

Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin liturgical tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and i ...

History

Puccini composed the Mass as his graduation exercise from the Istituto Musicale Pacini. It had its first performance in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as ...

on July 12, 1880. However, the ''Credo'' had already been written and performed in 1878 and was initially conceived by Puccini as a self-contained work. Puccini never published the full manuscript of the ''Messa'', and although well received at the time, it was not performed again until 1952 (first in Chicago and then in Naples). However, he re-used some of its themes in other works, such as the Agnus Dei in his opera '' Manon Lescaut'' and the Kyrie in ''

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...

''. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Fr. Dante Del Fiorentino purchased an old copy of the manuscript of the Messa from the Vandini family in

, imagining it was the original score. However, the autograph, in the possession of the Puccini family, was given by his daughter-in-law to Ricordi, Puccini's publishing firm. The ensuing legal battle was finally resolved by dividing the rights to the work between Ricordi and Mills Music (the publishers of Fiorentino's manuscript).

Structure

Recordings

* Alfonso Scarano (cond.), Aleš Briscein (tenor), Roman Janál (baritone), Czech Philharmonic Choir Brno, North Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Teplice, 2014 * Martin Elmquist (cond.), Marcello Bedoni (tenor), Jeff Speres (baritone), Luxembourg Philarmonia, Classico, 2010 * (cond.), Bernhard Schneider (tenor), Christian Schmidt-Timmermann (baritone), Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, 2006 * Ingo Schulz (cond.), Daniel Magdal (tenor), Stefan Stoll (baritone), Ölberg chor, 2004 * Pier Giorgio Morandi (cond.), Antonello Palombi (tenor), Gunnar Lundberg (baritone), Hungarian Opera Orchestra and Radio Choir, Naxos, 2002 * Jürgen Budday (cond.), Willi Stein (tenor), Thomas Pfeiffer (baritone), Kantorei Maulbronn (Choir), South West German Radio Baden-Baden and Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, K&K Verlagsanstalt, 2001 * Antonio Pappano (cond.),

Roberto Alagna Roberto Alagna (; born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor. He obtained French citizenship in 1981, while also retaining his previous Italian citizenship. Early years Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, outside the city of Paris, in 1963 t ...

(tenor), Thomas Hampson (baritone), London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Emi Classics, 2001 * Wilfried Maier (cond.), Rolph Romei (tenor), Guillermo Anzorena (baritone), Schwäbischer Sängerbund, Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, 1999 * (cond.), Kölner Philarmoniker, Motette Records, 1995 * András Ligeti (cond.), Dénes Gulyas (tenor), Balazs Poka (baritone), Chœurs de la Radio-Télévision Hongroise, Orchestre Symphonique de Budapest, Hungaroton Classic, 1992 * Claudio Scimone (cond.),

José Carreras Josep Maria Carreras Coll (; born 5 December 1946), better known as José Carreras (, ), is a Spanish operatic tenor who is particularly known for his performances in the operas of Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini. Born in Barcelona, he made his de ...

(tenor), Hermann Prey (baritone), The Ambrosian Singers Philharmonia Orchestra, Erato, 1984 * Eliahu Inbal (cond.), Kari Løvaas (soprano),Le solo des soprani du ''Qui tollis peccata mundi'' est ici chanté par une soprano solo. Werner Hollweg (tenor),

Barry McDaniel Barry McDaniel (October 18, 1930 – June 18, 2018) was an American operatic baritone who spent his career almost exclusively in Germany, including 37 years at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He appeared internationally at major opera houses and f ...

, Chor des Westdeutschen Rundfunks, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Philips Classics, 1975 * Michel Corboz (cond.),

William Johns William Johns (born 2 October 1936) is an American tenor who sang leading roles in the opera houses of Europe and the United States in a career spanning more than 25 years. Several of his live performances in Germany and Italy during the 1970s ha ...

(tenor), Philippe Huttenlocher (baritone), Chœur symphonique et orchestre de la foundation Gulbenkian de Lisbonne, Erato, 1974

Score

*
G. Puccini: Messa di Gloria - published choral score

References

Further sources *Paul Filmer
Programme Notes: Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), ''Messa di Gloria'' (1880)
(''sic''), North London Chorus, April 2005. *Gabriella Biagi Ravenni
''Breve nota sul nome della Messa''
Centro studi Giacomo Puccini, 1999. {{Authority control

Puccini Giacomo Puccini (Lucca, 22 December 1858Bruxelles, 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he was descended from a long li ...

Compositions by Giacomo Puccini 1880 compositions