Italy’s foremost composer of opera who had earned the title of “The Italian Mozart,” Gioachino Rossini ended his highly successful career at the age of thirty-eight with the production of Guillaume Tell in 1829, his thirty-eighth opera. Though he was technically retired, Rossini continued to compose and lost none of the proficiency in his craft. For the next thirty-nine years of his life, he composed small pieces intended for private performances, usually in the drawing room of his estate in Passy. Most of these were nothing more than salon music, though tempered with Rossini’s sense of refinement; some, however, were private excursions into his long suppressed desire to compose serious music.
One example of the more serious music Rossini indulged in was the Petite messe solennelle, composed in 1863, for a private performance at the home of Count Michel-Frédéric Pillet-Will. He referred to the work, which is really not that petite, as the last of his ironically titled Péchés de vieillesse (“Sins of Old Age”). Continuing in his ironical tone, he even prefaced it with the witty apology (whose humor is unfortunately lost in its English translation):
"Good God—behold completed this poor little Mass—is it indeed sacred music [la musique sacrée] that I have just written, or merely some damned music [la sacré musique]? You know well, I was born for comic opera. Little science, a little heart, that is all. So may you be blessed, and grant me Paradise!"
Originally scored for twelve voices, two pianos, harmonium, and chorus, the Petite messe solennelle is a setting of the ordinary of the mass. The work is dominated by the solo voices, as no number is wholly absent of them, and shows that the composer lost none his command during his retirement. Though written for a private performance, Rossini did not wish this little work to fall into obscurity after his death. Even more, he feared another hand orchestrating. And so, during 1866-67, Rossini orchestrated it. However, a public performance of this version did not occur until February 28, 1869—roughly three months after the composer’s death and the day which would have been celebrated as the composer’s 70th birthday (he was born on leap day 1792).Joseph DuBose
Classical Music | Ensemble Music
Gioachino Rossini
From Petite Messe Solennelle: Preludio religioso, Sanctus, Salutaris Hostia, Agnus Dei Play
Recorded on 03/17/2012, uploaded on 03/17/2012
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Istituto Europeo di Musica. Programmazione del Sabato e della Domenica. Nell'antica Idea della Filodiffusione di Musica Classica.
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From Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle
Preludio religioso
Sanctus
Salutaris hostia
Agnus Dei
Release Date: 08/26/1997
Label: London/Decca Double Decker Catalog #: 455023 Spars Code: ADD
Composer: Gioachino Rossini
Performer: Pilar Lorengar, Yvonne Minton, Hans Sotin, Luciano Pavarotti, Leone Magiera,
Vittoria Rosetta, Mirella Freni, Lucia Valentini-Terrani, Ruggero Raimondi
Conductor: István Kertész, Romano Gandolfi
Petite messe solennelle Gioachino Rossini
Italy’s foremost composer of opera who had earned the title of “The Italian Mozart,” Gioachino Rossini ended his highly successful career at the age of thirty-eight with the production of Guillaume Tell in 1829, his thirty-eighth opera. Though he was technically retired, Rossini continued to compose and lost none of the proficiency in his craft. For the next thirty-nine years of his life, he composed small pieces intended for private performances, usually in the drawing room of his estate in Passy. Most of these were nothing more than salon music, though tempered with Rossini’s sense of refinement; some, however, were private excursions into his long suppressed desire to compose serious music.
One example of the more serious music Rossini indulged in was the Petite messe solennelle, composed in 1863, for a private performance at the home of Count Michel-Frédéric Pillet-Will. He referred to the work, which is really not that petite, as the last of his ironically titled Péchés de vieillesse (“Sins of Old Age”). Continuing in his ironical tone, he even prefaced it with the witty apology (whose humor is unfortunately lost in its English translation):
"Good God—behold completed this poor little Mass—is it indeed sacred music [la musique sacrée] that I have just written, or merely some damned music [la sacré musique]? You know well, I was born for comic opera. Little science, a little heart, that is all. So may you be blessed, and grant me Paradise!"
Originally scored for twelve voices, two pianos, harmonium, and chorus, the Petite messe solennelle is a setting of the ordinary of the mass. The work is dominated by the solo voices, as no number is wholly absent of them, and shows that the composer lost none his command during his retirement. Though written for a private performance, Rossini did not wish this little work to fall into obscurity after his death. Even more, he feared another hand orchestrating. And so, during 1866-67, Rossini orchestrated it. However, a public performance of this version did not occur until February 28, 1869—roughly three months after the composer’s death and the day which would have been celebrated as the composer’s 70th birthday (he was born on leap day 1792). Joseph DuBose
More music by Gioachino Rossini
Aria di Figaro
La Gazza Ladra (Overture)
Largo al Factotum, from The Barber of Seville
La Gazza Ladra (Overture)
La Regata Veneziana
La Danza (Tarantella), from Serate Musicali
Anzoleta avanti la regata, from La regata veneziana
La Passeggiata
La Promessa
L’invito
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