Giacomo Puccini's Messa a quattro voci, or Mass for 4 Voices, was written in 1880 and is a complete setting of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus and Agnus Dei) scored for four-part choir (with tenor and baritone soloists) and orchestra. It was not published, however, until 1951, in New York, when it was incorrectly titled Messa di Gloria, a truncated type of Mass setting.The mistaken title, Messa di Gloria, was first used in 1951 by the publishers of the first printed edition, Mills Music of New York. See Michele Girardi, Puccini: His International Art, University of Chicago Press, 2002, p. 17.
History Puccini composed the Mass as his graduation exercise from the Istituto Musicale Pacini. It had its first performance in Lucca 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.
At the end of World War II, Fr. Dante Del Fiorentino purchased an old copy of the manuscript of the Messa from the Vandini family in Lucca, 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
Movement Timing Title Movement indication Solo Kyrie 5 min. Kyrie eleison Gloria 20 min. Gloria in excelsis Deo Et in terra pax Andante Laudamus te, benedicimus te Gratias agimus tibi tenor Gloria in excelsis Deo Tempo I Domine Deus Qui tollis peccata mundi Quoniam tu solus sanctus Cum Sancto Spiritu Credo 16 min. Credo in unum Deum Et incarnatus tenor Crucifixus baritone Et resurrexit Et in Spiritum Sanctum Tempo I Et unam sanctam catholicam Et vitam venturi saeculi Sanctus – Benedictus 3 min. 40 s Sanctus Benedictus baritone Agnus Dei 2 min. 40 s Agnus Dei tenor, baritone
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 (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 (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, Chor des Westdeutschen Rundfunks, Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt, Philips Classics, 1975 Michel Corboz (cond.), William Johns (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 G. Puccini: Messa di Gloria – version for chamber orchestra
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.