by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff
TOPSHAM - On Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, the Oratorio Chorale performed two masses - Beethoven’s Mass in C and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria. The Maine Chamber Ensemble provided accompaniment. Each piece was a work that represented a new turning point for its composer. In the case of the Puccini mass, Messa di Gloria was a piece written as his final thesis before graduation. In the case of the Beethoven mass, it was his first mass, although he had already written many other pieces, including sonatas, symphonies, and an opera.
The Beethoven mass was first on the program. It was commissioned in 1807 by the Hungarian Prince Nikolaus Esterházy II, who had also commissioned Haydn’s last six masses. Unfortunately, it was not well received. One of Beethoven’s biographers later referred to it as his ‘most humiliating public failure’. Consequentially, despite its directness and emotive content, it is one of the least performed of Beethoven’s larger works.
The Mass follows the basic format of a formal mass, with a bow to tradition. Musical reminders of earlier works, such as the Eroica Symphony, are evident in the piece. It is highly individualistic, and no one would mistake it for any other composer, yet the work is unified in a way unique to Beethoven ... recapping melodies and harmonies throughout, and recurring phrases to guide the whole piece to a satisfying, typically Beethovanesque conclusion.
The Puccini piece, written for his school graduation, is a full mass, in that it contains the Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, rather than a simple Gloria, which at the most contains only a Kyrie and Gloria. Still, the majority of the work is concentrated in the Gloria, with simple melodies taken and teased out to dizzying heights. The work is clearly operatic, too ... if you closed your eyes, you could almost imagine a scene from Verdi’s then-recent work, Aida, or even Puccini’s own Tosca, being played out on stage.
Puccini’s mass is one of his first known works, enthusiastically received, but then put on the shelf and not touched again until 1952.
In addition to choir and orchestra, four soloists performed in the Beethoven mass, and the two male singers also performed in the Puccini mass. Bonnie Scarpelli, a gifted soprano, sang several parts in the Gloria and Credo, along with Sara Sturdivant, mezzo-soprano. The male voices, however, stole the show. Timothy Johnson is a strong tenor, who rose (literally) to the occasion to sing the even higher part - treble II - in the Puccini. Peter Allen, baritone, performed in both masses as well.
Once again, the Oratorio Chorale has presented a gift to the community. The two composers left behind work that was neglected; the Oratorio Chorale, under the able leadership of Peter Frewen, lifted them out of obscurity.
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