I just finished singing Schubert's Mass no. 2 in G. Splendid! I did not sing alone of course. I am only a soprano. It was so wonderful to sing this Mass as Schubert actually intended it to be sung: As a Mass, not a concert antique!
Oh the raptures of the violins! Oh the cellos and basses! Oh the swift, steady trod of the organ. It was a storm, a fireworks display of color and light and wonder!
This Mass had such a gaiety that was not frivolous. Its mirth is stately. Sometimes you feel as though you are shouting so loudly that a baritone thunder crash and a sopranic pierce of lightening are going to open up the earth beneath you! Other times it is so boistrous you can barely sing without laughter. Other times it is so exquisitely melancholy that you could swear that an angel somewhere in heaven was weeping as Schubert wrote those tender notes.
Thank you, sweet God! You give us music to tell us that you love us, and then you teach us to sing that we love You!
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We have a good amount of polyphony and chant singing in our city and even some of the 19th and 20th century organ/choir Masses (and concert hall work, of course), but orchestral Masses performed liturgically are incredibly rare!
ReplyDeleteThat is marvellous that you have polyphony and chant in your city, SJH! Those are relatively rare too! It is always encourageing to see and hear of the places that do glorify God through the art He has inspired for His glory and our inspiration. Pax et Bonum!
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