Unger M.P. Historical Dictionary of Choral Music
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parody mass eclipsed the cantus firmus and paraphrase types on the
Continent, and it remained in the forefront for the rest of the century
(although English composers continued to cultivate the cantus firmus
mass).
Hundreds of composers wrote masses; leaders included Pierre de
la Rue [La Rue], Jean Mouton, Jacquet, Adrian Willaert, Nicolas
Gombert, Cristóbal de Morales, Vincenzo Ruffo, Clemens non
Papa, Philippe de Monte, Palestrina, Francisco Guerrero, Orlande
de Lassus, and Tomás Luis de Victoria. While composers tended
to prefer the parody (or “imitation”) mass, they also cultivated other
types: the canonic mass, the mass based on freely invented melodic
material (sometimes called Missa sine nomine), and the missa brevis.
In other geographical areas, the mass developed along slightly dif-
ferent lines. In England, composers continued to cultivate the cantus
firmus mass, writing ornate counterpoint in five or six voices. In
German-speaking lands, the most significant composer was the cos-
mopolitan Heinrich Isaac, whose dozens of masses include 20 based
on the corresponding chants of the Ordinary (almost all intended for
alternatim performance). His Missa carminum employs a quodlibet-
like procedure, in which various popular German songs are used as
cantus firmus. In France, chanson composers such as of Claudin de
Sermisy and Pierre Certon preferred lighter textures and homopho-
nic textures for their masses.
The widespread adoption of thoroughgoing contrapuntal imita-
tion and the more frequent appropriation of madrigals and secular
melodies as models for polyphonic masses began to raise objections
among Roman church authorities, leading to a prohibition by the
Council of Trent against all “seductive and impure” melodies and a
stipulation that texts be intelligible. As a result, masses during the lat-
ter half of the 16th century generally avoided complex contrapuntal
devices in favor of transparent textures, in which simultaneous text
declamation (and consequently also homophonic writing) was more
common. For his ability to meet these concerns and for his inventive-
ness and sheer prolific output, Palestrina came to be the most highly
revered mass composer of the century. His 100-plus masses (more
than half of which were published only after his death) were seen
by following generations as the epitome of sacred writing, reconcil-
ing the demands of linear beauty, contrapuntal mastery, harmonic
lucidity and control, and clarity of text, in a conservative yet warmly
292 • MASS
sonorous style. About half of his masses are parody works, though
his most famous one, the Missa Papae Marcelli (1567), is based
on a freely invented theme. He also wrote more than 30 paraphrase
masses, a genre that had been revived in the wake of the Counter-
Reformation’s emphasis on the primacy of chant.
Victoria’s 20 surviving masses are expressively serious, avoiding
secular influence. Lassus’s approximately 60 works are wide-rang-
ing in style, the result of a diverse array of models chosen for their
construction and an imaginatively varied compositional approach.
William Byrd’s three masses (for three, four, and five voices, re-
spectively), show little if any trace of Continental influence, yet are
masterful examples of polyphony.
With the development of new musical styles around 1600, interest
in the polyphonic mass waned. While composers still wrote in the
stile antico (modernized at times with the addition of basso continuo
and its attendant harmonic vocabulary), they also explored the new
polychoral, concertato, and operatic styles in their masses. Italian
trends were usually taken up in other countries. In Rome and centers
with close ties to that city, composers tended to continue writing in a
conservative style. Leaders included the Anerio and Nanino broth-
ers, and Antonio Cifra. Claudio Monteverdi’s three masses are
similarly in the stile antico.
Notwithstanding a preference for tradition, Roman composers
cultivated the polychoral style also, before it became intimately as-
sociated with San Marco (St. Mark’s Basilica) in Venice, exempli-
fied to some extent in the masses of Andrea or Giovanni Gabrieli
and, to a greater extent, in their motets. Polychoral mass composition
was then taken up enthusiastically in German-speaking territories by
composers such as Johann Kerll and Heinrich Biber, and in France
by Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
The Neapolitan stilus mixtus (mixed style), popular throughout
much of the 18th century, juxtaposed movements for chorus in the
old contrapuntal style with instrumental doubling (or, alternately,
with orchestral parts that are structurally significant) with solos
(often in operatic aria style). Inevitably, the stilus mixtus invited a
subdivision of the mass text into smaller segments, which could be
set as self-contained movements for soloists or chorus. This section-
alization led to certain conventions such as ending the Gloria and
Credo with “Amen” fugues.
MASS • 293
The so-called Neapolitan mass or cantata mass was cultivated
throughout Europe. Composers, some of whom composed also in the
old contrapuntal style, included Alessandro Scarlatti, Johann Fux
(who preferred the strict style, but also explored the new style), An-
tonio Lotti (who wrote mostly in the stile antico), Antonio Caldara,
Francesco Durante, Johann Sebastian Bach (who apparently
intended his Mass in B Minor to demonstrate the stilus mixtus at its
most diverse), Nicola Porpora, Johann Hasse (who demonstrated
his skill at florid solo writing, typical of his opera arias), Baldassare
Galuppi, Niccolò Jommelli, Georg Wagenseil, Johann Albrechts-
berger, Michael Haydn, and Antonio Salieri.
Toward the end of the 18th century, composers adopted a sym-
phonic approach to the mass. Joseph Haydn wrote masses as part of
his duties for the Esterházy family, among which are six masterworks
in symphonic style from the end of his career: Missa Sancti Bernardi
von Offida (“Heiligmesse”), Missa in tempore belli (“Paukenmesse”),
Missa in angustiis (“Lord Nelson Mass”), Theresienmesse, Schöp-
fungsmesse, and Harmoniemesse. In these works, the longer texts are
divided into fewer movements, and the soloists are used as an en-
semble rather than as individuals. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on
the other hand, wrote many missae breves, fulfilling the prescriptions
of the reform-minded Archbishop of Salzburg (even before Joseph II
abolished elaborate church music in his decree of 1783). Large-scale
settings include the Coronation Mass, K. 317, and two unfinished
works, the Mass in C minor, K. 427, and the Requiem. Leading
mass composers at the beginning of the 19th century included Luigi
Cherubini (who wrote some eight regular mass settings and two re-
quiem masses), Ludwig van Beethoven (Mass in C Major and Missa
solemnis), Johann Hummel, and Franz Schubert (who wrote two
large-scale works in A-flat and E-flat, respectively).
Composers of the following generation were only peripherally
interested in writing masses, since church music had become domi-
nated by an antiquarian aesthetic (represented in the Cecilian move-
ment), and since few of them worked at royal chapels (which had
declined after the French Revolution). On occasions when they took
up the genre, they tended to write works more suitable for the concert
hall than the liturgy (a trend encouraged by the growth of singing so-
cieties in Great Britain and Germany). Nevertheless, isolated works
of artistic worth in a variety of styles emerged: Hector Berlioz’s
294 • MASS
Messe solennelle (1824) and Requiem (1837); Charles Gounod’s
Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile (1855), among others; Gioacchino
Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (1864); Franz Liszt’s Gran Mass
(1858), Missa choralis (1865), and Hungarian Coronation Mass
(1869); and Anton Bruckner’s Masses in D minor (1864), E minor
(1866), and F minor (1868). Johannes Brahms’s Ein Deutsches
Requiem (1868), with its nonliturgical German text, is really an ora-
torio rather than a mass.
After 1900 composers took varied approaches to mass composi-
tion. Works that sought to capture the essence of the ecclesiastical
style include Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G Minor for
unaccompanied soloists and choir (1921), Frank Martin’s Mass for
unaccompanied double choir (1926), Francis Poulenc’s unaccom-
panied Mass in G (1937), and Benjamin Britten’s Missa Brevis for
boys’ voices and organ (1959). In a similar vein is Igor Stravinsky’s
Mass, for voices and wind instruments (1948). Settings with orchestra
include Leoš Janácˇek’s Glagolitic Mass with Slavonic text (1926),
and Zoltán Kodály’s Missa brevis (1948). Frederick Delius’s A
Mass of Life (1905) employs a text by Friedrich Nietzsche; in a less
radical departure, Britten incorporated English poetry by Wilfred
Owen in his War Requiem (1962), while Leonard Bernstein scan-
dalized audiences with his Mass, a countercultural theater piece for
singers, players, and dancers (1971).
In England, a demand for choral masses resulted in many works
(often with organ accompaniment and in English). Significant
composers of the genre include Charles Villiers Stanford, Her-
bert Howells, Kenneth Leighton, Edmund Rubbra, and Lennox
Berkeley.
Elsewhere, composers of masses were often organists: in France,
Maurice Duruflé (1902) and Jean Langlais (1907); in Germany,
Johann Nepomuk David and Ernst Pepping; in The Netherlands,
Hendrik Andriessen; in Belgium, Flor Peeters; in Austria,
Anton
Heiller, and in Canada, Healey Willan, who wrote more than a
dozen missae breves.
After the Second Vatican Council, church music was greatly popu-
larized and localized. In many places, the pastoral climate was not
conducive to the creation of new masterworks. Efforts to encourage
greater congregational understanding and participation led to wide-
spread use of the vernacular. While capable church choirs continued
MASS • 295
to sing the great Latin masses of the past, accessible settings in ap-
pealing Latin American or African styles became popular, among
them, Guido Haazen’s Missa Luba (an arrangement of Congolese
songs, Ariel Ramirez’s Missa Criolla (employing Argentine folk idi-
oms), and Glenn McClure’s Caribbean Mass. Meanwhile, composers
turned to other genres for their most serious efforts in sacred music.
MASSENET, JULES (12 MAY 1842–13 AUGUST 1912). French
composer renowned for his many operas. He wrote four scenic ora-
torios on biblical stories: Marie-Magdeleine (1872), Eve (1874), La
vierge (1878), and La terre promise (1899). Other surviving choral
works include a small handful of sacred pieces and more than a dozen
secular ones.
MATHIAS, WILLIAM (JAMES) (1 NOVEMBER 1934–29 JULY
1992). Welsh composer and pianist. Having studied with Lennox
Berkeley at the Royal Academy of Music, he established his reputa-
tion as a composer first with instrumental works. Nevertheless, he
is best known for his much larger choral output, much of which
is written in the Anglican anthem tradition, employing an eclectic
style that shows a penchant for vivid, often syncopated rhythms, and
repetitive structuring of melodic and harmonic elements. Works with
orchestra include St. Teilo, op. 21, a dramatic cantata for nar., A,
T, chorus, boys’ chorus, org., and chbr. orch. (1962); This Worlde’s
Joie, op. 67, for S, T, Bar., chorus, boys’ chorus, org., and orch.
(1974); Te Deum, op. 85, for S, A, T, chorus, and orch. (1981); Lux
aeterna, op. 88, a large cantata for S, Mez., A, boys’ chorus, chorus,
org., and orch. (1982); and World’s Fire, for S, B, chorus, and orch.
(1989); among others. Of some 80 additional works, most are with
organ accompaniment. The most famous of these is the anthem Let
the People Praise Thee, O God (Psalm 67), op. 87, for chorus and
org., written for the 1981 royal wedding of the Prince of Wales and
Lady Diana Spencer.
MATINS. (1) The first and longest of the eight divine offices in the Ro-
man Catholic rite, originally called Vigils, and held after midnight,
often at about 3:00 a.m. (2) Another name for Morning Prayer in the
Anglican rite.
MATTHESON, JOHANN (28 SEPTEMBER 1681–17 APRIL
1764). German music critic, theorist, and composer. From 1690 to
296 • MASSENET, JULES
1705 he performed with the Hamburg opera company, which pro-
duced his first opera in 1699. He was the secretary to the English
ambassadors to Hamburg, Sir John Wich (1706–15) and his son
(1715–41), traveling frequently on diplomatic missions. In 1715 he
was appointed music director of the Hamburg Cathedral (demolished
in 1804), for which he composed more than two dozen oratorios.
Unfortunately, he had to resign in 1728, largely because of deafness.
He is best remembered for his many writings, which discuss a wide
range of topics from a progressive perspective, among them, the
suitability of operatic style for church music, definitions of national
music styles, how to apply rhetoric to musical composition, a theory
and analysis of melody as the primary element of music, the realiza-
tion of a basso continuo, and biographies of musicians. Significant
publications include Das neu-eröffnete Orchestre (1713), Critica
musica (24 issues of a music periodical he published from 1722 to
1725, later collected into two volumes), Grosse General-Bass-Schule
(1731), Kleine General-Bass-Schule (1735), Der vollkommene Ca-
pellmeister, and Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte, among others.
MATTHEWS, DAVID (9 MARCH 1943– ). English composer.
Largely self-taught, he has drawn inspiration from Michael Tippett
and Benjamin Britten (the latter of whom he served as an assis-
tant), developing a lyrically expressive, tonal style. While focusing
mostly on traditional instrumental forms, he has also written choral
works, among which are Stars, op. 3, a cantata for SATB and orch.
(1970); Moments of Vision, op. 68 (1978–95); Four Hymns, op. 20
(1980); The Company of Lovers (five songs), op. 25 (1980); The
Ship of Death, op. 46, for double SATB (1989); Vespers, op. 66, for
Mez., T, SATB, and orch. (1996); Hurrahing in Harvest, op. 71, for
SSATBar.B (1997); The Doorway of the Dawn, op. 76 (1999); and
Two Choruses, op. 101, for mixed chorus (2005).
MATTHUS, SIEGFRIED (13 APRIL 1934– ). German composer,
best known for his operas. Having grown up in East Germany after
his family fled from East Prussia ahead of the Russian army, he
remains a committed German nationalist. His interest in dramatic
expression can be seen in his choral works, which include Das
Manifest, a cantata for S, A, T, B, chorus, and orch. (1965); Voka-
lsinfonie, for S, Bar., chorus, and orch. (1972, from the opera Der
letzte Schuss); Laudate pacem, an oratorio for high S, S, A, T, B,
MATTHUS, SIEGFRIED • 297
2 choruses, children’s chorus, and orch. (1974, rev. 1984); Gewand-
haus-Sinfonie, for S, boys’ chorus, org., and orch. (1993); and Te
Deum, for 6 solo vv., mixed chorus, org., and orch. (a work written
for the 2005 reconsecration of the Dresden Frauenkirche, in which
German texts are interwoven with the traditional Latin one); among
other unaccompanied pieces.
MAUDUIT, JACQUES (16 SEPTEMBER 1557–21 AUGUST 1627).
French composer associated with Jean-Antoine de Baïf’s Académie
de Poésie et de Musique in Paris. Most of his music is lost. Surviv-
ing works include two volumes that set Baïf’s verse (Chansonnettes
mesurées, for 4 vv. [1586]; Psaumes mesurées à l’antique, for 4 and
5 vv. [1623]); and a Requiem for 5 vv. (1585). See also COSTELEY,
GUILLAUME; LE JEUNE, CLAUDE; MUSIQUE MESURÉE.
MAW, NICHOLAS (5 NOVEMBER 1935– ). English composer,
active in the United States since the mid-1980s. His lyrical style,
while employing some contemporary procedures and extended
tonal harmonies, is essentially neo-Romantic. Though most of his
choral pieces are small in scale and conceived for amateur choirs,
they nevertheless include challenging elements. Works include Five
Epigrams (1960); Five Irish Songs (1972); Te Deum, for Tr./S,
T, SATB, congregation, and org. (1975); Reverdie (five songs)
for TTBar.BB (1975); The Ruin, for double SSAATTBB and hn.
(1980); One Foot in Eden Still, I Stand, for S, A, T, B/semi-chorus,
SSAATTBB, and opt. org. (1990); and Hymnus, for chorus and orch.
(1995–96); among a few others.
MAXWELL DAVIES, PETER. See DAVIES, PETER MAXWELL.
MECHEM, KIRKE (16 AUGUST 1925– ). American composer,
best known for his choral works, which number over 150. He was
educated at Harvard University (where he studied with Walter Piston
and Randall Thompson) and Stanford University; he then spent
three years in Vienna, refining his skills. Interested in writing music
that is intelligible and expressive, he developed an accessible style
unaligned with any compositional school. His operas Tartuffe (1980)
and John Brown (1989) have proven very successful. A sample of
his many choral works include Make a Joyful Noise Unto The Lord,
op. 2, no. 1, for chorus (1951); The King’s Contest, op. 42, a dra-
matic cantata for S, T, Bar., B, and chamber ens. or orch. (1962,
298 • MAUDUIT, JACQUES
rev. 1974); Seven Joys of Christmas: A Sequence of Carols, op. 25,
for S, SSA (or SATB), or with piano or harp (1964, orch. version,
1974); Songs of the Slave, op. 51b, for S, B-Bar., SATB, and orch.
(1985–93) [cantata suite from John Brown]; and Barter, for SA, trp
(or ob.), and pf. 4-hands.
MELISMA (ADJ. MELISMATIC). A melodic passage in which sin-
gle syllables are prolonged over many notes (as opposed to syllabic
declamation, in which individual syllables are matched to single
notes). The term is applied especially to chant and polyphony.
MELLNÄS, ARNE (30 AUGUST 1933–22 NOVEMBER 2002).
Swedish composer and teacher. He taught music theory and orches-
tration for many years at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm,
and was an influential leader of the avant garde in Sweden. Compos-
ing in many different genres, he constantly explored new techniques
and modes of expression. Among his choral works are Missa bre-
vis (1959), Succsim (1964/67), Dream (1970), Mara mara minne
(with electronics ad lib., 1973), Bossa buffa (1973), Tio ordspråk
[Ten Proverbs] (1981), L’Infinito (1982), and Kosmos [11 pieces]
(1992–94), all for mixed choir. Immediately successful was Aglepta,
for children’s vv. (1969).
MENDELSSOHN(-BARTHOLDY) [HENSEL], FANNY (14 NO-
VEMBER 1805–14 MAY 1847). German composer and pianist,
elder sister to Felix Mendelssohn. Many of her approximately 500
compositions have yet to be published. Although she was talented
in her own right, prevailing cultural and family attitudes regarding
women hindered her from establishing a musical career. Her choral
works include more than two dozen pieces, including Hiob, a cantata
for S, A, T, B, SATB, and orch. (1831); Lobgesang, a cantata for S,
A, SATB, and orch. (1831); and Oratorium nach den Bildern der
Bibel, for S, A, T, B, chorus, and orch. (1831). Six of her partsongs
for mixed chorus were published just before her death under the title
Gartenlieder: Sechs Gesänge, op. 3 (1846).
MENDELSSOHN(-BARTHOLDY), FELIX (3 FEBRUARY 1809–4
NOVEMBER 1847). German composer, conductor, pianist, and
organist. His family was Jewish but converted to Christianity. From
1817 he studied with Carl Friedrich Zelter, and he began to compose
prolifically soon thereafter. In 1829 (at the age of 20), he organized
MENDELSSOHN, FELIX • 299
and conducted two Berlin performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s
St. Matthew Passion with the city’s Sing-Akademie—the first perfor-
mances of the work since Bach’s death. Highly successful, the concerts
inaugurated the so-called Bach revival of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Mendelssohn then spent several years traveling throughout Eu-
rope, after which he settled into the life of a professional musician.
Although he was not chosen in 1833 to succeed Carl Friedrich Zelter
as director of the Sing-Akademie, he soon received other presti-
gious offers, among them, an invitation to conduct the Lower Rhine
Festival in Düsseldorf (1833), followed by the offer of a three-year
position as Düsseldorf’s music director. In this latter capacity he
prepared monthly performances of major sacred works for Düs-
seldorf church services, among which were masses by Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Luigi Cherubini, and Ludwig
van Beethoven, and cantatas by Bach. He was particularly active
in reviving the oratorios of George Frideric Handel and Haydn,
which inspired him to undertake writing his own oratorio, Paulus
[St. Paul]. Subsequent dissatisfaction with conditions in Düsseldorf
led him to accept an offer from Leipzig to serve as municipal mu-
sic director of the city and director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra.
He began his duties in the fall of 1835. When his father died a few
weeks later, he renewed his efforts to complete St. Paul, dedicating
it to his father’s memory. The work premiered on 22 May 1836 in
Düsseldorf. Its success in Germany and in London prompted him to
begin planning Elijah.
The next years were hectic ones, for Mendelssohn was now in
great demand as a conductor throughout Germany and in England,
while still having responsibilities in Leipzig. In 1841 he moved to
Berlin at the invitation of Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who had recently
been crowned king of Prussia, and was seeking to revitalize the
arts in that city. While Mendelssohn was initially supposed to pro-
vide leadership at the Akademie der Künste, his duties remained
ambiguous. In September the king appointed him Kapellmeister.
Meanwhile, he continued to conduct concerts in Leipzig. At the end
of 1842, his situation in Berlin still not clarified, he accepted a new
arrangement, which put him in charge of sacred music in Berlin. For
this purpose he was promised a newly organized cathedral choir.
The choir was formed by May 1843, and in November Mendelssohn
moved his family to Berlin. He continued to travel extensively, and
300 • MENDELSSOHN, FELIX
by September of the following year he had requested to be released
from royal service.
His final years were preoccupied with the oratorio Elijah, which
had been contemplated for several years. He now completed it in
response to a commission from the Birmingham Music Festival,
and premiered (in William Bartholomew’s English translation) un-
der Mendelssohn’s direction on 26 August 1846. Upon returning to
Germany, Mendelssohn immediately undertook extensive revisions.
More scenic, more dramatic (without narrator), and less reliant on
chorales than his first oratorio, Elijah was more comprehensible to
English audiences and enjoyed greater success. The revised version
was premiered in London on 16 April 1847. Mendelssohn (who was
making his 10th visit to England) conducted the work six times that
month. The following month he received word of the sudden death
of his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn(-Bartholdy). This blow, along with
the effects of constant overwork, led ultimately to his own untimely
death in November. Among the works he left unfinished was the
oratorio, Christus.
Mendelssohn’s style was essentially conservative. Though techni-
cally adept, it held little of the unbridled passion to which the Roman-
tic movement aspired. As an admirer of Bach, Handel, Haydn, and
Mozart, he wrote music that prized craftsmanship over innovation
(though imbued with some of the dramatic power of Beethoven and
Carl Maria von Weber). By frequently programming masterworks
of the past in his concerts, he nurtured a new historical consciousness
throughout Europe.
Mendelssohn’s choral works include over 130 individual pieces.
Among them are dozens of psalm settings, five of which are large
in scale: Psalm 115, op. 31 (originally with Latin text), for solo vv.,
chorus, and orch. (1830, rev. 1835); Psalm 42, op. 42, for solo vv.,
chorus, orch., and org. (1837, rev. 1837, 1838); Psalm 95, op. 46,
for solo vv., chorus, and orch. (1838, rev. 1839, 1841); Psalm 114,
op. 51, for 8 vv. and orch. (1839, rev. 1840); and Psalm 98, op. 91,
for solo vv., double chorus, orch., and org. (1843). His interest in
Bach’s cantatas resulted in the chorale cantatas Christe, du Lamm
Gottes, for chorus and orch. (1827); Jesu, meine Freude, for chorus
and str. (1828); Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten, for solo v.,
chorus, and str. (1829); O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, for solo v.,
chorus, and orch. (1830); Vom Himmel hoch, for solo vv., chorus,
MENDELSSOHN, FELIX • 301