Massive Salieri
2017; Oxford University Press; Volume: 45; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/em/cax074
ISSN1741-7260
Autores Tópico(s)Historical Influence and Diplomacy
ResumoThe sacred music of Antonio Salieri is less well known than his dramatic music, even though he served as Hofkapellmeister in Vienna for 36 years. Having held the post of Kammerkomponist from 1774, Salieri took over as Hofkapellmeister in 1788 following Emperor Joseph II’s reorganization of court music after the death of Gluck. (As part of this process, Joseph II also appointed Mozart as court chamber musician from December 1787.) Salieri apparently carried out his duties diligently, directing services, acquiring instruments and filling vacant posts, but was by no means a prolific composer of sacred music: five Masses and a Requiem represent his most substantial achievements. Jane Schatkin Hettrick, one of the leading experts on Salieri and compiler of modern editions of his D major and D minor Masses, has now turned her attention to Salieri’s grandest liturgical work and the only one for two choirs, the Plenary Mass in C with Te Deum. Comprising not only the Mass Ordinary, but also parts of the Proper (Introit, Gradual and Offertory) and movements from outside the Mass (Te Deum, Tantum ergo, Genitori), it is formidable in scale. As Hettrick points out in her informative introduction: ‘In Viennese liturgical practice of the time … it was not unusual for the Te Deum to be appended to the mass, especially on important state occasions (coronations, the monarch’s name day, military victories, peace treatises, anniversaries of battles etc.); it was usually added at the end but in some cases [as in Salieri’s Plenary Mass] at the beginning instead’ (p.ix).
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