• Saturday, Oct 20, 7 pM - St. Paul Church, Kensington

Schubert at St. Paul's

Concert - Lecture More Info...     

Concert Program:

Lecture Subject: Mass as a Musical Form

Performance:

F. Schubert: Mass No. 2 in G Major, D. 167

Members of the New Britain Chorale

Members of the St. Paul Choir

Soloists:

Gwendolyn Gillman, soprano
Megan Capen, Alto
Joshua Taylor, tenor
Laurentiu Rotaru, Bass

A Program Note:

The Mass No. 2 in G Major was written within the space of five days, March 2-7, 1815. This is the shortest and simplest of Schubert's seven masses, intended for performance in his parish church of Lichenthal. The chamber instrumentation for strings is a beautifully transparent setting for use in a small church with limited resources. The Mass setting is restrained and conservative, reminiscent of Mozart or early Beethoven. It contains those portions of the Ordinary of the Mass that are most frequently set to music - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Angus Dei - in the original Latin.

Like Mozart, Schubert was not an orthodox Catholic. His personal piety had its roots in Josephism, a liberal religious attitude prevalent under Emperor Joseph II, which caused him to omit the following line from the Credo: Credo in unam sanctam catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam ("I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church"). Though unorthodox, Schubert was a deeply religious man. In a letter to his father, he wrote, "People have wondered at the piety I express in a hymn to the Virgin Mary, which seems to move every soul and to dispose the listener to prayer. I think that is because I never force myself to pray and, except when devotion involuntarily overpowers me, I never compose that kind of hymn or prayer -- when I do, then the piety I give voice to is genuine and deeply felt."

(By Michaelene Gorney)