Arnold Schönberg - Moses und Aron

"With sketches for an unfinished orchestral passacaglia in March 1920, Schoenberg began to work out the implications of the serial idea. A catch-as-catch-can life as teacher, lecturer, and conductor was relieved in 1925 by an appointment from the Prussian Academy of Arts to take over the composition masterclass formerly taught by Busoni, who had died the year before. The relative security of his new position allowed Schoenberg leisure to expand, hand-in-hand with composition, the grasp of serial procedures. In 1898 Schoenberg had become, like Mendelssohn, a convert to Lutheranism, though that did not shield him from virulent anti-Semitism, and through the 1920s he was preoccupied with his position as a Jew and an artist, eventually returning formally to Judaism in the summer of 1933. Already in 1917 he had begun the composition of Die Jakobsleiter, a large-scale oratorio in which a variety of religious and philosophical stances are brought before the archangel Gabriel. Tellingly, this work, like Moses und Aron, was to remain incomplete. Schoenberg's religious concerns became more topically focused in the drama Der biblische Weg, written over 1926-1927, whose protagonist, Max Aruns -- a composite whose dichotomy would be articulated in Moses und Aron -- was modeled on Zionist leader Theodor Herzl. A first draft libretto of Moses und Aron, conceived as an oratorio, followed in 1928, with the composition of the comic opera Von heute auf Morgen. Composition of the first two acts of Moses und Aron, as an opera, occupied Schoenberg from May 1930 to March 1932. Based upon a single row, serialism attains its grandest throw, given vivacity and dramatic impetus by the astonishing array of techniques -- Sprechgesang, Klangfarbenmelodie, contrapuntally rich choral writing -- fashioned over a lifetime to find their ultimate expressive purpose in Moses und Aron. Moses' uncompromising adherence to an omnipotent, inconceivable God, for instance, is conveyed by Sprechstimme, while Aron's attempts to win the people to it are couched in glib arioso - an audible representation of the artist's uneasy mixture of truth and illusion, intellectual probity and charisma. The impact of Moses und Aron, in the hands of a great conductor, is immediate, visceral, and compelling. Hitler's rise and Schoenberg's emigration to America in 1933 put the completion of Moses und Aron -- a third act dialogue in which Aron dies - forever out of reach. The torso received its premiere at the Zurich Stadttheater June 6, 1957, not quite six years after its composer's death." (Summary by Adrian Corleonis. From AllMusic. See here.)

Performers: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig, Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Herbert Kegel, Werner Haseleu, Reiner Goldberg

1.1. Akt I, Szene I: 'Einziger, Ewiger, Allgegenwärtiger'

1.2. Akt I, Szene II: 'Du Sohn Meiner Väter'

1.3. Akt I, Szene III: 'Ich Hab' Ihn Gesehn'

1.4. Akt I, Szene IV: 'Bringt Ihr Erhörung'/'In Der Wüste Wird Euch Die Reinheit'

2.1. Zwischenspiel: 'Wo Ist Moses?'

2.2. Akt II, Szene I: 'Vierzig Tage!'

2.3. Akt II, Szene II: 'Wo Ist Moses?'/'Volk Israels!'

2.4. Akt II, Szene III: 'Dieses Bild Bezeugt'

2.5. Akt II, Szene IV: 'Moses Steigt Vom Berg Herab!'

2.6. Akt II, Szene V: 'Aron, Was Hast Du Getan?'/'Unvorstellbarer Gott!'

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Joseph Haydn - Heiligmesse; Nelsonmesse; Kleine Orgelsolomesse; Theresienmesse

"Though Haydn's prescribed duties during his long years at the Esterházy court (1761-90) included the direction of ecclesiastical music, Prince Nicolaus Esterházy had far more of a taste for instrumental music and opera buffa. Not surprisingly, given Haydn's phenomenal activity in these fields, he , composed relatively few liturgical works in this period. Most of those he did write have their origins beyond the Esterházy court; and these include the smallest and most intimate of his masses, the 'Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo', whose florid organ obbligato in the Benedictus has spawned the nickname 'Little Organ Solo Mass'. Haydn composed it some time in the mid 1770s for the Brothers of Mercy, who ran the hospital in Eisenstadt, seat of the Esterházys' winter residence, and whose patron was St. John of God — hence the mass's dedication. The minimal orchestral forces (two violins, organ and bass continuo) were evidently dictated by the tiny size of the chapel's organ loft.

"The chronology of the.first two masses in the series, the 'Missa in tempore belli' and the 'Missa Sancti Bernardi de Offida', is uncertain, though it is likely that the Missa Sancti Bernardi was composed first, during the summer of 1796 and performed in the Bergkirche, Eisenstadt, that September. As the title suggests, it was written to honour not only the Princess but also Bernard of Offida (1604-1694), a Capuchin monk canonised in 1795 for his devotion to the poor. In Austria and Germany the work is known as the 'Heiligmesse' because Haydn conceals in the inner voices of the Sanctus an old chorale 'Heilig, heilig, ('Heilig' is the German translation of 'Sanctus').

"The third and most famous of Haydn's last six masses, the D minor 'Missa in Angustiis' ('Mass in Time of Anxiety' is an approximate translation), was composed in July and August 1798, and first performed in Eisenstadt parish church the following month. The title by which the work is usually known dates from 1800, when Nelson, having routed the French at Aboukir, visited Prince Esterházy on his return journey to England and attended a performance of the Missa in Angustiis in his honour.

"The title of the fourth of Haydn's late masses, the so-called Theresienmesse ('Theresa Mass'), derives from the work's (doubtful) association with Marie Therese, wife of the Emperor Francis II, who sang the soprano solos in The Creation and The Seasons. One feature that immediately sets the Theresienmesse apart from the other masses is its scoring. In 1799 Prince Nicolaus's orchestra was reduced to strings, trumpets, timpani and organ, and the work is designed only for these instruments, plus a pair of clarinets imported from Vienna. These relatively subdued orchestral forces influence Haydn's treatment of the soloists, who as a closely-woven quartet have almost as much prominence as the choir. A consequence of this is the unusually private, chamber-musical tone of many parts of the work: the Adagio outer sections of the Kyrie, for instance, framing livelier music subtly based on the same material; the gentle, meditative Sanctus; or the Crucifixus, which has none of the anguished drama found in the other late masses at this point but quietly and searchingly develops the music first heard at 'Et homo factus est'." (Richard Wigmore. From the liner notes.)

Performers: Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Staatskapelle Dresden, Neville Marriner

1.1. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Kyrie
1.2. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Gloria. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
1.3. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Gloria. Gratias Agimus Tibi
1.4. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Gloria. Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
1.5. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Credo. Credo In Unum Deum
1.6. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Credo. Et Incarnatus Est
1.7. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Credo. Et Resurrexit
1.8. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Credo. Et Vitam Venturi Saeculi
1.9. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Sanctus
1.10. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Benedictus
1.11. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Agnus Dei. Agnus Dei
1.12. Mass No. 9 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:10 'Missa Sancti Bernardi Von Offida (Heiligmesse)': Agnus Dei. Dona Nobis Pacem
1.13. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Kyrie
1.14. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Gloria. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
1.15. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Gloria. Qui Tollis
1.16. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Gloria. Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
1.17. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Credo. Credo In Unum Deum
1.18. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Credo. Et Incarnatus Est
1.19. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Credo. Et Resurrexit
1.20. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Sanctus
1.21. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Benedictus. Benedictus
1.22. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Benedictus. Osanna
1.23. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Agnus Dei. Agnus Dei
1.24. Mass No. 11 In D Minor, Hob. XX11:11 'Nelsonmesse': Agnus Dei. Dona Nobis Pacem

2.1. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Kyrie
2.2. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Gloria
2.3. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Credo
2.4. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Sanctus
2.5. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Benedictus
2.6. Mass No. 7 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:7 'Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis De Deo': Agnus Dei
2.7. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Kyrie
2.8. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Gloria. Gloria In Excelsis Deo
2.9. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Gloria. Gratias Agimus Tibi
2.10. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Gloria. Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus
2.11. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Credo. Credo In Unum Deum
2.12. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Credo. Et Incarnatus Est
2.13. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Credo. Et Resurrexit
2.14. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Sanctus
2.15. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Benedictus
2.16. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Agnus Dei. Agnus Dei
2.17. Mass No. 12 In B-Flat Major, Hob. XXII:12 'Theresienmesse': Agnus Dei. Dona Nobis Pacem

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