The Height of Music: Sampling 10 Mass Settings

The purpose of human life is to give glory to God. Everything else should be judged by this standard. The Mass most directly helps us to achieve our purpose in life, drawing us into Christ’s perfect glorification of the Father.

Catholics have some of the most profound treasures in our cultural legacy, though we largely remain unaware of them and, therefore, unable to appreciate them. If the purpose of life is glorying God, one aspect of heritage particularly helps us to enter into the work of praising God: musical settings for the Mass. Traditionally the Mass was sung, not recited, as it enhanced prayer by infusing it with solemnity and beauty. Music exercises power on our emotions and thinking, which is why it has been harnessed so beautifully by the Church to move the soul in prayer.

The story of the Church’s musical tradition begins with the singing of psalms, which Jesus did with the disciples at the end of the Last Supper. Early Church Fathers, such as Ephraim the Syrian and Ambrose of Milan wrote hymns to be sung in worship alongside of the psalms. In the West, the Church’s musical tradition coalesced in Gregorian chant in the early Middle Ages, spreading from monastery to monastery throughout Europe. In the High Middle Ages, chants became more complex and with the move from chanting in unison to the use of multiple voices, we see the beginnings of polyphony. From here Western music generally developed techniques for ensuring harmony for these multiple voices, such as counterpoint, which laid the foundations for classical music.

Here are 10 musical settings for the Mass that represent the history of Catholic music. I present them chronologically, seeking not simply the ten best Masses but ones which express the development of the Church’s musical heritage from the Middle Ages to today. There are many others that could be (and maybe should be) chosen, but hopefully this list will be a good place to start.

1. Orbis Factor, Chant Setting XI for Sundays throughout the year

Gregorian chant is the music of the Church of the West, growing out of the Roman tradition and coming to fruition in the monasteries of the north. The Kyriale collects the eighteen Mass settings that became predominate throughout the liturgical year. All of them are worth knowing, but Orbis Factor for the Masses throughout the year in the time after Epiphany and Pentecost offers a decent place to start. Most parishes occasionally sing simple plain chant in English or Latin, but Orbis Factor provides a good next step for a more complex and beautiful Mass setting that is still reasonably accessible.

2. Guillaume de Machaut, Messe de Nostre Dame (c. 1365)

This is the oldest complete Mass setting that can be attributed to a single composer. Machaut was part of the ars nova school of polyphony, building upon the earlier ars antiqua movement that had been centered at Notre Dame in Paris. He wrote many secular pieces in the tradition of courtly love, while also composing many religious motets. The Messe de Nostre Dame may have been written for a coronation ceremony, and unlike later Masses, it does not follow one set tone or theme throughout. Contrasted to Gregorian chant, the music has more energy, though compared to the music of the Renaissance to come, it can feel raw and even jolting at times.

 3. Josquin des Prez, Missa Hercules (c. 1480)

Josquin offers us more developed and polished polyphony. A testament to his importance for ecclesiastical music can be seen in the number of works falsely attributed to him in the attempt to gain notoriety. His prominence is justified simply by the number of advancements he made to the genre of Mass composition. An example of this can be found in his Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae written for the Duke of Ferrara. This dedication is significant as it is the first example of a soggetto cavato, fancy language for the fact that he used the vowels taken from the names Hercules Ferrariae to create a scheme for the pitches of the music. Beyond this innovation, the Mass presents a good example, among so many, of his extraordinary talent.

 4. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Missa Papa Marcelli (1562)

Palestrina stands at the climax of the medieval musical tradition as it transitions to modern music, especially through his advancement of the technique of counterpoint. He epitomized the musical response to the Reformation, manifesting that Catholics would continue boldly and beautifully to proclaim the faith. At the center of the Roman School of music, he held positions at the Julian Chapel of the Vatican, the Lateran, and Santa Maria Maggiore. His Missa Papa Marcelli stands as his most widely known piece and served as the traditional Mass setting for the coronation of Popes for many years.

5. Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B Minor (1749)

The great Lutheran composer wrote one enormous Catholic Mass setting. In fact, it may be the best Mass setting of any composer! He also wrote five so called Lutheran Masses, which have fewer parts for use in Protestant services. His Mass in B Minor seems to have been inspired, at least in part, by Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine. The Mass was begun in 1733 in order to gain favor with the Catholic Elector of Saxony, Augustus III. Drawing upon other pieces, he revised and expanded the Mass during the last years of his life, offering it as a final testament and certainly one of his greatest masterpieces.

6. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Great Mass (1783)

Mozart began his musical career in the service of the Cardinal Archbishop of Salzburg (however much he came to resent it). Composed after his arrival in Vienna in honor of his wedding, his Great Mass in C Minor, though incomplete, serves as one of the greatest testaments to his service to the Church. As a Missa solemnis, it was composed for four soloists, a double choir, and large orchestra. It may be my go to musical Mass, with its unforgettable opening, but make sure also to listen to his Coronation Mass and another incomplete Mass, his famous Requiem.

 7. Franz Josef Haydn, Nelson Mass (1798)

Haydn worked for a long period of time as a court composer to Prince Esterházy of Hungary, for whom he wrote many Catholic Masses. His Missa angustiis (Mass for Trouble Times) stands out as his greatest. It conveys a bombastic tension akin to its name, written after Austria suffered a string of defeats by the French, but first performed when the English Admiral, Lord Nelson, victory over Napoleon off the coast of Egypt. The powerful piece took on a note of triumph and hope linked to that event.

8. Ludwig van Beethoven, Mass in C Major (1807)

The Mass in C Major is shorter than Beethoven’s more famous Missa Solemnis, but has more passion and easier to access. it was written also written for Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy, Haydn’s patron. The Prince did not care for it, leading to one of Beethoven’s greatest moments of disgrace. Most today disagree with his assessment, and in the piece we can see Beethoven’s great Romantic energy and genius in service of the Church’s worship. The beginning of the Credo is a great place to look for this energy.

9. Gabriel Fauré, Requiem (1890)

Fauré’s Requiem is a gem. I find it uniquely soft and soothing, as seen in its most famous movement, the Pie Jesu. This gentler presentation of a Requiem can be seen even in Fauré’s choice to omit the Dies Irae and to add the In Paradisum of the soul being welcomed into paradise. Personally, I love the Sanctus which begins softly but then, when it reaches Hosanna, it boldly cries forth in confidence. Written at the end fo the Romantic era, we begin to hear some elements of modern music coming forth.

10. Arvo Pärt, Berliner Messe (1990)

Pärt is probably the greatest living composer, drawing elements of medieval music and chant into modern currents, which gives his music elements of both timelessness and a contemporary feel. Pärt is Estonian and a convert from Lutheranism to Orthodoxy. Despite his turn to the East, he draws directly from Gregorian chant and other traditions of Western sacred music. His Berliner Messe offers an example with a Mass setting in Latin, premiered at the Catholic cathedral of Berlin in 1990. Listen for his unique tintinnabuli style inspired by bells:

We hear individual bells in some pieces, but we may also notice that the music as a whole is somehow similarly structured, that the form of some tintinnabuli compositions (or sometimes just a phrase or a chord) resembles the way (the shape) in which a bell sounds. But the connection also extends into the more complex manner in which sounds are combined and repeated to make a musical composition. The way in which Part uses a single triad to illuminate an entire work is also a response to the natural sonority of bells, a development of it by extension.

Paul Hiller, Arvo Pärt (Oxford University Press, 1997), 20.

Conclusion

Turning back to the tradition of Catholic Mass settings and familiarizing ourselves with some of the highlights may be just want we need in order to reinvigorate Catholic music. We need to recover our musical memory to point us toward renewal!