Musical letters from Abroad

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

116-7

text excerpt

I have just returned from the morning service. Since Easter, the Motets with Orchestra have been resumed; and to-day, the musical exercises were somewhat different from what they usually are. A Chorale was first sung; but there were not many people to join in. The exercises commence precisely at eight o’clock, whether anybody is there or not; and sometimes I have attended public worship, when there was no one present at the commencement, except the singers. After the chorale to-day, the first two movements of a mass by Cherubini were sung, “Kyrie,” and “Gloria in excelsis;" sung, too, not in the vernacular language of the land, but in the original Greek and Latin. The “Kyrie  commenced with a short Violoncello solo; this is followed by a vocal solo for a Bass voice; after which the other parts join. There is much solo throughout the movement. The music, although very fine, did not appear to me to be very supplicating in its character, nor did it seem to urge the cry for mercy as one might suppose David urged it in the fifty-first psalm. At the close of the “Kyrie,” the minister, at the altar, chanted a few words of prayer, and then followed a brilliant “Gloria in excelsis,” mostly in chorus. A fugue is introduced, and the closing movement, to the word Amen, is very animating and triumphant. At the close of the “Gloria,” the minister chanted the collect for the day with response by the choir; afterwards followed prayer, and then came a very fine Motet or Hymn with Orchestra, composed by Spohr. The moment this closed, choir and orchestra scattered, and were seen no more. The organ instantly announced a chorale, and the loud congregational chorus arose, most cheering, most refreshing, Sabbath-like, a song of worship, solemn, grand, majestic, “fit for an angel to play, or a martyr to hear;" raising one’s feelings, and bringing home thoughts of God, heaven, holiness, redemption, and eternity.

excerpt from 'Musical letters from Abroad' pp. 116-7 (341 words)

excerpt from 'Musical letters from abroad' pp. 116-7 (341 words)

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1448316411409