THE MUSIC OF THE MASS. A SIGNIFICANT CRITICISM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8, 22 February 1900, Page 10

THE MUSIC OF THE MASS. A SIGNIFICANT CRITICISM.

I'hk London correspondent of the Melbourne Advocate writing on the musical setting of Masses says :—: — There was recently a discussion in one of the London papers as to who set the finest musical setting of the Mass, and from the general tenor of the correspondence, it is evident that Gounod's • Mes.se Solennelle ' was far and away the first favourite in the competition. If any proof were wanting of the extraordinary popularity ot this melodious composition, it was supplied on ' Monday Jane, Christmas Day, when, according to au inquisitive calculator, it was sung at 11 o'clock in no less than 1 3.1 London churches, chiefly Roman Catholic and Anglican, of course, but with a fair sprinkling of minor Protestant places of worship as well. It is not difficult to discover the reasons for this remarkable partiality towards Gounod's famous Mass. The combination of dreamy mysticism and sensuous Bweetness that is the predominant feature of Gouncd's musical style, is carried to its highest point in the ' Messe Solennelle.' Gounod was an ecclesiastical student in Paris, and was on the point of being ordained a priest when his ideas were diverted to a different direction. Both sides of his character and experience, the religious and the secular, are illustrated in his music, which consequently appeals to two very different classes of people. In the opinion of some French Bishops some of Gounod's Masses are positively dangerous, and one of them denounces them in very strong terms indeed. The particular Mass under notice produces a considerable effect on highly nervous and sensitive people, more especially on women of a hysterical temperament ; but it is doubtful that the sensation so produced is healthy, still more doubtful that it is religious. It produces for the time being an elevation of mind, but that condition is evanescent. It passes away very quickly and then there is a reaction, the relaxing effect of which on mind and body leaves the person subject of it in a condition not at all likely to be receptive of sober religious influence. Dr. Walsh, the Archbishop of Dublin, does not, I believe, allow the ' Mesae SolennelJe ' to be sung in the churches of his diocese, but he does sanction the singing of another of Gounod's Masses, that of the Sacred Heart, which is certainly the most devotional, and, from the strictly religious point of view, the best of all his settings of the words of the Mass. But although Gounod's • Messe Solennelle ' is, and probably long will be, the prime favourite with the crowd, both Catholic and Protestant, by reason of its richness and melody and unique combination of the sacred with the voluptuous, there has never been any doubt in the minds of cultured musicians that Beethoven's in C is the finest Mass that ever was or ever will be composed. Mozart's 12th, which once held a high place in this connection, is now generally discredited, and is rarely heard in this part of the world. It has been conclusively established that Mozart had no hand whatever in its composition, and it is now boldly classified in the catalogue of the British Museum under the heading of ' Spurious.' It is something to be thankful for that this style of M >ss is going out of fashion, with its wearisome repetitions and the ' Amen ' at the end of the (llona and the Credo strung out to a degree that is little less than grotesque. There is a French conaposer named Louis Viedcrmeyer whose Masses are much admired on the Continent and 111 England, but 1 do not remember ever haviiig heard one of them in Australia. I would commend his sacred comp *itions to the colonial choir-masters. His Masses are wonderfully impressive, what the musical critics call ear-haunting. I frequently hear them at the Italian Church. Hatton Garden, where we have a full choir and orchestra all the year round, the latter drawn from the rinks of the best instrumentalists in London. One of Louis Nitderaieypr's Masses in particular, a-, peiforuied at Hatton Garden, is absolutely awe-inspiring in its effects. Ido not know any Mass that g ies so .straight to the heait and the conscience. Whenever I hear it on a Sunday, its sublime strains linger in my memory i ir the whole of the week. Niedermeyer is also the composer of a splendid setting of the Putt r Xoifi r, which is in frequent use here as offertory piece for a bass voice. He is really a composer who ought to be iimuh better known in the colonies than he i*.