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El Mundo Nuevo: Mozart and the New World

Bryan F. Black, Director
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, Accompanist

In conjunction with Arts & Ideas at Oglethorpe University

Friday, May 5, 2006, 8:00 PM
Oak Grove United Methodist Church
1722 Oak Grove Road, Decatur

Presented with orchestra

(Excerpts from) Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe
by Francisco Delgado: researched, edited, and reconstructed by musicologist Stewart Uyeda from parts preserved in the Mexico City Cathedral.

Annie Jefferson, soprano; Mary Gowing, alto; David Ramirez, tenor; John Scott, bass

Invitatory Chorus: Sancta Maria, Dei Genitrix Virgo

Responsory 1 Recit: Vidi speciosam sicut columbam
Chorus: Cujus in æstimabilis

Responsory 3 Recit: Quæ est ista, quæ processit
Chorus: Viderunt eam

Responsory 5 Duo: Quæ est ista, quæ progreditur

Responsory 7 Recit: Felix namquæ es
Chorus: Quia ex te ortus

— Intermission —

Krönungs Messe (Coronation Mass), K. 317 (1779)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Victoria Lawson, soprano Jo Lynn Mariolis, alto
David Ramirez, tenor Ben Bailey, Bass

Kyrie 4. Sanctus

Gloria 5. Benedictus

Credo 6. Agnus Dei

Stewart Uyeda, Musicologist and Pianist

Stewart Uyeda, Pianist and Musicologist, has studied at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (B.A. 2000), the Aspen Music Festival and School (2002), and the Claremont Graduate University (M.A. 2004), and will soon be completing an M.F.A. Piano Performance at the California Institute of the Arts. His research interests include: the Music of Robert Schumann, Ancient Greek Music Theory and Philosophy, and Mexican Cathedral Music.

Progam Notes by Michaelene Gorney

This concert is an historic event, featuring what may well be the first performance in 150 years of Responsories from the Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe by Francisco Delgado, a composer active in Mexico from 1786 to 1825. Researched and edited by musicologist Stewart Uyeda, and reconstructed by him from parts preserved in the Mexico City Cathedral, the Matins offers music both superb and superbly Classical, with solos reminiscent of opera, unexpected harmonies, and an Hispanic flavor imparted by vocal and instrumental ornamentation. Says Uyeda, "Delgado's sound is reminiscent of the High (or Late) Classic and is perhaps the New World's equivalent of Haydn." The DeKalb Choral Guild is proud to be the first to perform for modern-day audiences this captivating cross-cultural work of musical art!

For most of the information on the Matins which follows, I am indebted to Stewart Uyeda for his correspondence and for information taken from his thesis, Francisco Delagdo's Matins for the Virgin of Guadalupe: A Casualty of Mexico's Was Independence, completed 2001-2003 under the guidance of Dr. Craig Russell, Mexican Baroque scholar, in fulfillment of the degree Master of Arts from Claremont Graduate University.

Of Francisco Delgado little is known, but records from the Mexico City Cathedral indicate that he was active from around 1786-1825, and his musical family, whose earnings compared quite well to those of other musicians, was relatively famous in the New World: Francisco's father, Manuel, was a celebrated composer and violinist; his brother José, a violinist and trumpeter; Eusebio Delgado, a descendent of Manuel, a violinist. Francisco himself was a major violinist as well as a celebrated composer and violin instructor.

Any discussion of religion and nationality in Mexico must recognize the importance of Our Lady of Guadalupe, revered long prior to Pope John Paul II's proclaiming her patron saint of the Americas in 1999. With the Virgin as a symbol of change, and as a political and militaristic figure during the 1810-1821 War of Independence (by both sides no less!), in composing a work in her honor Delgado was perhaps making a political statement as well as adding a composition to the Cathedral archives. Also important to note is the status of the Church of Mexico at this time, as a "superpower" with resources unmatched by other New World institutions, even those in the United States. "In Naples or Venice, the road to achieving superstardom would have been opera; in Mexico City, or Puebla, however, it was the Matins service.¹" Not that the Cathedral was the only game in town, however. Musicians came from Europe to Mexico for the Coliseo, (literally, "coliseum"), the New World equivalent of New York's Broadway, an entertainment center where plays, musicals, and other events were regularly held, and where there was a salaried "pit" orchestra. Several musicians held positions in both the Coliseo and the Cathedral, and stylistic elements of European opera that are found in Cathedral music were first introduced in the Coliseo.

In the Roman Catholic liturgy, Matins are the earliest of the daily hours, or the Divine Office, which also include Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. The Matins consists of an invitatory and three sections called nocturns, each comprising three psalms with antiphons and three lessons, each lesson followed by a responsory, the last responsory usually replaced by the Te Deum.² Responsories 3, 6, and 9, which end the three nocturns, respectively, traditionally include part of the doxology, which begins "Gloria patri et filio et spiritui sancto" ("Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit"). This can be heard in Responsory 3, in the choral Adagio section before the final return of the soli on the words "Viderunt eam." The Responsories heard tonight are indeed excerpts, representing as they do only a small part of the Matins service. The use of an orchestra in the Matins was unique to eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Mexico, and the parts in which it was featured are those for which music has been preserved.

To close with Stewart Uyeda: "Though he was seemingly secondary to the maestros de capilla and the pivotal figures of the revolution, Francisco Delgado was a well-known church and theater musician during Mexico's transition to independence ... Though he flourished during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Francisco Delgado fell between the cracks ... a casualty of the 1810-1821 War of Independence, a victim of the periodization of Mexican political and musical history, and an unsung hero of a rich musical tradition. His story awaits." Viva Delgado! The DeKalb Choral Guild is proud to present this part of your story and awaits the rich legacy of Mexico yet to be discovered and shared by musicians everywhere!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is the only "great" composer equally famous for instrumental works as well as operas. His operas and his Requiem alone would have made any composer's reputation; add to these his symphonies, concerti, and chamber music, and one is confronted with an unsurpassed accomplishment of quantity and quality. By 1781, when he left his native Salzburg for Vienna, Mozart had written over fifty liturgical works. This is not surprising since Leopold, his father, was court composer to Archbishop Sigismund Schrattenbach and to Schrattenbach's successor, Hieronymous Colloredo. Wolfgang served as Konzertmeister (leader and conductor) of the court orchestra, providing music for secular and religious occasions, later serving as court and cathedral organist as well. In all, Mozart wrote fifteen Salzburg masses, K.317, a missa brevis or "short mass," being one of the last of these and considered by many to be the best. Concerning the brevity of Salzburg Masses, to his friend Padre Martini he wrote, "Our church music is very different from that of Italy, since a mass with the whole Kyrie, the Gloria, the Credo, the Epistle sonata, the Offertory or Motet, the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei must not last longer than three quarters of an hour. This applies even to the most Solemn Mass said by the Archbishop himself."³

The Mass in C Major, K. 317, was completed by Mozart in 1779 for the Easter Day service at the Cathedral of Salzburg. As early as the 19th Century, it was popularly referred to as the "Coronation" Mass, a name based on the belief that Mozart had written the mass for a celebration on the anniversary of the crowning of the Shrine of the Virgin. A more likely explanation is that it was performed during coronation festivities for Leopold II or for those of his successor Francis I.⁴ Harmonically conservative and, by nature of its purpose, utilitarian, its solo passages echo Mozart's growing desire to leave the artistic confinement of Salzburg (where Colloredo had closed the University Theater and forbidden such things as parades, passion plays and the firing of cannons⁵) for a city which actually welcomed opera, which he was eager to write. It is probably no accident that solo passages in K. 317, particularly the extended soprano solo that begins the Agnus Dei, are reminiscent of certain of Mozart's later arias. Though this may be the best work that Mozart wrote while in Salzburg, several elements of the "Coronation" Mass would not have endeared him to Colloredo, an exacting reformer who insisted that music be brief, kept in its place, and devoid of extravagance.⁶ Such "extravagances" as the complex polyphony heard in the Credo and the operatic solos no doubt led a few years later to Mozart's dismissal from this, his last salaried position. Although his subsequent career as an independent musician was certainly not without its successes in terms of artistry (where would we be without The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, The Requiem, and the entire plethora of "later" works?), it was most certainly a disaster in terms of Mozart's continuing ability to make a living.

In the Kyrie of the "Coronation" Mass, a solemn choral opening and closing frame a slightly faster solo passage. The Gloria resembles a symphonic movement in that its first section is recapitulated, beginning with the words Quoniam tu solus sanctus ("You alone are holy"), and its middle section pursues the musical development of orchestral motives. The Credo, with a recurring opening theme, is the most "symphonic" of movements from an orchestral standpoint, but although the instrumentation could well stand on its own, voices remain essential to this lively and passionate iteration of the core beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. The resulting interplay of instruments and voices in this movement presents us with what W. Irwin Ray has so aptly referred to as a "dance of ideas."⁷ The Sanctus and the Benedictus are short, rhythmic and exuberant, and the Agnus Dei closes the work with a return of music from the Kyrie on the words Dona nobis pacem ("Grant us peace"). And peace be with you, Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on the occasion of your 250^th!

References

¹ Russell, Craig, Mexican Baroque: Matins for Our Lady of Guadalupe, Program Notes for the Chanticleer 1996-1997 Season.

² Apel, Willi, ed., Harvard Dictionary of Music, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1972.

³ Boemer, Steve, "K. 167, Mass in C, ‘Trinitatis,'" 1977, The Mozart Project, http://www.mozartproject.org/compositions/k_167__.html

⁴ Aylesburg Choral Society, "Program Notes: Coronation Mass," March, 2002, http://www.aylesburychoral.org.uk/concerts/works/mozart_coronationmass.htm

⁵ Moore, Michael, program notes for "Mozart's Wedding Gift," Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, October 30, 2004, http://www.mcchorus.org.

⁶ Boerner, op. cit.

⁷ Dr. W. Irwin, Ray, Director of Musical Activities, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, Georgia, in rehearsals for Mozart's "Coronation" Mass during March & April of 1999.