Revisiting Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-fl at Major, D. 950 by Sean M. Burton This great work shows such a depth has not chosen to do so yet. Inspired by the Nor do external reasons for its of subjective thought…that no complete magnifi cence of Schubert’s Mass composition have to be sought. sensitive listener can fail to be deeply in E-fl at, this article serves to provide a The inner compulsion to compose 2 moved.1 practical introduction to the work, explore accounts for a weighty fraction of the the piece’s performance history by selected life’s work, and a mass was by now —Eva Badura-Skoda professional symphonic organizations in as credible an outlet for that urge as the United States, and urge colleagues to was a symphony, a sonata or song. consider programming what is perhaps an He had shown his commitment to overlooked masterwork. the genre by his extended labours Introduction on the Mass in A fl at, and through that work had brought the mass The chance to reconnect with former Mass No. 6 in E-fl at Major, D. 950 into that group of media in which mentors and attend myriad events at he could reveal his mature creative ACDA’s 2011 Chicago National Conven- Franz Schubert (1797–1828) composed personality as truly—if in different tion rekindled this author’s interest in the Mass in E-fl at during the summer months directions—as in the orchestral, 3 revisiting some beloved choral/orchestral of 1828. While the work enjoys acclaim chamber, keyboard and other vocal 4 masterpieces fi rst discovered during gradu- for its “Romantic concern for sublimity,” genres that excited his pen.12 ate studies. Opportunities to program one and as an opus of “artistic maturity,”5 which, work in particular, Franz Schubert’s Mass No. according to the late Robert Shaw, offers Schubert scored his Mass in E-fl at for 6 in E-fl at Major, D. 950, continue to present “page after page of extraordinary beauty SATB choir, SATTB soli, and an orchestra themselves but paradoxically this conductor and textual illumination,”6 uncertainties comprised of two oboes, two clarinets, two belie its genesis. The Mass in E-fl at may have bassoons, two trumpets, two horns, three been composed for the Minorite church in trombones, timpani, and strings without Vienna, as indicated by Otto Erich Deutsch7 fl utes or organ (Table 1). Badura-Skoda as- 8 Sean M. Burton, DMA, is assistant and subsequently Ronald Stringham, or for serts the composer’s decision to dispense professor of music, director of choral the church of the Holy Trinity in Alsergrund, with the organ does not corroborate any 9 activities, and division chairperson as mentioned by Brian Newbould and John theory eschewing overt secular infl uence, of arts and humanities at Briar Cliff Reed.10 Nick Jones cites another impetus, refuting that perspective as follows: University in Sioux City, Iowa. He earned namely, the composer’s potential application his BM in music education, summa for a vacant appointment at the Imperial One can read in an otherwise cum laude, from The Hartt School— court as assistant to the Kappellmeister.11 commendable book [Walter University of Hartford, his MM in Newbould sums it up best: Vetter’s Schubert, Potsdam, 1934] conducting from Boston University, and that Schubert’s last Mass reveals his DMA in choral conducting from the It is not known what prompted its secular character through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Schubert to compose his Mass in simple fact that he renounced the [email protected] E-fl at in the summer of 1828 less organ. This idea is characteristic than six months before his death. of the Protestant view. The North CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 51 Europeans considered the organ Schubert’s mind: He introduced Be that as it may, while the considerable indispensible for church music, an more contrapuntal devices in his size of the orchestra requires substantial attitude not necessarily prominent E-fl at Major Mass than he did in any funds to produce a performance of the Mass in the Catholic South during the other work.13 in E-fl at with professional instrumentalists, Classical era. Conversely, the idea the additional absence of tuba, contrabas- that sacred music implies the use soon, percussion, and other auxiliary instru- of polyphony was clearly fi xed in ments places it in a somewhat affordable category for many performing organizations. In concert with his conservative orches- tration, Schubert employs vocal soloists 14 Table 1 sparingly throughout the Mass in E-fl at, Orchestration Chart of Schubert’s Mass No. 6 in E-fl at Major, D. 950 but without ever compromising his unique compositional craft. Strimple agrees, praising Kyrie Gloria Credo Sanctus Benedictus Agnus Dei the solo passages which imbue “the easygo- ing naturalness of his lieder,”15 especially “the Oboe I/II X X X X X X ‘Et incarnatus est’ trio for soprano and two ♭ Clar. I/II (B ) X X X X X X tenors … the only instance where Schubert varies the SATB solo confi guration.”16 (A Bassoon I/II X X X X X X noteworthy aside, Johannes Brahms himself ♭ ♭ Tpt. I/II (B /C) X X (in E ) X anonymously edited the fi rst edition of the 17 ♭ ♭ vocal score for Breitkopf and Härtel.) Hn. I/II (E /B ) X X X X X X Trombone I/II X X X X X X Performance Context Trombone III X X X X X X For the most part, the choral writing in Timpani X X X X the Mass in E-fl at is straightforward though compelling. Shaw describes the Kyrie as bear- Violin I X X X X X X ing witness to “the sweet and gentle sorrows 18 Violin II X X X X X X of human existence.” Further, he highlights “the startling emotional effect” of the com- Viola X X X X X X poser’s harmonic modulations throughout the fi rst movement as “quieting, ruminative, S soloist X X X somehow inward and retrospective.”19 Note A soloist X X Shaw’s employment of the word “retrospec- tive” verses “introspective” and the essence T soloist* XX X X of elegiac heroism encountered in the Kyrie B soloist X X (Figure 1). Likewise, the extroverted settings of “Quoniam” and “Cum Sancto Spiritu” in S chorus X X X X X X the Gloria, fervent declarations in the Credo, A chorus X X X X X X majesty of the Sanctus, sprightly “Osanna” fugues in the Sanctus and Benedictus move- T chorus X X X X X X ments, and the fugato that commences the B chorus X X X X X X Agnus Dei (Figure 2) unite to exploit the full drama inherent within the liturgical text. Violoncello X X X X X X Similar to some of his other Mass Ordi- Contrabass X X X X X X nary settings, Schubert chooses to omit spe- cifi c texts in the Mass in E-fl at. Concerning the ramifi cations of these alterations specifi c *a fi fth soloist, Tenor II, appears briefl y during the “Et incarnatus est” of the Credo. to the Mass, Newbould states: As usual, the reference to ‘unam 52 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 sanctam catholicam Ecclesiam’ in In spite of the strengths and apparent States reveals a scattered reception (Table the Credo is gone. So is ‘Patrem controversies surrounding Schubert’s Mass 2). This researcher designated more than 22 omnipotentem’, ‘genitum, non in E-fl at, an archival survey of the work’s twenty-fi ve reputable symphonic organiza- factum’, and ‘consubstatialem performance history by selected profes- tions from different regions in the United Patri’. These deviations—whether sional symphonic organizations in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii, for the the result of religious conviction, oversight, or artistic strategy—have caused more problems for ecclesiastical posterity than they probably did in the liberal atmosphere known to Schubert in Biedermeier Vienna. At any rate, they did not stand in the way of a church performance at Holy Trinity in the Viennese suburb of Alsergrund within the year after Schubert’s death.20 In his landmark volume Choral Repertoire, Dennis Shrock calls attention to this anomaly, ger- mane to text-setting encoun- tered in Schubert’s masses, in a more general sense: [P]ortions of the Gloria and Credo texts in all the masses are varied: individual words are repeated, the standard order of phrases is interchanged, and most striking, some words and phrases are deleted. The deletions … are intriguing and inexplicable. Scholars conjecture that they were oversights, local liturgical traditions or reflections of Schubert’s beliefs (or lack thereof). The fi rst two suppositions are unlikely in that Schubert made textual deletions in all his masses, and no masses by other composers of the time delete any text. The idea that Schubert deleted certain phrases because he did not believe in them has merit…21 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 52 Number 1 53 study. Large, predominantly long-established, fl at. Newbould concurs, insisting: through its orchestral setting, which and generally recognized symphonic or- is the core of the work’s being as ganizations were chosen, as distinct from It has to be said from the start that much as anything else is. That truism college or community choral organizations, anyone who has been introduced to applies to most music for choir and primarily due to availability of reliable archival this work through membership of a orchestra, of course, but what is at information.