Friday, December 17, 2004

Sunday Music Guessing Game

[Update]: Old friend and retired blogger Francis (Xavier+) Mooney gets it: Franz Joseph (Papa) Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass.

This one's a little tougher. If the composer's genius was lesser than Mozart's, it warn't by much. I need his or her name, BUT ALSO the name of the work (a Mass) from which this Sanctus was taken. (Latin lyrics below the embed.) I've included the Kyrie below the lyrics as a bonus. We used to sing it in choir, and 'twas a revelation. Oh, one additional clue: it is notable for being the only Mass by this composer written in a minor key. The recording's not of the greatest quality, so turn up the sound. As usual, researchligheit ist verboten.




Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth,
Deus Sabaoth
(Repeat)
Pleni sunt coeli et terra,
Gloria, gloria tua
(Repeat)
Hosanna in excelsis, in excelsis, etc.


10 comments:

Bill White said...

It ain't Thomas Tallis.

William Luse said...

No, it sure ain't. Uh...who's Thomas Tallis?

Bill White said...

Mid-16th century English polyphony - an unreconstructed Catholic musician who managed to keep his head on his neck while serving Henry, Edward, Mary and Elizabeth. Nowadays the best technical productions of his work are performed by the Tallis Scholars, but they can leave me a little cold. Polyphony drives my wife up the wall.

William Luse said...

Okay, now I know the kind of music you're talking about, and I happen to like it (with apologies to your wife). He survived all those monarchs? Must have been one phantasically resourcephul polyphonist.

alicia said...

Tallis Canon is one of the frequently cited works of his. If you ever read Madeleine L'Engel, you would have heard of Tallis. It was reading her that caused me to research him. I love his music, but not as much as I love Palestrina. Now I need to listen to your challenges and see if I have any clue.

William Luse said...

"Madeleine L'Engel"

Who?

"I need to listen to your challenges and see if I have any clue."

I eagerly await your answer. Because I'm sensing a lot of cowardice out there.

Lydia McGrew said...

Madeleine L'Engel is a Christian (sort of) children's novelist whose works were especially popular in the 1980's and maybe earlier. The 80's is when I encountered them. Probably her most famous is _A Wind in the Door_. She has a character named Canon Tallis, if I remember correctly, which is supposed to be a heavy, intellectual, musical joke.

I liked a number of her books, but they became increasingly inappropriate, and when I got to a "young adult" novel in which a girl character whom we, the readers, have followed in other novels from her early childhood up and grown to love is happily statutorily raped _by a young doctor_ whom she calls to treat her feet, which got torn up when she ran away down a driveway in her nightie from a lesbian woman friend of her parents who tried to seduce her...and the author apparently approves (of the sex with the doctor, which she describes in detail)...I lost all respect for Madeleine L'Engel. I let my eldest daughter read her three best-known _other_ books but made it clear to her that L'Engel is not an author to be generally appreciated or trusted and that she got a lot worse later on. I haven't recommended even those three "good" books to the other kids yet.

William Luse said...

She sounds like another Judy Blume, though maybe a somewhat better writer. She also sounds like a corruptor of youth, the early "good" books now functioning as a lure for the later debauchery. Clever salesmen call it 'bait and switch.'

Meanwhile, the composer, remaining unidentified, turns in his grave.

Francis said...

I dropped by to wish you and your readers a rich and fulfilling Lenten season, Bill, and this wonderful aural gift is one of my rewards. Thank you. I'd just read a few days ago about some of the lesser-known works recorded in honor of the 200th anniversary of Papa's death -- I had no idea, e.g., that he'd set the Ten Commandments to music. Impressed that you learned this Mass in choir: it must have been literally thrilling to be part of a group producing so noble a sound. Named not for Ozzie or Ricky but for Lord. All good wishes, Francis

William Luse said...

It's so good to 'hear' your voice, Francis.

And you are the winner.