# Share your favorite composers and works of sacred music



## Lukecash12

For starters, I'd like to showcase Vivaldi's Credos and Bach's Passions:






01. Credo in unum Deum
Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem,
factorem caeli et terrae,
visibilium omnium, et invisibilium.
Et in unum Dominum Jesum Christum,
Filium Dei unigenitum,
et ex Patre natum ante omnia saecula,
Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine,
Deum verum de Deo vero,
genitum, non factum, consubstantialem Patri,
per quem omnia facta sunt.
Qui propter nos homines, et propter nostram
salutem descendit de coelis.

02. Et incarnatus est
Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto
ex Maria virgine, et homo factus est.

03. Crucifixus
Crucifixus etiam pro nobis:
sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est.

04. Et resurrexit
Et resurrexit tertia die, secundum
scripturas. Et ascendit in caelum:
sedet ad dexteram Patris.
Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos
et mortuos: cuius regni non erit finis.
Et in Spiritum Sanctum Dominum,
et vivificantem: qui ex Patre Filioque procedit,
qui cum Patre et Filio simul adoratur
et conglorificatur: qui locutus est per prophetas.
Et unam sanctam catholicam
et apostolicam ecclesiam. Confiteor unum
baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.
Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum,
et vitam venturi saeculi. Amen.

The work has some of the bombast and cadences between the choir and instruments that you might expect from a Mass, but the ensemble is more sparse. Because of the size of ensemble, the woodwinds and viols sound more personal and interact in lovely harmony, while the foundation is playing short scale turns and making repetitive leaps in perfect intervals as is the norm for Vivaldi. The organ makes an exciting entrance in the fourth creed, and the register it plays in, blending harmonically with the choir, is a welcome sound amidst the excitement of that movement.

Another thing that gets me, is how suitable the music is for creeds. A creed is not so much a narrative, as it is a primary revelation with relative traditions dispersed with it (like the Apostle's Creed which isn't exactly a narrative). As such, it would not seem fitting for the choir to fawn at every phrase and endeavor to express each line as an individual line (much like is done with oratorios, magnificats, dixit dominus' and masses). The orchestra follows suit and sets a pretty concrete mood for each creed as well.

And a Latin lexicon for those interested in the Creeds, before I get into Bach's Passions: http://latinlexicon.org/search_latin.php


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## Lukecash12

In herr unser herscher just as soon as they half shout "herr" and repeat it twice more with refrain, and then "dessen Rhum in allen Landen herrlich ist" is graciously spoken before the basses resound it, I know that I'm listening to one long prayer. It's phrased like one, and the tenor recitatives set the precedent with an excitement that readies me for the choruses. The arias are sparse and scored in a very refined manner, with clearer counterpoint and more pause and refrain than the rest of the work; That makes them refreshing.

Of course, the Johannes Passion is very dramatic, with tension building motifs pulled out like taffy by the strings and choir. The pulse of the bass is a distinguishing factor as well. Overall, and especially during the climaxes, you can hear the parts fighting for your attention melody-wise. In this Passion, discord and timbre feature very prominently because of it's fighting parts, so you could say it's "less refined".











What makes the Matthias Passion special? Tchaikovsky himself would have been hard pressed to achieve the creativity and interest produced as the parts make their entrances while movements and new themes are being introduced. The woodwinds are utilized to surprisingly great affect all throughout. Creative instrumentation, very well handled dissonances, and a grand exploration of parts and orchestration away from predominant counterpoint that prefigures later grand scale accomplishments pretty well. It may be less exciting pulse-wise and many more cadences end in refrain if in tension, unlike the the Johannes Passion, but an intellectually inspiring exhibition can be just as moving as a prayer.


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## Manxfeeder

Brahms wasn't a believer, but I get a lot out of his sacred works. His Motet, Opus 74, No. 1, is a reworking of an exercise in polyphony he called the Missa Canonica, but he turns it into an effective setting of Job 3:20-23, "Why has the light been granted to those lost in woe and lifeblood to the sore afflicted?"

It's in a questioning D minor. In measure three, the C sharp leading tone in the alto drops down, like an unresolved question, and the sopranos attempt to resolve it with an answer by coming in on D. In the next "Warum," the sopranos leave a G sharp hanging, and the altos attempt an answer on an A. Their D sharp on "Muhseligen" is left hanging, and the tenors attempt an answer on E, "Warum." From then on, almost every beat carries dissonance in its counterpoint. It ends with the altos in an unresolved question, "Warum," dropping from C sharp to A.

It's an effective setting of the feeling even people of faith can have when they grope for answers. I could go into how Brahms takes the piece through to the end and his resolution, where the altos' C sharp is finally resolved by chorale voice leading in the last measure of movement 4, but I think this is enough for now.


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## Chrythes

Why he chose using the bible as a philosophical source of inspiration instead of referring to Ancient Greece?
And overall - why did THEY, most composers used the bible? Is it because it was more widely available than Mythology and the writings of Ancient Greece and Rome philosophers? Was it more appealing because of religious reasons or because the way it was written? In fact, how many of the famous composers were truly religious?

Anyways, 
Gorecki uses biblical context in his most famous 3rd symphony.


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## Guest

All the music I know is sacred.


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## Lukecash12

Chrythes said:


> Why he chose using the bible as a philosophical source of inspiration instead of referring to Ancient Greece?
> And overall - why did THEY, most composers used the bible? Is it because it was more widely available than Mythology and the writings of Ancient Greece and Rome philosophers? Was it more appealing because of religious reasons or because the way it was written? In fact, how many of the famous composers were truly religious?
> 
> Anyways,
> Gorecki uses biblical context in his most famous 3rd symphony.


Simple: The western tradition of art music was driven primarily by the Church. Our choral voices come from reciting the passion narratives, our sense of counterpoint comes from the polyphonic music of those employed by the Church, many grand instruments were conceived for worship services, such as the psaltery, organ, and clavier. The scale and compositional depth of the masterworks of classical music relies primarily on this tradition of music in the Church having paved the way. Bach had said that all music was to be made in worship.

Also, Europe was predominantly Christian throughout all that time, and just about everyone attended church services that lasted hours longer than they do today. Composers went to church to meet other composers. If I remember right, when Sylvius Weiss went to church one day he had his hand bit by an Italian violinist who was jealous of his skill in counterpoint. Beethoven made several famous comments about the music of others while attending mass.

As for Greek philosophy and art: There may have been a revival, but the manuscripts weren't terribly accessible. It's doubtful that everyone read Plato's Republic, or Homer and Hesiod's poems. Those who were more acquainted with the Greek tradition of thinking were mostly dilettantes at best.


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## Manxfeeder

The Kyrie from Bruckner's Mass in E Minor is another searching piece. It is labeled E minor, but it's really E Phrygian (like if you played a C scale beginning on E). Though it is simple in its forces, it is very expressive. Like at the beginning: the second sopranos start on a B, then the first sopranos enter on a C; it begins in dissonance. The Christie section is more intense and contrapuntal. The Kyrie returns, more ornamented and developed.

It sounds to me like the singers are on a cliff's edge, continually singing into the darkness, waiting for a response.


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## Weston

My favorite hands down is Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine. This piece comes closer to making me have a spiritual experience than anyone else has achieved.






Also there are the Sinfoniae Sacrae of Heinrich Schutz. This excerpt sends chills up my spine when the vocal starts.


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## hespdelk

Palestrina's Stabat Mater has always been one of the most moving pieces of sacred music for me... my favourite recording of it was by one of the British a capella choirs, but I lost track of the cd years ago and can't remember which group it was.. 
It comes across as I'm sure it was intended.. deeply spiritual.











From a different era, on a different scale, and in an entirely different way Bruckner's Te Deum was love at first listen.. the contrapuntal interweaving of his themes here inspires me.


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## science

This is a great topic. 

Perhaps my all time favorite is Bach's Cantata #82 Ich habe genug, sung by a bass voice (such as Hans Hotter's).

Right up there must be Brahms' German Requiem, and Mozart's Requiem. Words fail me. 

And a few others that I love: 

Allegri's Miserere 
Szymanowksi's Stabat Mater
Bach's Mass in B minor
Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms 
Pergolesi's Stabat Mater
Schutz's The Christmas Story 
Mozart's "Great" Mass
Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli


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## hespdelk

science said:


> This is a great topic.
> 
> Perhaps my all time favorite is Bach's Cantata #82 Ich habe genug, sung by a bass voice (such as Hans Hotter's).
> 
> Right up there must be Brahms' German Requiem, and Mozart's Requiem. Words fail me.
> 
> And a few others that I love:
> 
> Allegri's Miserere
> Szymanowksi's Stabat Mater
> Bach's Mass in B minor
> Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms
> Pergolesi's Stabat Mater
> Schutz's The Christmas Story
> Mozart's "Great" Mass
> Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli


A great list. Mozart's Requiem is another big one for me, as are some of the other great requiems (Verdi, Faure).

Also worthy of mention is Dvorak's Stabat mater - a great but perhaps somewhat lesser known setting.


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## science

Let me go really obscure once as well. There is a composer named Jirasek whose mass is phe-nom-en-al. Must be heard.

I have no idea what is going on with the video here, but the music is right. (Usually I am ideologically opposed to music via youtube but out of sheer desperation to share this I will make an exception, dealing a fatal blow to my integrity.) This is the Kyrie.


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## pjang23

An obscure little gem. The Amen at 3:47 always gets me 






And of course, one of my favorites of all time


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## Kayla

*Elfen Lied - Lilium *
a song from an anime
the song tells about the Holy Bible
It's possible that it is not a sacred music
yet I like it.


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## kv466

I've always been quite fond of The Great Mass in c-minor, kv427


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## Jeremy Marchant

I wanted to post the version by Rene Jacobs and Judith Nelson (countertenor and soprano respectively) which is unbearably beautiful (worth buying the Harmonia mundi CD, _Un concert spirituel_ just for that aria). This version by uncredited singers from Collegium 1704 is pretty fine.


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## Manxfeeder

Kayla said:


> *Elfen Lied - Lilium *
> a song from an anime
> the song tells about the Holy Bible
> It's possible that it is not a sacred music
> yet I like it.


What a lovely piece! Thanks.

William Byrd's Ave Verum is one of my all-time favorite pieces. Here are the Tallis Scholars, though I prefer Edward Higginbottom and the Choir of New College, Oxford.


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## pjang23

Dvorak's Stabat Mater


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## Igneous01

^ I think Dvorak's Stabat Mater is one of those pieces that really deserves to be right beside Bach's sacred music in terms of magnitude.

The first act is so painful, Every time those dissonant power chords are struck, I imagine Dvorak loosing yet another loved one (like all his sons that died and I believe his wife as well?)


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## Lt.Belle

Ive been not brought up religously, and never been to church. Except on vacations i love to visit them when i have the change. Adele Stolte is a personal favorite of mine she has such clean sound. And thats how i came across this piece! I think they are singing the bible quite literal.... Amazing how they make it sound so perfect and rich, when there is so little. I think its from Heinrich Schütz but somebody also mentions Bach on the youtube account im not quite sure.


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## Itullian

The Haydn masses are my favorite. Such joy in them.


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## cjvinthechair

Florent Schmitt: Psalm 47 - stirring !


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## Orange Soda King

Herbert Howells!

Salve Regina (I am singing in this recording, actually! No, I am not the soprano soloist at the end, hahaha.)





Requiem





Hymnus Paradisi (basically an expansion of the a cappella Requiem, here is a score with piano reduction to follow along with)





Missa Sabrinensis (MASSIVE piece!!!)





Anything else he wrote, too. What a composer. And his piano concerti are fine works, too!

Also, Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir can't be missed.


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## sidereali

Schütz - Historia der Auferstehung Jesu Christi


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## Xaltotun

Anything by Hildegard von Bingen, Machaut's mass, Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli, Victoria's Requiem, Bach's Mass in b minor, Weihnachtsoratorium and Matthäus-passion, Haydn's masses and Die Schöpfung, Mozart's "Great" and "Coronation" masses and Requiem, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Schubert's masses 5 and 6, Mendelssohn's Elias and Paulus, Berlioz's Requiem and Te Deum, Liszt's Christus, Via Crucis and Missa Choralis, Bruckner's masses and Te Deum, Brahms' Deutsches Requiem, Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Franck's Les Beatitudes, Verdi's Requiem, Rachmaninov's Vespers and Liturgy of St. John Chrystosomos, Schmidt's Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln etc...

Right now, I'm completely obsessed by the Haydn masses... they're radiant, like stars... but agile, like comets... sparkiling beauties full of immortal life...


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## Antiquarian

I've recently enjoyed listening to Messiaen's St. François d'Assise (Hallé Orchestra, Cond. Kent Nagano) and was struck by the fact that this was composed by a man who had genuine religious feeling. It is a long work, around five hours, but it is something that I will listen to again. Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 (Boston Baroque, Dir. Martin Pearlman) is another favorite, as is John Taverner's Western Wind Mass.(Tallis Scholars, Dir. Peter Phillips)


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## MissLemko

Всенощное бдение
When I listened to The All Night Vigil for the first time in my whole life...I felt this unusual religious sensation. It can not be described with words. It is the feeling of your muscles trembling...and feeling both cold and warm from the inside. I suddenly got so emotional.


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## Roi N

Haydn's masses are unmatched. I am not a believer, but his six last masses are some of my favorite. The joy of the Heiligmesse, the power of the Nelson mass, the harmonies of the Harmoniemesse - it's just extraordinary. And the Creation is mighty as well.


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## hpowders

I love Haydn too but can't get into the masses. I have all the late masses. Here I prefer Mozart's Great Mass in c Minor.

I do love the Creation, though and have 4 performances of it.


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## JCarmel

Might I recommend this recording...taken gradually until acquaintance & hopefully enjoyment and appreciation is gained?









The 'Benedictus' from the Kleine Orgel Messe is one of the loveliest things Haydn wrote, I feel.


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## hpowders

Thanks for the recommendation!


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## hpowders

JCarmel said:


> Might I recommend this recording...taken gradually until acquaintance & hopefully enjoyment and appreciation is gained?
> 
> View attachment 42388
> 
> 
> The 'Benedictus' from the Kleine Orgel Messe is one of the loveliest things Haydn wrote, I feel.


Also, congrats. on going over 1000 posts! A milestone! Good job! :tiphat:


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## ICHTHUS

BRAHM'S GERMAN REQUIEM
Mahler's Eighth Symphony and Second Symphhony


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## melodiousmonkey

The recently deceased Stephen Paulus


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## MariaAlfonso

some guy said:


> All the music I know is sacred.


I also love sacred music which I usually play.


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## Pugg

MariaAlfonso said:


> I also love sacred music which I usually play.


Any particular composer/ pieces, Maria?


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