Plymouth Philharmonic Choir, together with four first class soloists and orchestra, are performing a concert ‘infused with opera’, a genre in which both Puccini and Rossini were masters of their craft. This style permeated their other works, including sacred music, and two superb examples comprise the programme.
Messa di Gloria is seen as a personal farewell to sacred music by Giacomo Puccini, the fourth generation of a family of church musicians. The monumental decision to embark on a career composing work for the theatre brought, to the delight of the world, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, and Turandot.
The Gloria, from which the piece derives its name, is one where all of Puccini’s creativity is deployed. He makes full use of the elements of opera to bring drama to the piece: memorable tunes, rousing choruses, a haunting tenor aria, key changes, sudden switches of mood, and he finishes the movement with a fugue in the best tradition of sacred music
Rossini composed Stabat Mater in middle age, after a remarkable phase in his career which saw him write 36 operas in the space of 19 years. The mood of the music, being full of operatic drama and excitement, is in complete contrast to the solemnity of the text. Responding to his critics Rossini declared that the most important thing was that the music should be of the finest quality. His score has been judged to be amongst his most inspired works with magnificent and demanding arias for the soloists and tremendous choruses for the choir, culminating in a passionate fugue. This piece continues to wow audiences just as the first performances in Paris and Bologna did where the standing ovation by 500 people extended from the theatre to outside Rossini’s home!
Further information, together with ticket prices and availability, can be found on the choir’s website (plymouthphilchoir.org) Facebook page and at wegottickets.com/event/586917
