St Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna
Straus – Missa Concertata in Echo
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tutor: David Hatcher
Didsbury Baptist Church, Manchester
Reviewer: Roger Gibson
We’ve all heard of the Strauss family from Vienna. Perhaps not so sure how many of them there were, and who wrote what. Then there was the unrelated and more serious Richard, but he was from Munich. What was an Early Music Forum doing dabbling with Strauss? Look more closely however, this is Christoph Straus, also from Vienna, but living some 200 years earlier. He served for four years as composer to the Hapsburg Imperial Court under Emperor Ferdinand II before being sidelined by Priuli from Venice. However, Straus is perhaps better known as Master of the Music at Vienna’s St Stephen’s Cathedral, home of today’s Vienna Boys Choir.
Eleven singers and fourteen instrumentalists were curious enough to come along to Didsbury Baptist Church to find out what David Hatcher had to whet our appetites. The music chosen was Straus’s Missa Concertata in Echo, a mass for double choir, with each line joined by a specified instrument as designated in the score. The ‘in Echo’ of the title refers to the frequent use of echoing phrases, sometimes an ‘echo’ of a full line of music, often at much shorter intervals, right down to just one beat apart. This was most vividly illustrated by looking through the 50 page vocal scores prepared for the singers, where quaver beaming drew the eye to many instances of multiple echoes across many parts. The Concertata of the title refers to the specific use of instruments, typically cornets and sackbuts, with an organ and violone continuo. Instrumentalists had their parts waiting for them on designated chairs. The limited number of singers were deployed mainly in choir one, with just a few upper voices in choir two, the lower parts being performed on instruments.
The opening Kyrie immediately demonstrated the echo effect, with the four parts of choir one entering in turn with the same phrase but in four different keys. This ingenuity of the composer to turn a simple echo device into a much more sophisticated musical whole became apparent throughout the day. David Hatcher kept us all moving forward, stopping only when things really started to break down, or to temper some sour tuning or rhythm. Well before lunch he had crafted us into a very creditable performance of the full Kyrie
David Hatcher kept us on our toes right through the day. I don’t recollect any post lunch flagging. Helpful tips were abundant. Don’t die during a final chord. Snatch a breath somewhere, but not all at once. And make sure you are sufficiently inflated for the high notes! By teatime we had given every movement of the mass, including the often-omitted Credo, a reasonably polished run though, all 376 mainly 4/2 bars, many of them scattered with quavers. Then after tea we ran the whole mass. A most satisfactory achievement to round off a most enjoyable yet busy day’s efforts. I personally enjoyed concentrating on one substantial work.
Many thanks are due to David Hatcher who is a most enjoyable tutor with whom to work, who does not seem doubt our ability to perform to high standards, and who encourages us achieve them. Thanks also go to Bob Foster, who makes sure we have clear scores and parts, the 52 page bound vocal score was much appreciated. No fistful of loose sheets to drop and become entirely shuffled. Didsbury Baptist Church is excellent for performing music, its warmth, and its comprehensive facilities. Yet there are over a hundred members we don’t seem to see very often. Please tell those on the committee if there is more they can do to encourage some of you to come more often. There were eight most enjoyable vocal lines today. It would have been great to have had all of these covered.
Roger Gibson
First published in February 2024 Newsletter
