The ‘Full Moon’ Mass – Giuseppe Corsi da Celano
VOICES & INSTRUMENTS
Tutor: George Parris
All Saint’s Church, Hoole, Chester
Reviewer: Roger Wilkes
Roughly two dozen people came to Hoole on 14 June to an attractive workshop, directed by George Parris (his second visit to NWEMF), devoted to music by a hitherto-unfamiliar mid-seventeenth composer,
Giuseppe Corsi da Celano (1631/2-1691). The main focus of the day was Celano’s eight-part (double-choir) Mass Messa La Luna Piena (The ‘Full Moon’ Mass), although a four-part motet, Adoramus te, Christe, was also inserted into the proceedings.
Readers interested to find out more about Celano, certainly rather more than we were told during the workshop, may find further biographical details on Wikipedia, and also copies of the Mass and motet which we studied on CPDL. These very serviceable editions, by William Evans, were the ones which we used at the workshop. It is apparent that Celano’s career took him to many more musical centres than we were told then, and that it is clear that he was a composer of some distinction in his day.
A student in Rome at the Jesuit fathers under the guidance of Giacomo Carissimi, it is evident that Celano had fully assimilated his teacher’s harmonic style, also his adoption of rich textures in such places as the
luscious final chorus of his celebrated oratorio Jephte. Aspects of his melodic style, though, especially the more free-flowing phrases, recalled the style of another Roman composer, Palestrina. Celano was a prolific composer, as the main Wikipedia article attests, and it would be good to have many more of his works in circulation; perhaps William Evans can be persuaded to produce editions of other compositions by Celano?
We were extremely fortunate that the forces which assembled, both vocal and instrumental, were very capable performers, with the bonus that most parts were covered securely. Accordingly, the music was all learnt with relative ease – and, arguably, we could have done with at least one more piece to keep us gainfully employed. A workshop scheduled to end at 5 p.m. actually finished shortly before 4 p.m. – and the afternoon period already included time for a question-and-answer session, something which some participants availed themselves.
While we were very competently led, I think it is fair to say that we could have delved rather more deeply into both the Mass and the motet. Both works, together with Celano’s other sacred works, were written for the Roman Catholic Tridentine rite. The Mass setting has many details which disclose the ceremonial performance of the liturgy: to specify two examples, in the ‘Gloria’, at ‘Adoramus te’ – where clergy and servers would have genuflected – the music is set at a slower tempo (‘grave’ in Evans’ edition, with longer note-values in stark contrast to the vigour of the preceding section).
And whilst we didn’t cover the ‘Credo’ during the workshop, at the section beginning ‘Et incarnatus est’, the four lowest parts replace the stately eight-part texture which has gone immediately before – highlighting the genuflection of both clergy and people at the narrative of Christ’s incarnation. Many further such liturgical details permeate the setting; it would have been good to have been informed more about this.
In summary, then, it was an enjoyable day – helped, it must be said, by excellent weather, which made it possible for several people to enjoy outside during the lunch period.
Roger Wilkes
Published in September 2025 Newsletter
More information about the day
This workshop with choir conductor and singer George Parris explores an exquisite Italian work from an almost forgotten Italian composer, Guiseppe Corsi da Celano (1631/32 – 1691). Until his arrest and imprisonment for allegedly raping a spinster, Corsi had been enjoying a busy career as one of Rome’s foremost maestri di cappella. Born to a noble family, he is also known to have been a priest and had a wife and children.
Little is known about the Mass’s date or why it is called ’The Full Moon’, but it was probably written before Corsi’s incarceration at the Albornoz Fortress in Narni between 1677-1681. The work is florid, tuneful, and inventive, with moments of daring and colourful harmony combining with gestures of grand opulence. Also included is the more intimate 4-part motet Adoremus te, Christe, which is no less expressive and inventive.
George told us a bit more about why he chose this particular piece for this workshop. “I first discovered this music when some friends of mine were performing it in Finland (of all places) – it was essentially being reconstructed in the wonderful medieval cathedral of Turku, and my friends showed me the score, waxing lyrical about how glorious the music was, and in some places pretty crazy. I suspect that it may have originally been performed on Easter Day – the title maybe refers to the Paschal Full Moon – and this certainly explains its more opulent moments. The Christe eleison is really beautiful – just for upper voices. I usually like to do this unaccompanied. And the Agnus Dei is so exquisite – I’ve never seen harmony like it in a Mass from the late Renaissance/early Baroque! Sadly there isn’t a recording of this work, and hardly any of his music has been professionally performed or recorded. There is a YouTube video of a motet by Corsi, Stella Caeli, performed with voices and instruments on the balconies of the Basilica of San Petronio, Bologna, which is quite impressive.”
The Tutor
Photo: Kai Bäckström
George Parris trained as an early-music singer and then studied choral conducting and ensemble singing at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. In 2011 he founded The Carice Singers, now a professional ensemble, and works across Europe as a singer, chorus master, and conductor. His work is varied and far-reaching, from being Artistic Director of the Aurore Renaissance Music Festival in Helsinki, performing vocal works by Kaija Saariaho and Luciano Berio, and mentoring the next generation of choral composers on schemes for Cheltenham Music Festival, Spitalfields Music Festival and the Three Choirs Festival.
