Overview of Selected Scans
This section focuses on the religious aspect of music with an emphasis on the Church. Most of the earliest music we have is religious, with the Church being the first to design music notation. Throughout the different eras of music the Church has always had a strong presence. The Church would often commission musicians and composers to play or write religious music. Over time the churches presence in music had faded to the background, but religious music was still being developed. As religion spread throughout the world it was introduced to new cultures that had different sounds when it came to music. With new sounds, and instruments, traditional music was influenced in new ways, which lead to the development of new types of religious music.
Negro Spirituals are a great example of the new sound producing new religious music. This is a collection of songs that were influenced by African slaves in America. These enslaved Africans brought with them their traditions and one of their biggest traditions music wise was percussion and drumming. Negro Spirituals were a way of expression for them.
Mozart's Requiem Mass is a good example of composers being commissioned for religious purposes. A Requiem is a Mass for the dead in the Catholic Church and is usually done in the context of a funeral. Mozart worked on the Requiem all the way up to his last few weeks, but inevitably left it unfinished when the he passed. It was finished by Frahcois Xavier Sussmayer who was a pupil of Mozart.
"Missa Brevis Sti. Joannis de Deo" is a short Mass, that 's what Missa Brevis means, written by Joseph Haydn. Haydn was commissioned by the Barmherzige Bruder (Brothers Hospitallers) whose Patron Saint was John of God. Haydn wrote this in 1774 in Eisenstadt. "Missa Brevis Sti. Joannis de Deo" was also known as Kleine Orgelmesse, which means Little Organ Mass, because of the long organ solo in it.
"Good News: A Christian Folk-Musical" brought a refreshing look and sound to Evangelical church music. It moved away from the traditional accompaniment of the piano and organ. It instead replaced it with students playing guitars, banjos, piano, electric bass, and drums in a folk and rock style.
J.S. Bach Ten Chorales is just a small collection of Bach's 400 Chorales he composed. This collection consists of "All Glory, Lord and Honour," Christ Lay in Death's Strong Bands," "A Morning Hymm," "An Evening Hy'mn," If the Lord Buildeth Not Thy House," "O dearest Lord, By All Adored," "Wake, Awake," " Sing Praise to God," "When Adam Fell," and " Hymn for Assembly and Dismissal".
"L'emfamce du Christ" (The Childhood of Christ) is an oratorio by Hector Berlioz. It was based on the Holy Family's flight into Egypt. It was composed in 1853 and 1854 and it included an earlier work called "La Fuiteen Egypte" from 1850.
YouTube Video Works Cited
Negro Spirituals
Mozart Requiem Mass
Stand Alone Scores / Text