Historical dictionary of sacred music

MASS

Mass: translation

The Roman Catholic name for the celebration of the Eucharist;Lutheran, Anglican, Orthodox, and other traditions refer to essentially similar liturgies with some variant of "the Holy Eucharist, "Holy Communion," or "thedivine liturgy." Also, a musical setting or performance of all the texts of such a Eucharistic celebration. Also, a musical setting of theordinaryprayers of the Roman liturgy in Greek and Latin languages: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei, and in early examples, Ite Missa Est.
The form of the mass—the particular texts and actions that compose it—has evolved more or less continuously and gradually since early Christian times, but also on occasion rapidly, as after theCouncil of Trent(1545–1563) and after theSecond Vatican Council(1962–1965). Local traditions, such as theAmbrosianof Milan, may have variant forms. Historians have traditionally distinguished between two broad classes of included texts: thepropers, which are prayers chosen to commemorate a particular feast, and the ordinaries, The prayers that occur at every mass regardless of the feast day. The table lists a typical solemn mass form.
The sources of the texts are various. The Introit, Gradual,Alleluia, Offertory, and Communion are believed by some to have at one time introduced thechantingof completepsalmsto simple formulas. Later, the psalms were truncated to a single verse framed by anantiphonthat referred explicitly or obliquely to the proper feast. If the liturgical action were prolonged, more psalm verses and antiphons could be addedad libitum. The Kyrie antedates Christianity and was often used as a response in thelitanyof saints. The Gloria is a prosehymnstemming from the proclamation of the angels in the Gospel of St.Luke (2:14).
Proper Ordinary Function Performance mode{}
Introit Entrance procession Schola/cantores
Kyrie Supplication Schola
Gloria Praise Schola
Collect Opening prayer Celebrant
Epistle Scripture lesson Celebrant or deacon
Gradual Psalm response Schola / cantores
Alleluia or Tract (Lent) Invoke Gospel Schola / cantores
Gospel Scripture lesson Celebrant
Credo Proclamation of faith Schola
Offertory Procession of gifts Schola
Preface Praise Celebrant
Sanctus "Holy, holy, holy" Schola
Eucharistic prayer [Priest–spoken quietly]
Pater Noster "Our Father" Celebrant
Agnus Dei Supplication Schola
Communion Distribution of the Schola
Sacrament
Ite Missa Est Dismissal Celebrant / Schola
There is a Greek version from the fifth century; the oldest Latin text dates from the seventh. The Credo, a relatively late addition to the ordinary, was composed by Patriarch Paulinus of Aquileia (d. 802) after the proclamation of the Council of Nicea (325). The Sanctus quotes both Old and New Testaments (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8). The Agnus Dei derives from John the Baptist’s salutation to Christ (John 1:29) and is also thought to have originated in a litany. Finally, the Ite Missa Est ("Go, you are sent"), from which the word "mass" comes, is a simple exhortation to the people at the point of dismissal.
In theGregoriantradition of the late Middle Ages, performance of the chants depended upon the particular part of the mass in question and its function. Those executed by the celebrant, brief prayers for the occasion, and the readings from Scripture were chanted on a single pitch (recto tono) or on simple lectionary formulas. (The Ite Missa Est could be more ornate; its response came from theschola.) Everything else was sung by the schola of trained singers and could therefore be quite elaborate, though in varying degrees. The chants on the short ordinary prayers Kyrie and Agnus Dei had threefold in-vocations on "Kyrie eleison," "Christe eleison," and "Agnus Dei" and so encouraged repetition of the melodies. The other ordinary prayers were generally more through-composed, although melodic formulas could recur, especially when cued by a verbal repetition such as "Osanna" in the Sanctus/Benedictus pair. Most difficult of all were the Graduals, Tracts, Alleluias, Offertories, and Communions. These propers have short texts extended melodically by very elaboratemelismasof great subtlety. In the other cases, there were processions to accompany, and the Sanctus/Benedictus could be longer than its text warranted because the celebrant could begin the Eucharistic prayer as the schola continued to chant. The canonical texts were oftentropedwith additional words and sometimes music, particularly the repetitive Kyrie and Agnus Dei and the highly melismatic Alleluia. In the late Middle Ages, an additional piece called asequencewas often inserted. By the 15th century, so many compositions, texts, and local saints’ propers had accrued to the mass, often displacing the traditional prayers and Scripture readings, that the Council of Trent (1545–1563) issued two decrees that reformed the liturgy, chiefly by pruning the accretions of recent centuries. The reformed missal appeared in 1570, and printing made possible a dissemination throughout the Catholic world that ensured a unity of liturgical practice previously unknown. Only places where distinctive traditions could be traced back 200 years were permitted to continue them.
The next dramatic reform was authorized by theSecond Vatican Council(1962–1965). TheConstitution on the Sacred Liturgypromotes the continued preeminence of Gregorian chant, classicalpolyphony, and the Latin language, but also allows the vernacular and other appropriate music and emphasizescongregationalsinging. Nevertheless, the revisedOrdo cantus missaeandGraduale romanum(1974) provide the traditional chants, along with new rubrics for the celebrant to chant the prayer over the gifts and the entire Eucharistic prayer. These publications have not seen widespread use, perhaps because the chants traditionally assigned to the schola were too difficult for congregations, and because of the quick adoption of vernacular languages after 1965.
The mass dominates the early history of music because it was the object of so much early polyphony, the distinguishing feature of the western tradition. Polyphonic mass propers and ordinaries come from the earliest sources (Musica enchiriadis, c. 900; theWinchester Troper, 11th century; St. Martial and Codex Calixtinus, 12th century;Magnus Liber Organi, c. 1170) and are featured in every stage of the development of polyphonic technique. Often the texts are troped and the chants melismatic, suggesting that polyphony was reserved for high feasts. In 14th-century France, manuscripts began to collect polyphonic settings of the ordinary prayers all together to be sung as a unified liturgy. From this point, polyphonic composition of propers declines abruptly, presumably because such works may be heard only on certain feasts of the year whereas ordinaries may be sung at every mass. The first so-called "mass cycle" to be composed by a single composer as a liturgical (not musical) unity wasLa Messe de Nostre DameofGuillaume de Machaut, about 1350. Composers in the next two centuries discovered various musical means of uniting the separate movements of a mass cycle. The earliest was thecantus firmusmass, in which a repeating tenor melody sung to relatively long note durations recurred in all the movements. The melody was usually taken from a traditional chant proper that might relate to a particular performance occasion. The earliest surviving cantus firmus masses, dating from the early 15th century are theMissa Rex Secolorumattributed toJohn Dunstableand the {}Missa Alma Redemptoris Materattributed to Lionel Power. Two masses byGuillaume Du Fayof about 1450,Missa Se La Face Ay{}PaleandMissa L’Homme Armé, take as cantus firmus popular tunes rather than traditional propers and in the following generations such secular borrowings become common. Du Fay and his contemporaries tightened the unity of their masses by quoting a "head motive" at the beginning of each movement.
The idea of linking a new composition with a traditional melody through thecantus firmuswas logically extended by the thoroughgoingimitativetechnique ofJosquin Desprezand the generation around the turn of the 16th century. With all four voices imitating one another, the borrowed chant is heard throughout the choir and in every movement. Josquin’sMissa Pange Lingua(c. 1515?) is a sublime textbook example of this "paraphrase mass."
Borrowing a melody from an imitativemotetfor a mass using the same technique meant borrowing essentially the whole texture. Thus Josquin’sMissa Mater Patrisis based on a three-voice motet ofAntoine Brumel,Mater Patris. The "parodymass" was the logical conclusion of the premise of taking preexisting material as a means to unify the mass cycle. As composers more frequently took as their models erotic madrigals and secular tunes, the Council of Trent banned "seductive and impure" melodies in polyphonic masses, and insisted on the clarity of words in imitative texture.Giovanni daPalestrina’sMissa Papae Marcelliis a legendary albeit chronologically dubious response to this reform, and an example of a mass without any borrowing, not at all uncommon in the 16th century; often such masses are calledMissa Sine Nomine.
The invention ofoperaat the turn of the 17th century forced a bifurcation in sacred music composition. Palestrina’s disciples aroundRomecanonized his style and made it a kind of classical language, thestile antico, which embodied an intrinsic sacred semantic distinguished from the new secular music. At the same time, in other localities new mass compositions began to absorb, slowly, the dramatic ideals and textures of opera: solo singers, contrasting textures,instruments. All of these can be heard in thecori spezzatirepertory associated withVenice. The remainder of the century witnessed a bewildering variety and mixture of styles in mass composition, from the stricteststile anticoto the most operaticcantatamass in the "Neapolitan" style. This type segmented the mass texts, especially the longer ordinaries of the Gloria and Credo, into separate movements for chorus or soloists. The greatest exemplar is theMass in B minor(1733–1749) ofJohann Sebastian Bach.
The huge dimensions of Bach’s masterpiece ignore the practicalities of liturgy, and the works of his successors, while mostly composed for actual liturgical occasions, are rarely heard in liturgies today. Instead, they are favorites of choral societies singing in concert halls, accompanied by full orchestras. Some of the more famous of these "symphonic masses" are:
Mozart, "Coronation Mass," K.317 (1780)
Mass in C minor, K. 427 (1783, incomplete)
Haydn,Missa in Tempore Belli, (1796)
Heiligmesse, (1797)
NelsonMass, (1798)
Theresienmesse, (1799)
Schöpfungsmesse, (1800)
Harmoniemesse, (1801)
Beethoven, Mass in C (1807)
Missa Solemnisin D (1823)
Schubert, Masses in G (1815) and A-flat (1823)
Rossini,Petite Messe Solennelle(1864)
Bruckner, Masses in D minor (1864) and F minor (1868)
Janacek,Glagolitic Mass(1927)
Duruflé,Messe"Cum Jubilo"(1966)
The tradition of composing masses branched radically in the 20th century. Some composers have written with deliberate anachronism in order to evoke thestile anticowith its ascetic sacred semantic:Ralph VaughanWilliams’ Mass in G minor (1921),EdmundRubbra’s {}Missa Cantuariensis(1945) andMissa in Honorem Sancti dominici(1949), andBenjaminBritten’sMissa Brevisfor boys’ voices and organ (1959) are examples. So, to a lesser extent, isIgorStravinsky’s Mass for chorus, soloists, and 10 winds (1948). Others experimented with artificial musical languages in vogue:AntonHeiller’sMissa Super Modos Duodecimales(1960) is a serial work. Still others tried to incorporate popular idioms, with the intent of either inviting the congregation to be part of the performance, such asJeanLanglais’sMesse Solennelle‘Salve Regina"(1947) for chorus, brass,organ, and congregation, or of simply making the music more appealing to all classes of churchgoers, such as Ariel Ramirez’sMisa Criolla, based on Argentine folk idioms. The Second Vatican Council’s allowance for local idioms in exceptional circumstances has been widely interpreted as a mandate to make liturgical music as simple as possible so that amateurs can compose and perform it. When parishes adopt such a policy, the result is often indistinguishable from the commercial musical language of television and radio.

  1. mass—мед.гл. массировать масса опухоль массовый масса образование Англорусский медицинский словарь....Англо-русский медицинский словарь
  2. mass—масса...Англо-русский физический словарь
  3. mass—Mass translation The old name for the Sacrament of the Holy Communion being a corruption of the Latin Ite Missa estem meaning the people are now dismissed. This name was ...American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  4. mass—маса...Analytical Chemistry (Eng-Ukr)
  5. mass—mass translationsuction [massa] Peru massa borrowed from Aru...Arabic etymological dictionary
  6. mass—Mass translation Mass Pontifical Mass Catholic_Encyclopediau Pontifical Mass Pontifical Mass is the solemn Mass celebrated by a bishop with the ceremonies prescribed ...Catholic encyclopedia
  7. mass—mass translationRoman noun strong large amountnumber of sthVERBS enormous great huge large vast broad Their policies appeal to the broad massu of the population. s...Collocations dictionary
  8. maß—Ma translation Ma n measure measurement degree extent...Deutsch-Englisch Worterbuch gesetz
  9. maß—n размер eingeschriebenes font проставленные на чертеже размеры....Deutsch-Russisches Wörterbuch für Architektur
  10. mass—mass translation mass UKu USu ms adjectiveu [before nounu] having an effect on or involving a large number of people There have been two decades of mass unemployment ma...Financial and business terms
  11. maß—Ma bersetzung mensurai das Ma wonach das Verhltnis der Gre etc. ermittelt wird eig. u. uneig. modus. modulusi das Ma als Krper womit od. wonach gemessen wird u. modusi a...Kleines deutsch-lateinisches Handworterbuch
  12. mass—mass translation. The concentration of combat power. . The military formation in which units are spaced at less than the normal distances and intervals....Military dictionary
  13. mass—mass translationSynonyms and related wordsG G suit Negro spiritual a mass of a world of abundance accouple accumulate accumulation acervation acres adhere agglomerate agg...Moby Thesaurus
  14. mass—Mass translationSynonyms and related wordsAgnus Dei Alleluia Anamnesis Blessing Canon Collect Communion Consecration Credo Dismissal Dry Mass Epistle Eucharistic rites Fr...Moby Thesaurus
  15. maß—Ma bersetzungauf eine verkrzte Form von Thomas zurckgehende Familiennamen eine Ableitung von Matthias kommt nur ganz vereinzelt infrage....Wörterbuch der deutschen familiennamen
  16. mass—Mass bersetzungauf eine verkrzte Form von Thomas zurckgehende Familiennamen eine Ableitung von Matthias kommt nur ganz vereinzelt infrage....Wörterbuch der deutschen familiennamen
  17. mass—масса air mass free mass inertia mass oscillating mass permissible mass rotating mass sprung mass unbalanced mass unladen mass unsprung mass...Англо-русский автомобильный словарь
  18. mass—[ms]литургия месса обедня...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  19. mass—[ms]массамасса множество большое количествобольшинство большая частьнародные массысосредоточение скоплениемассасобирать в кучусобираться в кучу скапливатьсямассировать со...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  20. mass—масса air mass воздушная масса biphyletic mass бифилетическая основная масса block mass глыба capping mass перекрывающие отложения complex multiphase thrust masses сложны...Англо-русский геологический словарь
  21. mass—transcription транскрипция [ ms ] масса большое количество народные массы massproduce massproduction en masse...Англо-русский деловой словарь
  22. mass—собираться в кучу mil. массировать сосредоточивать масса груда множество большая часть чегол. the masses pl. народные массы mil. массирование сосредоточение phys. масса м...Англо-русский дополнительный словарь
  23. mass—масса...Англо-русский дорожно-транспортный словарь
  24. mass—месса обедня особ. у приверженцев высокой церкви [High Church] то же что Holy Communion...Англо-русский лингвострановедческий словарь Великобритания
  25. mass—масса axis mass correction mass design mass equivalent lumped mass flywheel mass guideway mass imbalance mass inertia mass offcenter mass parasitic mass point mass recip...Англо-русский машиностроительный словарь
  26. mass—Массовый...Англо-русский морской словарь
  27. mass—большая часть весовой груда масса массовость массовый массосодержание материальное тело материальный atomic mass unit атомная единица массы coefficient of mass ...Англо-русский научно-технический словарь
  28. mass—масса...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  29. mass—масса...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  30. mass—масса egg mass fecal masses pollen mass...Англо-русский словарь биологических терминов
  31. mass—сосредоточиваться воен....Англо-русский словарь военных терминов
  32. mass—Mass масса массовый...Англо-русский словарь компьютерных терминов II
  33. mass—n масса...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  34. mass—Mass mass [ms] nu месса обедня...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  35. mass—масса mass of a cubic meter of gas mass of casing string mass of drilling mud mass of stationary column of gas mass of string allup mass of casing string carbonate rock m...Англо-русский словарь нефтегазовой промышленности
  36. mass—сущ. литургия месса у католиков обедня у православных to celebrate offer say Mass служить обедню to attend Mass ходить к обедне high Mass solemn Mass торжественная мес...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  37. mass—. сущ. масса а густая смесь a mass of clay глиняная масса a mass of metal металлическая масса shapeless mass бесформенная масса sticky mass клейкая масса plastic mas...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  38. mass—.strong масса .strong сосредоточение напр. воздушных судов maximum certificated takeoff mass максимальная сертифицированная взлтная масса air mass allup mass calculat...Англо-русский словарь по гражданской авиации
  39. mass—масса массовый...Англо-русский словарь по компьютерам
  40. mass—масса axis mass correction mass design mass equivalent lumped mass flywheel mass guideway mass imbalance mass inertia mass offcenter mass parasitic mass point ...Англо-русский словарь по машиностроению и автоматизации производства
  41. mass—n .strong масса количество объем вещества в предмете а также само вещество материя .strong множество большое количество .strong большинство .strong pl народные массы .st...Англо-русский словарь по социологии
  42. mass—акустическая масса фазный провод acoustic mass...Англо-русский словарь по телекоммуникациям
  43. mass—mass of commodities mass of materialized labor mass of profits mass of surplus value homogeneous mass of human labor power...Англо-русский словарь по экономике
  44. mass—n. месса литургия груда множество сосредоточение большая часть народные массы...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  45. mass—v. собирать в кучу сосредоточивать...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  46. mass—n. месса...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  47. mass—adj. массовый повальный...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  48. mass—масса actual mass apparent mass balance mass equivalent mass flow mass idealized mass point mass reduced mass rock mass semiinfinite mass single mass soil massstrongАнгло...Англо-русский словарь строительных терминов
  49. mass—. maritime antistranding sonar судовая гидроакустическая станция обнаружения подводных препятствий и предупреждения посадки на мель. miniature acquisition sun sensor ми...Англо-русский словарь технических аббревиатур
  50. mass—масса большое количество народные массы massproduce massproduction en masse...Англо-русский словарь финансовых терминов
  51. mass—msмасса большое количествомассы людейнародные массы масса прибыли...Англо-русский словарь экономических терминов
  52. mass—сущ.emstrong масса количество объем вещества в предмете а также само вещество материя множество большое количество большинство мн.ч.em народные массы толпа неинтегрирова...Англо-русский социологический словарь
  53. mass—масса cell mass клеточная масса callus mass каллусная масса calluslike mass каллусообразная масса tissue mass тканевая масса...Англо-русский терминологический перечень по культуре тканей растений
  54. mass—масса массовость массовый массосодержание большая часть груда материальное тело материальный весовой acoustic mass active mass air mass atomic mass center of mass conserv...Англо-русский технический словарь
  55. mass—. дерев.u массаПоказатель количества круглого лесоматериала получаемый при взвешивании. прим.u Обычно выражается в тоннах. геол.u массив...Англо-русский универсальный дополнительный практический словарь И. Мостицкого
  56. mass—.strong сущ.u общ. масса большое количествоa mass of information масса информации соц. народная масса широкие массы населениеmass consciousness mass consumption mass cul...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  57. mass—масса большинство mass of evidence mass of the succession general mass of a bankrupts estate...Англо-русский юридический словарь
  58. mass—.strong n маса велика кльксть сила безлчin the mass в цлому the masses народн маси attr. масовийmass meeting масовий мтингmass movement масовий рух.strong vзбиратися ...Англо-украинский словарь
  59. mass—маса велика кльксть mass shootings of civilian population масов розстрли мирного населення mass action mass arrest mass bloodshed mass cell mass demonstration mass depo...Англо-украинский юридический словарь
  60. mass—I n . маса . pl народн маси communication media засоби масово нформац преса радо телебачення destruction масове знищення extermination weapons зброя масового знищен...Англо-український дипломатичний словник
  61. mass—загал множину масовий множина маса груда...Англо-український словник
  62. mass—n маса вйськ.em скупчення allowable landing mass allowable takeoff mass allup mass design landing mass design maximum mass design takeoff mass design taxiing mass GTO mas...Англо-український словник авіаційних термінів
  63. mass—. n меса обдня лтургя у католикв маса безлч велика кльксть сила купа скупчення бльшсть бльша частина pl the es народн маси вйськ. масування зосередження meeting м...Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  64. mass—Маса...Англо-український словник технічних термінів
  65. mass—маса...Англо-український словник технічних термінів II
  66. mass—маса велика кльксть mass shootings of civilian population масов розстрли мирного населення mass actionmass arrestmass bloodshedmass cellmass demonstrationmass deportatio...Англо-український юридичний словник
  67. maß—I es e мера перен. мерило gutes Ma geben хорошо полновесно отмериватьrichtiges Ma haben иметь правильную установленную меруein volles gertteltes Ma von etw. D пе...Большой немецко-русский и русско-немецкий словарь
  68. maß—mastrong prt от messen...Большой немецко-русский словарь
  69. maß—Ma Istrong n es e .strong меstrongра ein vostronglles Mau von emDem поstrongлная меstrongра чегол.em ein gerstrongttelt Mau an emAem von emDem высок. изряstrongдная доs...Большой немецко-русский словарь
  70. maß—n критерий размер...Немецко-русский автомобильный словарь
  71. maß—nразмер степень критерий см. тж. Mae...Немецко-русский автосервисный словарь
  72. maß—nмера размер Ma der vertikalen Dislokation вертикальная амплитуда сбросаstrong...Немецко-русский геологический словарь
  73. maß—n...Немецко-русский математический словарь
  74. maß—n мера критерий размер Ma ber Eck размер по диагонали lichtes Ma...Немецко-русский политехнический словарь
  75. maß—[mas]n мера мерило критерий размер величина масштаб мера степень in groem Mae в большой степениin gleichem Mae в равной мереin vollem Mae в полной мере...Немецко-русский словарь по искусству
  76. maß—n мера критерий размер...Немецко-русский химический словарь
  77. mass—Istrong .strong [ms] n месса литургия у католиков обедняhigh mass торжественная месса обедня с пениемlow mass обедня без пенияpastoral mass рождественская мессаMass fo...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  78. mass—mass I . [ms] ni месса литургия у католиковi обедня high торжественная месса обедня с пением low обедня без пения pastoral рождественская месса Mass for the Dead р...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  79. mass—Istrong .strong ms n месса литургия у католиковem обедня high торжественная месса обедня с пением low обедня без пения pastoral рождественская месса Mass for th...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  80. mass—mas.strong массовый...Шведско-русский словарь
  81. mass—Смотри Масса....Энциклопедический словарь по металлургии
  82. mäss—Бунтвозмущение...Эстонско-русский словарь
  83. mass—Кашакашица...Эстонско-русский словарь
  84. mass—Массированныймассовый...Эстонско-русский словарь