Franz Liszt, a renowned composer, received the tonsure and four minor orders in 1865, marking his entry into the Catholic Church, after which he was known as the Abbé Liszt.
Composition History
Liszt intended to dedicate the Missa Choralis to Pope Pius IX for the 1800th anniversary of the Holy See's founding in AD 66, and likely hoped for a performance in the Sistine Chapel.
Compositional Technique
The Missa Choralis is built on a musical ideal combining plainsong and Palestrina, which were central to Liszt's imagined reform of church music.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Liszt aimed to reform church music, reacting to the dismal state of music in the first half of the 19th century where opera cabalettas were commonly sung to liturgical words.
Critical Reception
Liszt's Via Crucis was rejected for publication by Pustet in Regensburg because it was considered too original and unlikely to sell, remaining unpublished and unperformed during his lifetime.
Notable Performances
The first performance of Liszt's Via Crucis took place on Good Friday 1929 in Budapest, conducted by Artur Harmat, Professor of Church Music at the Liszt Academy.
Composition History
The Missa Choralis was composed in Rome in 1865, partly in the Vatican where Liszt was a guest of Cardinal Gustav Hohenlohe, the Papal Chamberlain, and partly at the Villa d'Este.
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Gounod: Masses
Dvorak: Mass in D Major, Op. 86 / Janacek: Lord's Prayer
Liszt: Szekszárd Mass - Via Crucis
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Motets, Masses & Hymns
Rheinberger, J.G.: Mass in E-Flat Major / Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen / Stabat Mater / 5 Hymnen / Abendlied
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Cantus Missae. Musica sacra II
