Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle

7:30pm, Sat, 8 Jul 2023

Type of event:	Concert
Start time:	7:30pm
Duration:	2:00
Venue:	Holy Trinity Church 162 High Street Guildford Surrey GU1 3HW
Description:	This Petite Messe Solennelle is one of a number of pieces which Rossini referred to as the 'sins of his old age', works written long after his operas and intended primarily for private performance to a select circle of friends and colleagues. As such, this music sees the composer indulge his mischievous sense of humour alongside a secure grasp of counterpoint, mixing the serious with the tongue-in-cheek and the ecclesiastical with the operatic, often within the same movement. It is often said of this work, the 'Small Solemn Mass', that it is not small, solemn or a Mass. If anything, it might usefully be viewed instead as an indulgence of the old composer, by now into his seventies, even if it includes arias which could effortlessly pass muster in his operas alongside counterpoint which could bear comparison with that of the masters. The Petite Messe Solennelle is music with a glint in its eye, with a hint of lightness even when at its most serious, but which never portrays the text in anything but the most appropriate fashion. It is set in one of the grandest choral forms, effusive and ostentatious, but, with its accompaniment of piano and harmonium, retains the intimacy of many of the feelings expressed therein.