Biblioteca del Conservatorio di Musica di Vicenza “Arrigo Pedrollo”

Abstract: Sacred works occupy a large part of Charles Gounod’s oeuvre. It was the Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Sainte Cécile that established his fame as a church composer. Its melodic invention and effective handling of the orchestra reveal a close proximity to opera. This Urtext edition is based not only on the original print of 1856 but also on copyists’ manuscripts and autograph sources. Rounding off this well-researched Urtext edition are an informative Introduction and a detailed Critical Commentary. The edition is being published to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Gounod’s birth. • Gounod’s well-known mass in a new Urtext edition • Bilingual Foreword (Ger/Eng) and Critical Commentary (Eng) • Idiomatic piano reduction EDITORIALE

Abstract: The Pauline Chapel in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the most complex and significant ecclesiastical buildings in Counter-Reformation Rome. It was conceived as relic venue and built to underline and reassert Catholic doctrine in response to the reforming zeal of Protestantism. This Chapel preserves, among other relics, the Virgin of Saint Luke, a painting that according to legend was drafted by the apostle Luke and completed by the angels. The statutes of this Chapel were approved in 1615, committing the “Salve” services (always including the antiphon Salve Regina, which expresses the Marian concepts embodied by the Pauline Chapel) to twelve musicians: ten singers, one organist, and the chapel master. They sang litanies, antiphons, and the Compline service every Saturday night, at all feasts, and on the eves of Marian feasts. The earliest “Salve” music that has been preserved is that composed by Alessandro Melani (1639–1703), who directed the Pauline Chapel musicians from 1667 until his death. Written for two choirs and sung with one voice assigned to each part, this is a systematic repertoire by a single composer for the most important Marian chapel of the Roman Counter-Reformation. (Fonte editoriale)

Abstract: Sacred works occupy a large part of Charles Gounod’s oeuvre. It was the Messe solennelle en l’honneur de Sainte Cécile that established his fame as a church composer. Its melodic invention and effective handling of the orchestra reveal a close proximity to opera. This Urtext edition is based not only on the original print of 1856 but also on copyists’ manuscripts and autograph sources. Rounding off this well-researched Urtext edition are an informative Introduction and a detailed Critical Commentary. The edition is being published to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Gounod’s birth. • Gounod’s well-known mass in a new Urtext edition • Bilingual Foreword (Ger/Eng) and Critical Commentary (Eng) EDITORIALE