Opera Tickets Italy

The great Italian composer, Gioacchino Rossini, created what is often regarded as among the greatest choral masterpieces of the 19th century when he wrote Petite Messe Solennelle. Often entitled as Rossini's Little Solemn Mass in English, the title of the piece is a full musical setting for the Catholic Mass. The maestro’s reference to it as 'little' probably relates to the original intention for it to be performed as chamber music for smaller, more intimate audiences, without large numbers of musicians. This performance of Petite Messe Solennelle at Verona's Teatro Filarmonico focuses on Rossini's 1867 reworking of the piece as an orchestrated version.

Initially composed in 1863, the choral version of Petite Messe Solennelle - which included parts for two pianos and harmonium, as well as voices - was first performed privately on 14 March 1864 at the home of Count Alexis Pillet-Will in Paris. The composer was in his seventies by the time it premiered, having retired to the French capital many years earlier. In fact, Rossini referred to the work as the last of his péchés de vieillesse, or the sins of old age. Some three years after this debut performance, the maestro decided to score the aforementioned orchestration. At the time, he said that he didn't appreciate the way the choral version sounded when it was performed in churches since this necessarily involved the use of boys' choirs to sing the treble parts. Concerned that the work would be weakened if it were orchestrated by anyone else, Rossini set about adapting the piece for orchestra, stating that he only wanted this, the 1867 version of the work, to be performed after his death.

Three months after the composer had died, the premiere of the 1867 orchestral version of Petite Messe Solennelle took place. The debut performance occurred on 24 February 1869 at the Salle Ventadour in Paris, performed by the company of the Théâtre-Italien, also based in the city. This new version, the one being performed at Teatro Filarmonico, included the choral prayer hymn O salutaris hostia, known in English as O Saving Sacrifice. It is performed as a soprano aria and is distinct from other sacred works of this type because the hymn does not constitute part of the Mass. Later in 1869, soon after Rossini would have celebrated his 77th birthday, both a piano version of the Mass, as well as the orchestral version, were published. Subsequent edited versions of the music were published, one in Florence in 1980, followed by others that date back to 1992.

The 1867 version of Rossini's last great work, Petite Messe Solennelle for soloists, choir and orchestra, will enthral audiences at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona with its sacred, devotional and – above all – beautiful music.