Mass in D Major (Op. 86) - Antonin Dvorák (1841-1904)
Dvorák is not a composer we immediately associate with choral music, or indeed church music of any kind. However, he did produce many settings of sacred texts, and as a devout Catholic he rarely missed attending daily Mass throughout his life. His background in church music began as a young boy, singing in the choir in his home village of Nelahozeves in Bohemia, and then training as an organist at Zlonice and at the Organ School in Prague, from which he emerged with a diploma as organist and choirmaster. In due course he became organist at Prague's St. Adalbert's Church.
It is now believed that Dvorák destroyed an early Mass setting in B flat that he had composed as a student. The Mass In D, which we hear this evening, was written almost thirty years later. Its composition was instigated by leading architect and patron of the arts Josef Hlávka, later the founder and first president of the Czech Academy of Sciences. In 1886 Hlávka had a new chapel built at his summer residence, a castle in Lužany in Western Bohemia. When the chapel was to be consecrated the following year, he asked his friend Dvořák to write a new mass for the occasion. Dvořák, who thought very highly of Hlávka, was glad to oblige and wrote a mass for soloists, choir and organ. He completed the work within three months.
Hlávka was the dedicatee, Dvorák writing to him "... I thank you for having given me the impulse to write a work in this form, otherwise I should scarcely have thought of it, for so far I have written works of this kind only on a big scale. This time I have written with modest resources, and yet I venture to say that I have done a good piece of work".
In a letter to Josef Hlávka, Dvořák wrote:
“I am pleased to announce that I have finished the work and that I am supremely pleased with the result. I think it will be a work that will fully suit its purpose. It could be called: faith, hope and love for God Almighty, and an expression of thanks for this great gift, for having been given the opportunity successfully to complete a work in praise of the Highest, and in honour of our art. Do not be surprised that I am so devout, but an artist who is not cannot achieve anything like this. Take the examples of Beethoven, Bach, Raphael and many others. I would also like to thank you for giving me the impulse to write a work of this genre, it would hardly have occurred to me otherwise; until now I had only written similar works of larger proportions with considerable means at my disposal.”
Dvořák wrote the mass largely at his summer residence in Vysoká, surrounded by the natural scenery he loved so much and, despite having been commissioned to write it, he worked above all for his own enjoyment. This is echoed in the work's simple intimacy, fervour and sincerity, without any trace of ostentation. The mass is pure Dvořák - it clearly reflects the composer's humble faith, his natural humility in the face of a higher order, and his true joy of life. The Mass in D Major is one of the most eloquent testimonies of Dvořák's relationship to humankind, to God and to nature.
Given the purpose for which the mass was written and conscious that it would be performed by semi-professionals, Dvořák opted for a simple form and clearly arranged choral parts. The Lužany chapel was quite small so he also restricted the instrumentation and wrote an accompaniment only for organ. Even with these modest means he created an exquisite work rich in melodic and harmonic imagery, whose exceptional quality destined it for far greater things than a mere occasional piece. Particularly appealing is its evocation of old church modes combined with the most up-to-date approaches in harmony at that time, distinct elements that Dvořák uniquely brought together with unerring spontaneity. The work observes the form of the Catholic divine service with all the customary parts of the Ordinary of the Mass. The traditional Latin text is largely preserved, though Dvorák made a few minor changes in places.
The consecration of the chapel, during which the mass was performed for the first time, took place on 11 September 1887. Dvořák conducted the work himself, the soprano part was sung by Hlávka’s wife Zdenka, and the alto part was performed by the composer’s wife Anna. The first public performance of the mass was held at the Municipal Theatre in Plzeň on 15 April 1888, also conducted by Dvořák. The composer offered the mass to his publisher Simrock, but the latter showed little interest, thus Dvořák turned to the English firm Novello, who accepted the work and paid Dvořák a fee for it. Nevertheless, this publisher did not print the mass in its original version for organ. At the insistence of the company’s main representative, Alfred Littleton, Dvořák produced an orchestral version in 1892 which Novello published the following year. The mass soon became extremely popular in England, performed both with its original Latin text and in an English translation, and was positively reviewed. The original composition for organ was not published until 1963.
In its original form the Mass was first published in Prague as recently as 1970 as part of the complete critical edition of the composer's works. One of the editors, Jarmil Burghauser, has suggested that Dvorák, within the limitations of his "modest resources", has created in this mass setting "the specific atmosphere of the Czech countryside: not a stately ritual ceremony, as befitting the Prague Metropolitan cathedral, or the concentrated sublime contemplation of a monastic setting, but the spirit of a smiling, pleasant region of hills and woods and little baroque churches with folk-art decoration, the expression of the wisdom and security of his native land".
