Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi’s influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe. Vivaldi composed many concertos for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than fifty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà, a home for abandoned children in his native Venice. After meeting the Emperor Charles VI, he moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support, but the emperor died soon after Vivaldi’s arrival, and he died in poverty less than a year later.
After almost two centuries of decline, Vivaldi’s musical reputation underwent a revival in the early 20th century. Many of his compositions, once thought lost, have been rediscovered – some as recently as 2015. His music remains widely popular in the present day and is regularly played all over the world.
Gloria: Scholars know of at least three settings by Vivaldi of the Gloria, a Christian hymn that is a fixed part of the Roman Catholic Mass. But there is little specific information about the context for which the most famous of these, the Gloria in D (RV 589), was composed. It is likely that Vivaldi produced it around 1715 or 1716.
The text, from the Ordinary of the Latin Mass, is the second prayer normally included in musical settings of the liturgy (following the Kyrie). Vivaldi’s setting of the Gloria is, however, an independent work. He divides the text into twelve separate movements, resulting in a kind of cantata or vocal concerto that encompasses an astonishing variety of moods that mirror the prayer’s widely ranging paean to the divine force of the Christian cosmos.
The Gloria was probably intended for performance by the talented ensemble of young girls at the Ospedale della Pietà. The Pietà was an important charitable institution of the era, a combination orphanage, convent, and conservatory whose origins go back to the Middle Ages.
Ola Gjeilo (5 May 1978) is a Norwegian-born composer and pianist renowned for lush, cinematic choral works and evocative piano compositions blending classical, jazz, and film-score influences. He began playing piano and composing when he was five years old and learned to read music at the age of seven.
Gjeilo studied classical composition with Wolfgang Plagge. In his undergraduate career, Gjeilo studied at the Norwegian Academy of Music (1999–2001), transferred to the Juilliard School (2001), and studied at the Royal College of Music, London (2002–2004) to receive a bachelor’s degree in composition. He continued his education at Juilliard (2004–06) where he received his master’s degree in 2006, also in composition. From 2009 to 2010, Gjeilo was composer-in-residence for Phoenix Chorale. Acclaimed pieces include Sunrise Mass, Dreamweaver, and Serenity, with recordings on Decca Classics such as Night and Dawn. He currently resides in Manhattan, working as a freelance composer and is composer-in-residence with DCINY and Albany Pro Musica.
Sunrise Mass: At first, the music of Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) comes across as agreeable to the ear: simple, straightforward, easily evoking beautiful emotions. On the second or third listening, the complexity and multiple dimensions of his writing unfold, revealing a density of compositional elements. Philosophically, Gjeilo has a desire to create an atmosphere in which the listener can experience music that is direct and pleasing.
Gjeilo considers himself a “symphonic” composer in that he often aims for a lush, orchestral sound. He approaches his craft from a spiritual perspective and wants to share universal and humanistic experiences in the realm of his music. One needs to look no further than the names of each individual movement for an illustration of how spirituality plays a role in the work. The text comes from the Ordinary of the Mass: Kyrie – The Spheres, Gloria – Sunrise, Credo – The City, Sanctus & Agnus Dei – Identity & The Ground. While Gjeilo set the meaning of the Latin text respectfully and observes the traditions that masses are expected to exhibit, his overall vision for the piece lies within the titles of the work, only loosely related to the meaning of the Latin. In so doing, he reveals a structure outside of the text, a metaphysical journey from the heavens to earth.
In his own words: “The music of the Sunrise Mass goes from dark and dream-like, to more emotional and dramatic, and eventually warm and grounded. It’s important to me that there is a positive evolution in artistic expressions, to move everything forward; that has the capacity to help bring us deeper into ourselves rather than the other way. I really do think that’s the main point of art. I don’t know if I in any way am one of them, but I think true artists have the ability to share something very important; to express a deeper connection with something sacred; soul, or God, or nature, or whatever we perceive it as, through art. I believe that gift should be used to uplift and remind ourselves of who we really are and what’s truly important in our lives, whatever that may be.”
Travelling from beginning to end aurally through Ola Gjeilo’s Sunrise Mass one can experience the full metaphorical journey from the starry Heaven to Earth, from undifferentiated darkness to solid, warm life, evolving spiritually as a human. The essence of the Mass includes not only the dark parts of the psyche, but also the entire spectrum of human emotion. Gjeilo firmly believes his Sunrise Mass is a journey in which, “The Self, having experienced each movement in the work, now has the perspective and understanding to peacefully contain everything it has gone through.”
Soloists: Sinesipho Mnyango (Soprano), Jacobi de Villiers (Mezzo)
The Phoenix Co. Orchestra
Conducted by Sue Cock
Listen to the Sunrise Mass – click on this link
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