Trinity Church Ascension Day Service

“The processional hymn and the canticles were sung by the full choir, accompanied by the organ and a string band of 40 pieces. The music included [see above].”

“The most memorable feature of the musical services at Trinity Church on Ascension Day was the production of four numbers of the ‘Messe Solennelle,’ or, as it is better known, the St. Cecilia Mass of Gounod. A year ago on Ascension Day the orchestra was first introduced into Trinity, to the holy horror of a few slaves of use and wont, as if there were any more sanctity inherent in an organ than a trombone, or a baton were any more profane than a tuning fork. Upon that occasion two numbers of this same mass were done, but with nothing like the elaborateness or the precision with which they were rendered on Thursday. This latter was the occasion of the most extensive and certainly the best production of this most interesting and dramatic work of modern church music. Except that the soprano and alto parts were sustained by boys, the mass was rendered exactly as it was written. A distance of 160 feet between choir and orchestra is a difficulty which is almost impossible to overcome completely, particularly when the audience is between the two. It is to be hoped the vestry of Trinity will take steps to obviate it altogether. But it has not been so nearly overcome in any service at Trinity, as at that on Thursday. Only in the processional hymn, a spirited composition of Barnby, was there a notable discrepancy in time between the voices and the instruments. The ‘Kyrie’ was the first number of the mass given, but was too short and slight to attract attention. The ‘Nicene Creed’ is a magnificent composition, and its execution was the musical triumph of the service. As we might judge from the ‘Faust’ music, by which Gounod is mainly known here, it is intensely dramatic throughout; but the triplet repetition of the words ‘On the third day,’ in solo, followed by the magnificent bust of the full choir and band upon the words, ‘He rose again,’ gives an idea of Gounod beyond anything of his that we have had hitherto the chance to hear, either in sacred or secular music. It was admirably performed throughout, both by voices and instruments. After the sermon the ‘Agnus Dei,’ ‘Sanctus,’ and ‘Gloria in Excelsis,’ from Gounod’s mass were sung. The ‘Agnus Dei’ is subdued in tone throughout, being in the first part a solo for soprano, though it becomes an intricate and beautiful piece of counterpoint in the final passage. Gounod’s ‘Gloria’ is as unsatisfactory, compared with the same setting of Haydn done at Trinity on Easter Day, as the ‘Credo’ is superior. It begins with a soprano solo, accompanied by the chorus pianissimo, which, it has been suggested, is intended to represent the original proclamation of the angels, but which nevertheless strikes the unaccustomed ear as highly far-fetched and theatrical. At the words ‘For thou only art holy, the time changes from andante to allegro, the full chorus breaks in, and the effect is sublime. Upon the whole, the mass, which has thus for the first time been really heard in New York, must impress every listener with a sense of the genius of its composer, greater even than that which his operatic music has produced. The instrumentation is throughout as fertile and felicitous as we had reason to expect of Gounod. The vocal parts are always pleasing and often impressive. Mr. Messiter, the organist and Choir master, has written to M. Gounod requesting him to write a service adapted to the Anglican ritual in time for next Ascension Day.” [Reprinted from the World, May 20, 1871]