In 1740, Jan Dismas Zelenka began work on his last large-scale project, which he however never carried out: the composition of the first of the six so-called last masses (Missae ultimae), which also includes Missa Omnium Sanctorum (ZWV 21). When Zelenka died on the night of December 22-23, 1745, only a torso remained from this mass cycle. It is said that Zelenka spent the last years of his life in seclusion as a solitaire and a closed freak. Such a portrait of Zelenka is based on a mention published in 1862 by Moritz Fürstenau, who claims that Zelenka probably lived a somewhat solitary and isolated life. Nevertheless, he was admired by his contemporaries, as we can read in the print of Johann Gottlob Kittl’s Lob-Gedicht auf diesächsische Hofkapelle from 1740, in which he expresses great admiration for Zelenka by claiming that he is a highly respected and excellent virtuoso and that in his church music one encounters “heavenly joys”. In addition, we learn from Friedrich Rochlitz, who heard it from Johann Friedrich Doles, that at least two of Bach’s students – Doles himself and Gottfried August Homilius – made no secret of their preference for Zelenka’s ecclesiastical music over the music of Dresden’s chief Kapellmeister Hasse. In the light of these views, it is unlikely that Zelenka would be an unhappy and underrated musician, as popularization history tries to tell us.

The setting of the mass, as it developed in Naples during the first half of the eighteenth century, undoubtedly influenced Zelenka. He held examples in his collection of sacred music, including works of the Neapolitan composers Francesco Durante (1684–1755), Francesco Mancini (1672–1737), Domenico Sarro (1679–1744), and Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725). Moreover, between 1738 and 1740 when the Saxon Electoral Prince Friedrich Christian was visiting Italy during his Grand Tour, Neapolitan sacred music – including mass settings by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) – was being sent back to Dresden. Missa Omnium Sanctorum is a typical example of a ‘number’ setting composed in the stilo misto comprising, as it does, tutti choruses juxtaposed with brilliant concerted vocal and instrumental movements, powerful fugues written in the stile antico, double fugues, fugues with independent instrumental accompaniment, and solo vocal arias in which a range of galant features are evident.

The opening Kyrie eleison I, Christe eleison, and Kyrie eleison II of the Missa Omnium Sanctorum are set according to a well-established plan of a tutti chorus: solo aria (‘arioso’ for tenor solo) with instrumental accompaniment (later, this movement was parodied by Zelenka in his Litaniae Lauretanae ‘Consolatrix afflictorum’ of 1744, ZWV 151): tutti fugal chorus. The Gloria is structured in six movements. Gloria in excelsis Deo is composed as a brilliant concerted chorus while Qui tollis peccata mundi is set as an aria for solo soprano. Two sets of paired movements follow. Quoniam tu solus Sanctus I is a tutti choral and instrumental introduction to Quoniam II (an aria in the galant style for solo alto accompanied by violins 1 and 2, violas, and basso continuo); Cum Sancto Spiritu I is a tutti introduction to the powerful fugue Cum Sancto Spiritu II which concludes the Gloria.

It has been observed that due to its long doctrinal text, the Credo generally tended to inspire the least imaginative settings with the mass. Zelenka, however, set the text as one through-composed movement. Although of 263 bars in length (and much of the text is overlapping), the Credo of Missa Omnium Sanctorum falls into five clearly defined sections: Credo, Et incarnatus est, Crucifixus, Et resurrexit, and Et vitam venturi saeculi, Amen. The tonality of A minor is strongly affirmed in the lively opening, a classic ritornello comprising three principal segments: introductory gesture, continuation and extension of the initial ideas, and the formal cadence in the tonic key. Segments of this ritornello connect episodes in which the doctrinal statements of the Credo are proclaimed. Ritornello material also acts as the foreground to a background of choral, syllabic declamations of the text. It also appears as an instrumental interlude either alone or in conjunction with musical companions. Thus, each of its segments links the multitude of varying and contrasting components of the entire movement. The Sanctus, scored for choral and instrumental tutti, is followed by a remarkable Benedictus setting for sopranos and altos, who sing a plainchant-like melody in unison against a swirling accompaniment from the upper strings. A strict tutti fugal setting of ‘Osanna in excelsis’ closes this section. Finally, Agnus Dei is composed as a majestic concerted chorus followed by a part for solo bass, and with the return of the music heard in Kyrie II to the text ‘Dona nobis pacem’ a great arch is created to conclude Zelenka’s sixth and final mass.

Janice B. Stockigt