Choral Masterpieces
By promoting the creation of choirs in rural France, Resurrectio is committed to making known to and sharing with the vast collection of sacred choral music. Since medieval times, many notable composers have enriched the spiritual lives of worshipers.
In the 12th and 13th Century, French composers Leonin and Perotin of the School of Notre Dame Cathedral contributed greatly to the development of Western music and composed the first significant polyphonic church music.
In the early part of the 14th Century, Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361) was a notable theorist, poet, and composer of sacred music. One of the masterpieces of medieval music is Messe de Notre Dame (Mass of Our Lady) composed by Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377).
The great sacred music composers of the early Renaissance were Guillaume Dufay (c.1400-1474), Johannes Ockeghem (c.1410-1497), Jacob Obrecht (1457-1505), and Josquin des Prez (c.1440-1521), all of whom wrote multiple masses and other hymns and pieces of sacred music.
In the late Renaissance, Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594), Giovanni da Palestrina (1525-1594), William Byrd (1543-1623), and Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) left us with sacred choral compositions that are treasures of the Western tradition.
The 16th and 17th Century Venetian School, especially Giovanni Gabrieli and Claudio Monteverdi, added an instrumental element to the basically choral foundation of the Mass. Further development of the orchestral Mass occurred in the 17th century with the works of Francesco Cavalli and Marc-Antoine Charpentier.
In the 18th Century, J.S. Bach composed the Mass in B Minor (1733–38) a tribute to the preceding Baroque era. Haydn’s masses, notably the Missa Sanctae Caeciliae (St. Cecilia Mass), reflect the Italian tradition and Mozart’s repertoire such as the Mass in C Major (Coronation Mass, 1779) are also excellent examples of magnificent sacred choral music.
Notable sacred music composers in the 19th Century include Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Hector Berlioz, Franz Liszt, Charles Gounod, Anton Bruckner, Félix Mendelssohn, Gabriel Fauré, and Camille Saint-Saëns.
In the first half of the 20th Century, sacred choral music reflects the transformation from impressionism through modernism and minimalism. Notable composers include Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, Louis Vierne, Francis Poulenc, and Maurice Duruflé.
The great composers of sacred choral music in the second half of the 20th Century include Jean Langlais whose works comprise both masses and organ music. Frank Martin, Krzysztof Penderecki and John Rutter are other significant sacred music composers of the period as well as Arvo Pärt who is often identified with the School of Mystic Minimalism.