J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

The ‘cum Sancto Spiritu’ fugue moves smoothly between strict antico counterpoint
and periodic homophonic material, with—if not quite Handelian inevitability—at least
an appropriate kind of orchestral brilliance. More peculiar is the way the ‘et vitam
venturi’ fugue separates each entrances of the subject from its neighbours with a
monotone, unison ‘Amen’, whilst the orchestra carries on the textural activity. The
most extraordinary movement, however, is the ‘Dona nobis pacem’. It, too, is fugal;
but instead of having a subject of its own, it combines the subjects of all the other
main fugal movements (Ex.2.16). The idea of re-using the material of a mass’s first
movement in its last was of course nothing new, for reasons both of convenience and
coherence; 56 but the Missa de Spiritu Sancto takes the principle to an entirely new
level. This thematic summation of the whole work is surely one of the most
remarkable multi-movement contrapuntal tours de force outside of Die Kunst der
Fuge.
Wesley’s mass was written with no thought of practical performance, and
largely forgotten thereafter—not least, perhaps, because in later life he found the
whole episode an embarrassment. Neither of these two facts are true of what
Lightwood calls the ‘mournful history’ of his setting of Psalm 111, the Confitebor. 57
During the late 1790s Wesley was taking an increasingly important role in the Lenten
oratorio concerts at Covent Garden. His role was usually as organist: playing continuo
for the main choral works, and a concerto during the interval, but in February 1799 his
Ode to St Cecilia achieved performance at one of these concerts. Although we know
almost nothing about this concert, according to Wesley’s Reminiscences the house was
‘crammed’ and the Ode was ‘universally approved and applauded.’ 58
It seems at least likely that the Confitebor was written in the hope of following
up this success during the following year’s series—Olleson suggests that Wesley may
56 See, for example, Haydn’s Missa Sancti Nicolai Hob.XXII/6, or Mozart’s ‘Coronation’ Mass K.317.
57 J. Lightwood, Samuel Wesley, musician: the story of his life (London: Epworth, 1937), p.105.
58 Olleson, Wesley, pp.58-9.
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