The Perth Choral Society performed their Spring Concert on Sunday 26 March 2006 in St John’s Kirk, Perth. The concert was in two parts comprising Puccini: Messa Di Gloria and Verdi: Four Sacred Pieces.

Puccini : Messa Di Gloria

Renowned as the composer of such operas as La Boheme, Tosca and Madame Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini began his musical career in the composition of church music. Messa di Gloria was written by Puccini at the age of 18 as his graduation thesis from the Institute Musicale of Lucca, Italy. It was also his personal tribute to the tradition of his family who had specialized in sacred music for 4 generations.

Messa di Gloria is a "work full of melodic freshness and movement, richness of sound and lyrical softness". Unlike the church music of the late 1800's the Puccini mass shows many characteristics of opera, full of solemnity and depth of expression.

The mass begins with the succession of the four entries "Christe Eleison, the first indication of the dramatic element of opera. In the "Gloria" the longest part of the mass, the opera influence is present again with the contrast of individual segments. The mass continues with the powerful "Credo" followed by the intense but jubilant "Sanctus". The mass ends with the "Agnus Dei" with a musical line reminiscient of an 18th century minuet.

Although praised by critics in 1880, Messa di Gloria fell into oblivion until 1952 when it was reperformed for the first time in Chicago. It has now taken its rightful place in musical history as a lasting tribute to the Glory of God.

Verdi : Four Sacred Pieces

Verdi dominated the world of Italian opera throughout the 19th century. Of humble origins, he began his studies in Busseto and continued in Milan under Vicenzo Lavigna.

His first operas were only moderately acknowledged and this, coupled with the death of his wife and two children, put a stop to his work.  His interest was revived by the biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar which led to his first major success in 1842 with the opera "Nabucco".

By the mid 1850s his operas, including Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Traviata, had become both musically and dramatically richer and he was internationally famous.

All together he composed thirty two operas, many of which hold prime of place in the world of opera today. Verdi became involved in the movement for Italian unity and independence and for a short time he was a senator in the Italian Parliament.

He founded the Rest Home for musicians in Milan which he opened a few weeks before his death.

The Quattro pezzi sacri (Four Sacred Pieces) were written at various times in Verdi's later years. The first, Ave Maria sulla scala enigmatica, was written in 1889, followed by a Stabat Mater, the Laudi alla Vergine Maria, on a text from Dante, and a Te Deum for double chorus and orchestra.

The Four Pieces were published in 1898.

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