Missa coram papa, Missa magna
Two Masses at the Avignone’s papal Court during the Great Schism (1378 – 1417)
Apt, Cathedral Sainte-Anne, Bibliothèque du Chapitre 16 bis
9 singers and instrumentalists
Missa coram Papa was the Mass celebrated in the presence of the Pope meanwhile Missa magna was the Mass celebrated in the big feasts by the Pope himself. Both liturgies, as documents of the late Avignone’s papal Court prove, were accompanied by polyphonic settings of the Ordinary. The manuscript more connected with the context of the Papal Chapel between the very end of the XIV and the beginning of the XV century is the Apt16bis - Cathédral Sainte-Anne, Bibliothèque du Chapitre. Among the numerous settings of the Ordinary copied in this manuscript (10 Kyrie, 9 Gloria, 10 Credo, 4 Sanctus, 1 Agnus), laReverdie has selected musical material in order to reconstruct two liturgies, one for an ordinary feast (Missa coram Papa), one for a big feast dedicated to the Holy Mary (Missa magna). The stylistic analysis of the whole liturgical repertoire of the Apt’s manuscript, shows clearly that we are in front of the typical Missa Cantilena style, where Tenor and Contratenor lines were mainly composed to be played by instruments. The performing choices of laReverdie are based on these suggestions, using two different kinds of instrumentations for the two different Masses.