Christ’s Hospital Choral Society tackle the “not-so-little mass”

Spokeswoman Esther Clark said: “In our times of international connections, Petite Messe Solennelle is the French title written by an Italian composer, sung by an English choir in Latin. Christ’s Hospital Choral Society invite you to come and enjoy this magical music on November 11 in St Mary’s Church in Horsham’s Causeway (chchoralsoc.org or 01403 247434).

“Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868) was a prolific composer. Born into a musical family, he learnt to play a variety of instruments at a young age, writing his first sonatas aged 12. Soon after he was admitted to the Liceo Musical in Bologna where he developed his musical skills further, playing the cello and piano, singing and studying composition.

"Over his 76 years he wrote chamber music, songs, piano pieces, and sacred music, but he is possibly mostly associated with the many – 39! – operas he composed. Think for instance of William Tell or The Barber of Seville. Some of these were serious, many others were comic, ‘buffa’. He stopped writing large pieces while still in his 30s, at the height of his popularity – and nobody knows for sure why.

"The exception is Petite Messe Solennelle which he wrote over 30 years later, the last major piece he composed. Initially it was written for four soloists plus another eight singers, two pianos and a harmonium. An orchestral version followed a few years later, and this has an additional aria for a soprano soloist. As female singers were not allowed to sing in churches, sadly, Rossini just missed hearing this version performed… the first public performance of this was a mere three months after his death. At the end of Petite Messe Solennelle he had written a note to God, wondering if this ‘poor little mass’ was sacred rather than sacrilegious (‘musique sacrée ou bien de la sacrée musique’) as he was born to write opera buffa, really, but that he hoped God would grant him Paradise either way. Listening to this music that’s exactly where Rossini deserves to be.”