Events Past and Forthcoming
Rossini at Thame, 8 December 2018
The main item in our Christmas offering this year is a performance of Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle, a name that does not refer to nature of the work but to the form of the mass. Rossini, by calling it 'little', was alluding to its original scoring for just 12 singers plus two pianos and harmonium.
Although he later made an arrangement for full orchestra, the piano/harmonium arrangement that we shall be performing is particularly interesting and unusual with considerable demands placed on the pianist (the second piano part is usually omitted today) with the harmonium or organ reed stops providing the orchestral fill.
Although he later made an arrangement for full orchestra, the piano/harmonium arrangement that we shall be performing is particularly interesting and unusual with considerable demands placed on the pianist (the second piano part is usually omitted today) with the harmonium or organ reed stops providing the orchestral fill.