Zdeněk Fibich’s Missa brevis in F Major op. 21 in the Context of Czech Liturgical Compositions of the 1870s–1880s
Zdeněk Fibich’s Missa brevis in F Major op. 21 in the Context of Czech Liturgical Compositions of the 1870s–1880s

Summary/Abstract: The Missa brevis in F Major op. 21 Hud 279 (1885) was composed by Fibich during his two-year compositional crisis. The composition was frequently performed in Bohemian and Moravian churches and remained part of their repertory up until the 1940s. The composition manifests the influence of compositional techniques of Renaissance vocal polyphony, basso continuo, the harmonization technique of the Protestant chorale, as well as elements of contemporary figural music. Apart from an analysis of the composition’s style and evaluation of Fibich’s relationship to liturgical music, this paper also presents the reception of the composition and reflections on it, and classifies it within the context of the liturgical repertory performed in the Czech Lands in the 1870s and 1880s. Particular attention is paid to the characteristics of two contemporary tendencies: figural music and the reformation of the Cyril (Cecilian) Movement.

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