The music on this disc has been researched and compiled in order to suggest the musical experience of the celebration of Christmas Mass at St Mark’s,Venice in 1766. Filippo Maria Bressan and his forces have combined Galuppi’s Gloria and Credo with other vocal and instrumental pieces which may have been performed on such an occasion, creating a unique programme of interest to early music lovers and academics alike.

This disc contains the premiere recordings of Galuppi’s Gloria and Credo.

Galuppi is famous primarily for his operas, but this disc demonstrates him as a composer of devotional music of great beauty.

Using early instruments and applying period performance practices, the Academia de li Musici draws upon some of the best Italian musicians, including several of international renown. Filippo Maria Bressan is a noted early music expert.


"When, on the strength of his fame throughout Europe, Catherine II invited Galuppi to her court in St Petersburg, the composer was most reluctant to make the long journey. He changed his mind after Venetian diplomats assured him that his acceptance would not involve forfeiting either his position as maestro di cappella at St Mark’s or the regular payment of his salary, provided that he supplied a Gloria and a Credo for the Christmas Mass (one of the most elaborate services in the church calendar) each year during his absence. It was traditional at St Mark’s to adapt the form of the Mass itself to the requirements of worship, but also to conditions more peripheral to the performance: the Kyrie had to be composed by the first organist, the Gloria and the Credo by the maestro di cappella; the Sanctus and the Agnus Dei were ideally replaced by a motet and an instrumental composition, while the Proper of the Mass was still intoned in plainsong according to the patriarchal rite.

The manuscripts of Galuppi’s contributions to the 1766 Christmas Mass are still extant, conserved in Genoa. In order to approach in musical content what a complete Christmas Mass at the time might have involved, and given the impossibility of identifying any particular motet or instrumental composition with which to do so (sources for Galuppi are unfortunately very scanty), it was decided to bracket the three parts of the ordinary with two of Galuppi’s few extant instrumental works, namely two concerti a quattro taken from a manuscript now in the Estense library in Modena.
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The Mass for Christmas 1766, with its colourful harmonies and beguiling melodies, receives its premiere recording on this persuasive disc.
This is the fourth and finest recording that the Athestis Chorus and Academia de li Musici have made in their ongoing series for Chandos, exploring previously unrecorded gems of the late Italian Baroque. Here Filippo Maria Bressan directs them in choral and instrumental works by Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-85), a flamboyant and multi-talented Venetian composer whose music richly deserves revival…
I enjoyed this disc very much. The two concerti a quattro by Galuppi are excellent pieces, and very well performed. The mass (Kyrie by Bertoni - First Organist at San Marco in Galuppis day - with Gloria and Credo by Il Buranello) is no less impressive with delightful arias and duets alternating with finely constructed choruses.
'This is the fourth and finest recording that the Athestis Chorus and Academia de li Musici have made in their ongoing series for Chandos, exploring previously unrecorded gems of the late Italian Baroque. Here Filippo Maria Bressan directs them in choral and instrumental works by Baldassarre Galuppi (1706-85), a flamboyant and multi-talented Venetian composer whose music richly deserves revival…'
Filippo Bressan directs his fine period forces with flair.
The setting is colourful, with an orchestra of strings, full wind, horns and trumpets, and a mischievously inventive organ continuo. Soloists, drawn from the Athestis Chorus, are testimony to its wealth of vocal talent. They are chamber-scaled voices, singing with unselfconcious ease - and Ive never heard better-focused intonation from singers and period instruments than this.
'The setting is colourful, with an orchestra of strings, full wind, horns and trumpets, and a mischievously inventive organ continuo. Soloists, drawn from the Athestis Chorus, are testimony to its wealth of vocal talent. They are chamber-scaled voices, singing with unselfconcious ease - and I've never heard better-focused intonation from singers and period instruments than this.'
The performance under Bressan is impressive…
The quality of this performance is high, with a fine Italian period-instrument orchestra, the Academia de li Musici, under the attentive direction of Filippo Maria Bressan… Excellent sound, and comprehensive information on the work and its context in the booklet.
'The Mass for Christmas 1766, with its colourful harmonies and beguiling melodies, receives its premiere recording on this persuasive disc.'
Filippo Maria Bressans all-Italian forces give a vivid performance… Recommended to any baroque enthusiast who fancies venturing off the beaten track.
'I enjoyed this disc very much. The two concerti a quattro by Galuppi are excellent pieces, and very well performed. The mass (Kyrie by Bertoni - First Organist at San Marco in Galuppi's day - with Gloria and Credo by Il Buranello) is no less impressive with delightful arias and duets alternating with finely constructed choruses.'


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