Glagolitic Mass (final version) (Vocal Score)

Janacek Glagolitic Mass (final version) (Vocal Score)
Old Church Slavonic with translations to Czech, English, German

Performance material available for hire

The Glagolitic Mass, one of the 20th century masterpieces of sacred music, has a very complex genesis and constitutes an intricate editorial challenge.  Janacek wrote his mass for solos, mixed choir, symphony orchestra and organ, based on an Old Church Slavonic text, in 1926 at his favourite spa resort of Luhacovice.  This new critical edition presents two different versions of the work in two separate volumes: the version “September 1927” which the composer completed before the first rehearsals and subsequent premiere in Brno in December 1927, and the version he partly reworked for the first Prague performance in April 1928 which – after further revisions and treatment particularly of the text – was published after his death by Universal Edition Wien in 1930.  This second “standard” version, also labelled and regarded as the “final authorised version“, has been newly revised according to Janacek critical edition guidelines.  The main source is not the above-mentioned first printed edition of the score published by Universal Edition, but a copy of the score completed by Janacek’s regular copyist Václav Sedlacek, which served as the engraver’s version.  The first volume contains a preface by Jiri Zahradka (Cz/Eng/Ger/Fr/Ru) closely examining the genesis of the work, and a critical commentary with a detailed description and appraisal of all surviving notation and other sources related to both versions of the work.  The sung text is given only in Old Church Slavonic, revised by Professor Radoslav Vecerka.  The version “September 1927” (before the first performance) will appear in a separate volume (Complete Critical Edition of the Works of Leoš Janácek, Vol.B/5-II).

The new critical edition from Bärenreiter Praha was prepared in an effort to unequivocally define and put to print a version of the piece that would come as close as possible to the composer’s ideal. Janacek’s final authorised version may certainly be regarded as such, and this fact should be taken into consideration for concert planning.  The “September 1927” version of the Glagolitic Mass is seen more as a supplement, and at the same time as an example of Janacek’s work process, rather than as a fully-fledged version meant for the concert stage.