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The ''Missa Brevis'' by Leonard Bernstein is a musical setting of selected texts from the Ordinary of the Mass for a mixed a cappella choir with countertenor solo and incidental percussion. It is also Bernstein’s last complete choral work due to his death a year after its completion in 1989. ==Overview== The origin of the piece lies in the incidental chorus music that Bernstein composed for an adaption of the play by Jean Anouilh called ''The Lark'', directed by Lillian Hellman in 1955. The play’s plot covers the events surrounding Joan of Arc and her trial. This led Bernstein to compose the chorus music to sound very Medieval to early Renaissance in quality and texture to suit the atmosphere provided by the play itself. Robert Shaw, conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, came to watch one of the first performances of the play. After the show, Shaw approached Bernstein and suggested that the incidental chorus music be adapted into a unified choral piece to produce a compelling Missa Brevis.〔Jack Gottlieb. “Choral Works” in Working with Bernstein, 198-210. New York: Amadeus Press, 2010.〕 Thirty three years later, Bernstein followed Shaw’s suggestion and completed Missa Brevis in honor of Shaw’s retirement from the position of music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in 1988.〔Jack Gottlieb.〕 Shaw would later premiere and record the work with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus. In this first recording of the piece, certain passages of the liturgical text from the Gloria and Agnus Dei were not performed. These passages were later added for the scores publication by Bernstein with the assistance of George Steel.〔 Bernstein’s Missa Brevis is still performed frequently. Its length makes it suitable to be used in a liturgical setting, and it is substantial enough to be used as a set piece in a concert. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Missa Brevis (Bernstein)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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