Messa domenicale //per la missione di Nyondo
«What you will hear is the Messa domenicale per la missione di Nyondo [“Sunday Mass for the Nyondo Mission”]; Nyondo is a small village in the area of Ruanda-Urundi inhabited by the Watussi tribe, a peace-loving primitive people. I heard it one day, accompanied by the rhythm of seven drums, like a wild heart confessing the extremely ancient desire to speak to God.» These are the words recited in the Introito, before the Kyrie and Gloria of the Sanctus, of an Elevation for solo orchestra, of the Agnus Dei and of the Ite Missa est, in a “normal” (according to the composer) sung mass. Alberto Bruni Tedeschi composed this work on returning from a journey to Africa. The exotic colouring, except from the monumental role of the percussion, does not, however, weigh down Bruni Tedeschi’s work, which aspires to being an artistic and spiritual exercise going beyond the occasion and the anecdotal. The work explores the classical tradition of concertante masses by isolating the symphonic development from contact with Gregorian chant and Modalism, but pursues ï¬gures of primitivism. The world première was performed in the studios of Hamburg Radio in 1953, under the conduction of Hermann Scherchen. The work will be re-staged in an invitation concert conducted by Cyril Diederich, on the occasion of the donation by Marisa Bruni Tedeschi, the composer’s wife, of the Alberto Bruni Tedeschi Archive to the Giorgio Cini Foundation. The Archive contains papers, scores, correspondence and audio recordings of Bruni Tedeschi’s works.
Entrance upon invitation
