Mass in D (Smyth)

Smyth composed the Mass following a renewal of her High Anglican belief,^[1] stimulated by reading a copy of The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, while she was ill in Munich on Christmas Eve 1889. The book belonged to her Catholic friend Pauline Trevelyan,^[2] to whom Smyth dedicated the Mass.^[1] She composed much of it while a guest of Empress Eugénie at Cape Martin,^[3] near Monaco,^[4] in the summer of 1891.^[5]

Eugénie was also a friend of Queen Victoria.^[6] In October 1891,^[7] Smyth was staying with Eugénie on the estate of Balmoral Castle when the Queen paid a visit. Smyth gave a rendition at the piano of two movements of the Mass, and the Queen invited her to the castle where she gave another, longer rendition. Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh subsequently asked the Royal Choral Society to schedule the premiere.^[8] This took place on 18 January 1893 in the Royal Albert Hall,^[9] conducted by Joseph Barnby.^[10] The soloists were Esther Palliser, Belle Cole, Ben Davies and Robert Watkin-Mills.^[9]

The reception in the Albert Hall was enthusiastic, as were some reviews: J. A. Fuller Maitland praised the work's structure and rich orchestration.^[11] George Bernard Shaw wrote that the Mass was a sign of the rise of woman composers, though he called the work "the light literature of church music".^[12] Smyth was stung by what she saw as the patronising attitude of many reviewers towards a female composer.^[13]

After composing the Mass, her religious belief faded.^[1] She turned to opera, following the advice of conductor Hermann Levi, who praised her aptitude for dramatic composition when she showed him the Mass in Munich.^[3] After composing her first opera, Fantasio, she travelled around Europe during the mid-1890s seeking to arrange a premiere for it, and also a further performance of the Mass.^[14] In fact, the Mass was not performed again anywhere until 1924.^[15] Smyth blamed this on prejudice against female composers.^[16]

The Mass was revived on 7 February 1924 by the Birmingham Festival Choral Society, conducted by Adrian Boult.^[17] Its success prompted the arrangement of another performance on 8 March 1924 at Queen's Hall in London.^[18] George Bernard Shaw now thought the Mass "magnificent".^[19] In the years following, it was performed a number of times.^[20] In 1934 a performance of the Mass conducted by Thomas Beecham, attended by Queen Mary, was the culmination of the Festival Concerts celebrating Smyth's 75th birthday.^[21]

The Mass received its United States premiere in a performance in Minneapolis conducted by Philip Brunelle on 4 May 1980, sparking a modern revival. Brunelle subsequently recorded the work.^[22] There were then several UK performances, including one at Charterhouse School Chapel, a BBC broadcast in December 1985, and a 1993 performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall conducted by Odaline de la Martinez.^[23]

Its U.S. East Coast premiere came in a performance on 23 January 1993 by the Monmouth Civic Chorus conducted by Mark Shapiro, and its New York City premiere in Carnegie Hall on 14 April 2013 in a performance by The Cecilia Chorus of New York, again conducted by Shapiro.

In 2018 there was a performance at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford Cathedral.^[24] A new recording by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus and soloists conducted by Sakari Oramo was released in 2019, followed in 2022 by a live performance from the same performers at the BBC Proms - a concert billed as 'the first Proms performance since the composer's own lifetime'.^[25]

The Mass in D Australian premiere was performed on the 9th of October 2022, by the Camberwell Chorale, conducted by Douglas Heywood OAM. ^[26]