On Jul 3, 2011, at 8:18 AM, Roman Turovsky wrote: > That may very well be so, but a Mass does not have to complete to be a > full-blown slap in the face of the ecclesiastical taste. And eccessive > melancholy has always been viewed with suspicion by the authorities. Still is.
I no longer know what point you're trying to make. I think we've settled that the C minor Mass had nothing to do with Mozart's leaving the service of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and that there's no evidence that any particular 18th-century churchman had his face slapped by the Mass or Davidde Penitente. And yes, a Mass must be complete to be a full-blown slap in the face. An incomplete mass can be only a half-blown slap, or perhaps a slap that doesn't reach the face and hits the collar bone. If it's a particularly funny mass, it's a knee-slapper. I have a tough time believing that some cleric would know or care what key a mass movement was in. Yes, there might have been a bishop here and there with perfect pitch, or the occasional cardinal who liked to look over the musician's parts, but on the whole it must have been a non-issue. Only the Kyrie of the C minor Mass is actually in C minor, BTW (at least that's true of the Maunder edition); the Gloria and Sanctus are in blazing C major. I don't know what authorities are suspicious of excessive melancholy, and would be curious to know what evidence you have that this has always been the case. But maybe this is getting a bit OT, unlike such matters as gynecology. To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
