Martin Gerbert (1720-1793), abbot of St. Blasien from 1764 until his death, was one of the most influential music theorists of the 18th century. He used his research in the field of music history to substantiate the demand for true church music. His Missa in coena Domini, a mass for Maundy Thursday, which he published in the appendix to his De cantu et musica sacra in 1774, is an eloquent testimony to this debate. The fact that the mass is in double choir but - apart from the organ - contains no parts for other instruments illustrates his intention to present ideal church music in the spirit of Pope Benedict XIV, without completely renouncing the achievements of modern compositional technique.
The printing of the 24 Offertoria solennia, which was published by Rieger in Augsburg in 1747, represented a high point of Gerbert's musical activity. He had composed this work, labelled ‘Opus I’, with his confrere Remigius Klesatl (1717-1783). Klesatl had written the first 12 offertories, while Gerbert was responsible for the offertories XIII-XXIV. These offertories corresponded to the style of Benedictine church music of the time, which ‘placed itself under the domain of Italian musical culture at an early stage in the 17th century, adopting the stile moderno from Italy and making it at home in the church without much hesitation. In their understanding, music had the task of representing the dramatic and affective visualisation (repraesentatio) of heavenly glory. This naturally resulted in an exuberantly hymnic style.’ (Tenhaef 1997) This corresponded to the separation of liturgy and music that had taken place since the 13th century, which meant that music was no longer part of the service, but rather an ornament to it, which also gave it certain freedoms. This volume presents both of Gerbert's works in a new critical edition.
From the foreword to the volume (Christian Berger and Florian Vogt)
Peter Tenhaef: Konzertante Offertorien des 17. Jahrhunderts, Greifswald 1997, S. 27, 126.
