Giovanni Battista Pergolesi - Messa di Sant Emidio (Missa Romana) Concerto Italiano - Rinaldo Alessandrini

Although Giovanni Pergolesi is best known today as the composer of the comic intermezzo La serva padrona, he was also capable of composing works of a serious nature, as the Messa di S. Emidio amply demonstrates. This Mass, one of only two legitimate Masses among the 10 attributed to him, was written in 1732. In the previous year, there had been a terrible earthquake in Naples. In response, Naples chose to make St. Emygdius one of its patron saints so that his intercession with God might protect the city. Pergolesi was chosen to compose this Mass as part of the religious rites solemnizing the event. The Mass is of the Missa brevis type, in which only the Kyrie and Gloria are set. It is, nonetheless, a substantial work lasting more than 30 minutes, written for 10 voices and orchestra.