Sensual in the noblest spirit

Rheinberger, however, did not want to be forced into a rigid mould characterized by pure imitation. Although he too felt that church music should be serious and dignified, he also felt that it should neither be restricted to one particular style nor should it forego the harmonic or tonal styles of one’s own era. In 1888 he wrote to Franz Xaver Witt, the leader of the Cecilian movement in Regensburg: “It would not occur to any poet to write in the dialect and language of an earlier century and to proclaim this as the one and only correct poetry; for everyone, and that also includes artists working for the church, gives expression, based on immutable rules, to the feelings and views of his day and with the artistic means of his time.” He explained further that music worked sensuously, like all art, and that it was the duty of a church artist “that it [the music], however, works sensually in the noblest spirit.”

A major part of Rheinberger’s sacred music can be understood with this in mind. As a church composer he based his work on the “immutable rules,” the rules of counterpoint, as understood by the old masters, but at the same time he used the “artistic means of his own time,” such as tension laden modulations and sounds heightened through chromatic alteration. Yet the individual effects never draw attention to themselves, but are always subordinated to the overall effect of a work, which is characterized by mainly songlike melodic lines and a well balanced harmonic development. The result of this middle way for the listener is undoubtedly what Rheinberger understood as church music which is “sensual in the noblest spirit.”

Practically as a “statement,” around 1877 Rheinberger composed a series of works which impressively substantiate his position. These include the Cantus Missae op. 109, an eight-part unaccompanied mass ostensibly composed in the “old style” and yet shaped using the harmonic means of the time. It was dedicated to Pope Leo XIII. Rheinberger dedicated the Fünf Motetten (Five Motets) op. 107 (including Christus factus est with its impressive fugue) to the St. Thomas Choir, Leipzig, for in Bach’s music he saw a counterbalance to Catholic attempts to restore the music of ­Palestrina and his contemporaries.

As well as ambitious four to six-part motets (including the magnificent, contrapuntally dense and sen­suous motets opp. 133 and 134 and the Hymnen op. 140 for choir and organ) Rheinberger also specifically composed “easy-to-perform” works, including the Mass in G major op. 151 and the Stabat Mater op. 138 for chorus, organ and strings.

On 25 November 1901 Rheinberger died in Munich. In his last weeks he had worked on a mass which he wanted to call the “Allerheilige Messe” (Mass for All Saints). His compositional sketches for opus 197 went as far as the end of the Credo; he only notated the opening measures of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei. The complete fair copy of the full score admittedly breaks off in the middle of the Credo. Rheinberger only wrote out the soprano part on the page, just up to the words: “passus et sepultus est. Et resurrexit tertia die secundum scripturas.”