Glagolitic script is the oldest Slavic script and a foundation of Old Church Slavonic that was cast in letters. It was invented in 863 AD by the monk Cyril of Salonika for the mission in Pannonia and Moravia. The Greek alphabet could only be used for Slavic languages to a limited extent and did not seem suitable for the cultural independence of the Slavs. However, the cultural and linguistic concessions were regionally indispensable for the spread and deepening of Christianity.
Another alphabet soon came into competition when the Cyrillic script emerged almost simultaneously in Bulgaria. The later development of the Russian Church Slavonic liturgy, whose roots are characterised by no traces of the Glagolitic script, shows the independence between language and script.
The development of Glagolitic, on the other hand, was able to promote the spread of Church Slavonic in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Moravia, Pannonia, Bohemia, Macedonia, Dalmatia and Istria in a chequered history and remained a tradition with varying degrees of intensity within the regions until the 20th century. In 1248, Pope Innocent IV authorised the use of Church Slavonic for liturgical texts in Roman Catholic masses. in 1483, a Missale Romanum was published in Venice in Glagolitic letters.
In Dalmatia and Croatia in particular, Glagolitic remained a cultural heritage, the Church Slavonic language remained alive and a means of creating identity as a distinction from the Latin language of the ‘western’ world. At the beginning of the 20th century, a Catholic Church Slavonic missal was published, which remained in use in Croatian Catholic churches for a long time. More than just a religious confession, it also became an important symbol of the Eastern European national movements that had developed in Slavic-speaking regions in the 19th century. The regional differences in the pronunciation of Church Slavonic can be traced back to the influence of local vernacular idioms.
In terms of language, Czech Church Slavonic played a subordinate role in the tradition, as Janáček’s translation of the script into Czech makes clear. However, the identity-forming element as a cultural demarcation within the national movement crystallised in the Pan-Slavist composer’s attitude as the actual motivation for the genesis of the work, whereby the religious motif is by no means a marginal phenomenon: “The Church Slavonic liturgy was once again at the centre of interest in 1920, because on 21 May of that year, the Fifth Vatican Council of the Czechoslovakian Church was inaugurated. On 21 May of that year, the fifth point of a decree of the Holy Congregation permitted the use of Church Slavonic in church services.” (J. Zahrádka, Kritische Gesamtausgabe Bärenreiter 2011)
Janáček probably began the conception and first sketches for his great late work in October 1920. Interrupted by other compositional work, the Moravian musician did not return to composing his Mass until 1926, although the actual and concrete reason for the work remains speculative. Janáček specifically mentions the mass in a letter to his wife Zdenka dated 17 August 1926. From this point onwards, the development of the composition can be traced in a rich historical perspective.
The meeting of a committee to prepare the philharmonic concerts of the Brno Cultural Association is dated 21 December 1926, in which the new work is announced as ‘Missa solemnis’. The rehearsals for the Glagolitic Mass are partially documented. In the second half of November 1927, the rehearsals were centred around the final rehearsal, which took place in the morning of 4 December in the exhibition pavilion of the Brno stadium. On 5 December, the Glagolitic Mass was premiered in the evening directly in the stadium as a major event, only to be thoroughly reworked by the composer immediately afterwards. The actual reason for the new version of the composition was the planning of the printed edition. However, this could not be completed for the next planned performance. On 8 April 1928, the aforementioned second performance of the mass took place in Prague, but had to make do with a mixed version of the premiere version and some changes that had already been handwritten into the existing sheet music used for the premiere. Although the final version of the composition had been prepared, it was only completed after the Prague concert and transferred to all the sheet music.
As Janáček died unexpectedly on 12 August 1928, he did not live to see the publication of this revised score and the orchestral parts on 1 March 1929, nor the third performance of his late work on 28 February 1929 in Berlin under the direction of Alexander von Zemlinsky.
Even if the premiere version is of great historical interest to us, the composer’s last will and testament remains an artistic legacy and shows the accomplished practical musician who can adapt the optimisation of his work and put ideas into perspective for the best of his music. The tonal language clearly betrays the composer’s homeland, but nevertheless shows the new facet of a festive mass, a ‘Missa solemnis’, which can perfectly emphasise the character of an anniversary concert.
