Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle

Pluscarden Abbey, 20th September 2025, 6-8:30 pm

“Petite Messe Solennelle” translates as “Little Solemn Mass” in French. However, the title is ironic as the work is “neither small or particularly solemn” as Napoleon the Third remarked; it’s a large-scale, joyful and somewhat whimsical musical composition by Gioachino Rossini. Rossini himself acknowledged the irony, calling it a “poor little mass” and jokingly referred to it as “the last of my mortal sins of old age”, a humorous nod to his return to sacred music after a long career in opera. Indeed, in the score he included a plea to God, “Dear God, here it is finished…I was born for comic opera, as you well know! Be merciful then and admit me to paradise”.

The concert will be performed by the Forres Chorale, the Buckie Choral Union, members of the Lantern singers and Holy Trinity Choir (Elgin), and other individual artists.

Tickets £20