Pietro Alessandro Yon (8 Aug 1886 -- 22 Nov 1943)
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    Pietro Alessandro Yon (1886-1943)
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietro_Yon

    This anniversary of his death is "life-plus-seventy"
    and I am thinking about the Public Domain status of his scores.
    http://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Yon,_Pietro

    How about you-all? ;-)
    Thanked by 1expeditus1
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    We'll be doing a couple of his pieces for Midnight Mass, including his "Mass of the Shepherds."
    Thanked by 2JulieColl R J Stove
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Gesu Bambino is PD.
  • MaryAnn Carr WilsonMaryAnn Carr Wilson
    Posts: 1,738
    Good to know, thanks!
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I was looking to purchase Pietro Yon's Mass of the Shepherds but couldn't find it on an American website, but I did find a pdf of it here:

    http://johnmichaelthomas.net/Content/SheetMusic/Liturgical Music/Mass Settings/Shepherd's Mass - Pietro Yon/Shepherds Mass.pdf (Copyright 1937)
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,394
    I read on another site this morning that 90% of church music composed these days is poor. The writer opined that 90% of church music composed two hundred years ago was also poor and, thankfully, is never heard these days.

    My fear about public domain sites is that some (or even, much) of the music judged by history to be inferior is now being rediscovered.

    Pietro Yon's Mass of the Shepherds is an uninspired piece, undeserving even to be called "second rate." It died in the Church's use and memory many decades ago. Keep it dead, please.
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    LOL! I never heard of the Mass of the Shepherds until a friend told me about it recently, but since then a priest friend referred to it with the same degree of antipathy and recalled that it was sung every Christmas by the choir at his parish from time immemorial. I think it's rather charming and a judicious use might be okay from time to time.

    (Quite frankly, I'm so tired of the Mass of the Angels that I was looking for an easy alternative mass setting for this Christmas.)
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    I guess music touches each of us differently. For example, when I listen to the "Agnus Dei" from Mass of the Shepherds, I don't hear uninspired. This is the Mass that our choir requested to sing, as well as a prelude "Gesu Bambino."
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlS3KoMG1xY
    Thanked by 2JacobFlaherty JulieColl
  • JacobFlahertyJacobFlaherty
    Posts: 331
    A little too much organ, IMO, but I've always liked Yon. A sweetness there...
    And the choir sounds nice!
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    I didn't listen to this before when posted.

    I really like it.

    I totally get how using it EVERY YEAR AT CHRISTMAS!!! would make it super boring. But I don't think it is second rate at all. It's lovely.

    A bit sentimental, yes. But it has a certain old-time Christmas piety to it that I think is wonderful.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,979
    Heard Diane Bish and Simon Preston play Concerto Gregoriano for Two Organs by Pietro Yon. Amazing. Part of it is on You Tube.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrgmPwv6JhQ
    Thanked by 1expeditus1
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    For the approaching season ...

    Advent First Religious Suite for Organ (1943)
    1. Prelude (Rorate Coeli)
    2. Introit (Veni Emmanuel)
    3. Offertory. Veni Domine (Hymn for Peace)
    4. Communion (Ave Maria)
    5. Finale. Toccata on the Gregorian Hymn "Creator alme siderum"
  • eft94530eft94530
    Posts: 1,577
    Concerto Gregoriano (1920)
    is for Orchestra and Organ.

    I have not found any video of orchestra and organ.

    There is a score of orchestra reduced for piano to accompany the organ.
    youtube video
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,979
    I wondered if Bish/Preston created their own organ arrangement.

    Thanks for the Yon Suite. I wasn't aware of this work. The (2.) Introit (Veni Emmanuel) is going to be perfect for use during Advent.
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    I'd be careful downloading that from IMSLP, as they don't recognize it has PD in the US yet.
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    "some (or even, much) of the music judged by history to be inferior is now being rediscovered" . I refer you to Charles Burney's General History of Music, the chapters on the Renaissance in particular. Music gets rejected by history for all kinds of reasons, not all of them connected to quality. Much 19th c. church music in particular is considered "bad" nowadays. Some is considered too sentimental and secular-sounding for worship. Some is dull and derivative. Some is considered "bourgeois" ("you say that like it's a bad thing") And some is gold. How will we know unless we look with fresh and critical eyes?
    Thanked by 3Adam Wood JacobFlaherty eft94530
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Good point: after all, Bach was forgotten for more than 100 years, right?
    Thanked by 2JacobFlaherty eft94530
Add a Comment