A survey of a cappella sacred music for mixed choir of Josef Rheinberger

Abstract

Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901) was a prolific composer in the nineteenth century. Motivated by his belief as a devout Catholic, Rheinberger composed numerous sacred music pieces for different voices, categories, instrumental accompaniments, and functions. He is classified as a “classical romanticist” and composed his music in a contemporary Romantic music idiom with Classical elements. It is a pity that the a cappella sacred music that Rheinberger composed for mixed choir did not gain much attention--most of his works did not fit the liturgical requirement of the Roman Catholic Church and were heavily criticized by the Cecilians. The analyses in this thesis unveil the aesthetic nature of Rheinberger’s a cappella sacred music for mixed choir. Firstly, his works are short and accessible for general choirs. Secondly, he composed his sacred music with traditional harmony, and he created variety under the scope of balanced structures. Overall Rheinberger crafted his works with many well-conceived details. I hope this thesis will serve as a foundational reference for Rheinberger’s a cappella sacred music for mixed choir and raise an interest in his music.