Francesco Mancini

[Thropplenoggin]

A new composer to me. I was listening to Through The Night (27.5.13), missed John Shea's introduction, and then heard the first notes of a 'Kyrie'. My entire frame braced itself for Bach's Mass in B Minor, as the 'ky-ri' sounded identical, then the 'ie' proved this work to be something Bach-flavoured but quite different and lovely: Mancini's Missa Septimus.

You can hear the 'Kyrie' below:

There doesn't seem to be much recorded. Indeed, this excerpt comes from a disc from 2009 which appears to be the only extant recording of the work:

[mercia]

clever of you to think that sounded like the Mass in B minor - do you have perfect pitch ?

certainly sounds like a chord of B minor

[Thropplenoggin]

clever of you to think that sounded like the Mass in B minor - do you have perfect pitch ?

certainly sounds like a chord of B minor

Ha, no such luck. I have a good ear from years of playing the guitar and picking tunes out but, alas, I'm unable to distinguish aurally between keys. I've noticed that my listening skills are stronger than my speaking skills in other languages (French), and I did seem to cope well with the 6 tones of Vietnamese whilst resident there.

[Dave2002]

Put "francesco mancini composer" into Amazon search and you should find a very small hand full of CDs. Seems he wrote some flute sonatas.

PS: "flute" may in fact be recorder. He's also on spotify - http://open.spotify.com/track/4VPTvdtGBLo1xPRn6uNqJq

[mercia]

I'm unable to distinguish aurally between keys.

well I suppose it's a debatable point but I would say one of the reasons you thought that sounded like the beginning of the Mass in B minor was that your ear told you it was in exactly the same key [+ rhythm + word]

[doversoul1]

You might also like….

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/advsearch.php?composer=Mancini&work=&performer=&medium=all&label=&cat=

Mancini is, I think, one of many composers whose music is part of the era rather than a peak of the period. There are many like him and I find most of their music very enjoyable if not always as profound as Bach’s.

[ed] I’ve just realised that the list includes Mancini H. Sorry about this.