Dead mass at the church of Martyrs.--Awful music by Perez and
Jomelli.--Marialva’s affecting address.--My sorrow and anxiety.
26th Nov. 1787.
I went to the church of the Martyrs to hear the matins of Perez and the
dead mass of Jomelli performed by all the principal musicians of the
royal chapel for the repose of the souls of their deceased predecessors.
Such august, such affecting music I never heard, and perhaps may never
hear again; for the flame of devout enthusiasm burns dim in almost every
part of Europe, and threatens total extinction in a very few years. As
yet it glows at Lisbon, and produced this day the most striking musical
effect.
Every individual present seemed penetrated with the spirit of those
awful words which Perez and Jomelli have set with tremendous sublimity.
Not only the music, but the serious demeanour of the performers, of the
officiating priests, and indeed of the whole congregation, was
calculated to impress a solemn, pious terror of the world beyond the
grave. The splendid decoration of the church was changed into mourning,
the tribunes hung with black, and a veil of gold and purple thrown over
the high altar. In the midst of the choir stood a catafalque surrounded
with tapers in lofty candelabra, a row of priests motionless on each
side. There was an awful silence for several minutes, and then began the
solemn service of the dead. The singers turned pale as they sang, “Timor
mortis me conturbat.”
After the requiem, the high mass of Jomelli, in commemoration of the
deceased, was performed; that famous composition which begins with a
movement imitative of the tolling of bells,
“Swinging slow with sullen roar.”
These deep, majestic sounds, mingled with others like the cries for
mercy of unhappy beings, around whom the shadows of death and the pains
of hell were gathering, shook every nerve in my frame, and called up in
my recollection so many affecting images, that I could not refrain from
tears.
I scarcely knew how I was conveyed to the palace, where Marialva
expected my coming with the utmost impatience. Our conversation took a
most serious turn. He entreated me not to forget Portugal, to meditate
upon the awful service I had been hearing, and to remember he should not
die in peace unless I was present to close his eyes.
In the actual tone of my mind I was doubly touched by this melancholy,
affectionate address. It seemed to cut through my soul, and I execrated
Verdeil and all those who had been instrumental in persuading me to
abandon such a friend. The grand prior wept bitterly at seeing my
agitation. Marialva went to the queen, and the grand prior home with me.
We dined alone; my heart was full of heaviness, and I could not eat. At
night we returned to the palace, and there all my sorrow and anxiety was
renewed.