Eine Messe des Lebens

This is not what you’d imagine from the name. Neither a Mass nor anything to do with organised religion, A Mass of Life is a wholly secular cantata based on Thus Spake Zarathustra—an impenetrable but once influential prose-poem by Friedrich Nietzsche. The 19th-century philosopher’s work influenced many a musician, Wagner and Richard Strauss among them, and in the broadest terms it celebrates what it is to be human. Through the consciousness of the ancient spiritual guide Zarathustra, also known as Zoroaster, the text invites you to embrace the challenges of daily life, rising above its petty detail to the point where death is faced with fearless joy. And these are sentiments that Delius proclaims with robust, driven energy in what was certainly the largest, arguably the finest score he ever wrote. Finished in 1905 but not performed until four years later under the baton of his champion Sir Thomas Beecham, the work requires two soloists, a double chorus and full orchestra. The material is organised into two parts that surge with energy and vivid imagery—passing through tolling bells at midnight, mountain vistas, dancing girls, and ending with a hymn to joy. For many listeners it’s all too much, but the exuberance is tempered by contrasting moments of reflection and serenity. And while the peculiar demands of the piece have historically tended to limit its performance to festival circumstances, it enjoys cult status among Delius enthusiasts.