The Sacred Romanesca

The music theorist Olga Sánchez-Kisielewska has explored the use of the Romanesca in late eighteenth-century music to characterize music as sacred, spiritual, or solemn. What she calls the "Sacred Romanesca" typically uses only the first three notes of the schema's bass, on scale degrees 1 - 5 - 6 (the beginning of the Leaping or Pachelbel Romanesca) or 1 - 7 - 6 (the beginning of the Galant Romanesca). This video presents some examples of the Sacred Romanesca, many of which I've taken from the articles and dissertation cited below. I've grouped them in four categories: 1) Catholic liturgical music; 2) operatic music involving (non-Christian) priests or priestesses or depicting religious rites; 3) operatic music in which the Romanesca conveys solemnity or spirituality, but in non-religious contexts; 4) instrumental music that exploits the rich network of meanings associated with the Sacred Romanesca through its use in liturgical music and opera. (Correction: The excerpt from Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is from the first movement.)

For more details see the following publications by Sánchez-Kisielewska:

"Interactions between Topics and Schemata: The Case of the Sacred Romanesca," in Theory and Practice 41 (2016), 47–80
"The Hymn as Musical Topic in the Age of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven" (PhD dissertation, Northwestern University, 2018)
"The Romanesca as a Spiritual Sign in the Operas of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven," in Singing in Signs: New Semiotic Explorations of Opera, ed. Gregory J. Decker and Matthew R. Shaftel (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020)

0:00 Introduction
0:32 Mozart, Missa brevis, K. 220, Kyrie
0:52 Mozart, Missa solemnis, K. 337, Credo
1:22 Gluck, Iphigénie en Tauride, "Chaste fille de Latone"
1:43 Mozart, Idomeneo, act 3, Marcia
2:10 Salieri, Les Danaïdes, act 1, "Descends du ciel"
2:34 Salieri, Les Danaïdes, act 3, "Descends dans le sein d'Amphitrite"
2:54 Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, March of the Priests
3:22 Haydn, Armida, "Questa dunqu'è la selva?"
3:39 Salieri, La grotta di Trofonio, "Un bocconcin d'amante"
4:10 Stephen Storace, Gli equivoci, act 2, finale, "D'inaspettata calma"
5:12 Beethoven, Leonore, "Euch werde Lohn"
5:38 Mozart, Piano Sonata in C, K. 330, II
6:08 Mozart, Horn Quintet, K. 407, I
6:32 Michael Haydn, Flute Concerto in D, II
6:57 Mozart, Clarinet Quintet, K. 581, I
7:27 Haydn, Symphony No. 104, II
7:51 Haydn, String Quartet in G, Op. 76 No. 1, II
8:13 Pleyel, Symphony in G, Op. 68, II

Other examples:

Anton Eberl, Quintet for Piano, Oboe, and Strings, I:    • Anton Eberl - Quintet in C Major for Piano...  
Giovanni Mane Giornovichi, Violin Concerto No. 1, II:    • Giovanni Mane Giornovichi (Jarnović): Vio...  

Some rare instances of the Sacred Romanesca in the minor mode:

Seixas, Sonata No. 7 in D minor:    • Carlos Seixas - Sonata No. VII in D minor ...  
Compagnoli, Introduzione to Fugue No. 1:    • 6 Fugues for Violin Solo By Bartolomeo Cam...  
Paer, Mass in D minor:    • Ferdinando Paër - Missa piena in D-minor (...