Shameless Self-Promotion: Mass in C
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On Monday I unfortunately had to attend a funeral. It was a Roman Catholic service, and the liturgy — specifically the Sanctus — reminded me that I had at one time written a partial mass, a “simple mass,” the Mass in C, and I forgotten about it.
Because that’s what a man who was raised Southern Baptist does, right, compose a Latin mass? I remember setting the text as a challenge, to create a piece with a simple harmonic language (give or take my trademark swerves into alien keys).
I knew enough about the form to follow some of the structural traditions, like setting the Benedictus for soloists (repeating the text) and reprising the music of the Kyrie at the Dona nobis. I did not set the Credo, and the Gloria was subdivided into four sections:
Gloria
Gratias agimus tibi
Domine Deus
Quoniam tu solus
I actually remembered the four above-linked sections quite well. The Benedictus is very pretty and is one of my favorites, and the other three still are lovely. The four sections of the Gloria — I honestly do not have in my head. Part of the problem with my memory of the Gloria is that if I ever transferred those sections from my manuscript into Finale, those files are long gone. More work is required.
At any rate, I pulled up the existing Finale files and cleaned them up a bit. One of the problems with Finale is that if you don’t update every piece you ever wrote every time Finale releases an update, then when you finally do open a file after a couple of years things like dynamics, crescendos, etc., may not work. Instruments disappear. Formatting goes sideways.
One odd new thing: the Garritan Personal Orchestra has a “soprano solo” (both with and without vibrato) but no other solo voice. I presume those are available if you buy a full Garritan set?
You may ask, after listening to the existing pieces, is this for organ or piano accompaniment? Honest answer: I don’t know. I’m inclined to say I would finish out the piece with both — but not until someone needs that arrangement to perform the work.
So there it is, a lovely little setting of parts of the Latin Mass. If there’s any interest, I’ll see about getting the Gloria bits transferred and updated. More work is required. Enjoy!
