Healey Willan
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 422
    Does anyone know whether Healey Willan composed any Latin-texted Mass settings? I’m aware of the unison ones but would be interested in any SATB settings he may have composed...
  • Kevin Anthony
    Posts: 40
    I found the first page of his Missa Brevis No. 1 on sheetmusicplus.com, and it is showing SATB with both Latin and English text. It appears that Willan composed 14 Missae Breves. I don't know if they all have both Latin and English texts like No. 1, but it might be worth exploring if you're interested.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    Here is a list of his Masses:
    https://healeywillan.com/index.php/catalog/the-healey-willan-catalog/category/masses
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Palestrina mgearthman
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    I have never run across anything that Willan himself wrote in Latin. That's not to say that I haven't missed something.

    For those interested in Willan there is a very interesting and informative two part article about him in The American Organist - the September and October issues.
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    A Canadian national treasure for sure.
  • Palestrina
    Posts: 422
    Thanks, Chonak. Seems they’re all in English apart from the one in the St Basil Hymnal. What a pity!
  • Daniel Bennett PageDaniel Bennett Page
    Posts: 835
    There’s the unison Mass of Saint Teresa in the New Saint Basil Hymnal, where there’s also a nice, brief SATB setting of the Easter Day Gradual, Haec Dies. The Biretta Books republication of several of the Missa Brevis settings (which are mostly K, S/B, & A) have added Latin adaptations of the Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnes Dei.
  • cesarfranck
    Posts: 162
    Nice to know Willan did a setting in Latin. Use his "O Sacred Feast" as a motet. It has been a staple in my choir's repertoire for years.
  • richardUKrichardUK
    Posts: 85
    If you write to Fr Scott Haynes at St John Cantius Church in Chicago, they are in charge of his archive, as per the request of his estate. Because of this, Fr Scott knows everything about Willan.
  • Joseph Michael
    Posts: 258
    The Mass in Honor of Saint Theresa (in the New Saint Basil Hymnal, ca 1958)
    A unison mass. (Latin)
    It was written for a convent of nuns.
    The Kyrie is a delight!
    The Sanctus has a charming, almost carol like, "Hosanna"
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Note, too, that if you’re in Canada, as of 1st January 2019 Willan’s music is all in the public domain. So hopefully his stuff will be more readily available after then … even where the music remains under copyright, it’ll at least be helpful to be able to see the scores.
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen roy2 mgearthman
  • Schönbergian
    Posts: 1,063
    Unfortunately, Felipe, with the new trade deal with the US, it looks like we'll still be waiting until 2039.
  • WittManWilsonWittManWilson
    Posts: 76
    https://www.birettabooks.com/healey-willan/
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    At a church where I served many years ago I did an Ascension anthem by Willan nearly every year. The text was 'O King of Glory', and it was for SSATB, or S divisi, ATB. It is not the 'O King of Glory" listed in Mr Wilson's link just above here. It was longer, had two soprano parts and was much richer in texture. I would give an imaginary pot of gold to whoever had a copy with which he or she would be willing to part. (Our member, Felipe Gaspar, who has heard about this anthem from me, would also like to have a copy.)
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Felipe Gasper
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Me, too (or three?).
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    @Schönbergian: Can you provide more detail about this? Does the new trade deal carve out some exception from Canada’s normal 50-years-post-mortem term for copyright?
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    I have a lot of respect for SJC liturgically, but insofar as their stewardship of Willan’s music they’re a bit shady, IMO.

    Consider:

    - If they truly wanted to foster Willan’s musical legacy, they would simply release the scores into the public domain. They’d host them for free download, indexed by liturgical season, voicing, etc. Instead they charge unusually high prices per octavo and often don’t even make score excerpts available.

    - In some cases they’ve taken scores that are already in the public domain in the U.S. and re-published them. Examples include “While All Things Were in Quiet Silence” and the B minor prelude & fugue. The latter doesn’t have an online perusal score excerpt, but the former’s excerpt shows that they “conveniently” omitted a mention of the original copyright date in their new typesetting. (Not, of course, that they bother re-typesetting scores like “O King of Glory” which are recent enough to be under copyright in the U.S.)

    I truly hope Schönbergian is mistaken; I have been looking forward to seeing some of these scores on IMSLP. Willan’s genius was his ability to write good-quality musical settings that a reasonably skilled parish choir can expect to sing well: “O sacred feast”, “I beheld her”, the “O” Antiphons, etc. Most Catholic parish choirs could do far, far worse than to have a bit more Willan in their diet!
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Canada's copyright floors change due to the deal:

    https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/10/new-north-american-trade-deal-has-bad-news-canadian-copyright
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Ouch. :-(

    From what I’m reading, this new deal is not fully ratified. And is there an effective date set for the change? Willan may be able to slip in yet …

    Assumedly it wouldn’t affect the works of composers like Poulenc, who died 55 years ago and thus is already PD in Canada.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    https://www.firstpost.com/india/us-canada-and-mexico-sign-usmca-what-changes-have-been-made-to-the-over-25-year-old-nafta-5301101.html

    ^^ If this is to be believed, “NAFTA 2.0” won’t take effect for another couple years. Here’s hoping!
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    I would think that the Canadian parliament would have to pass whatever copyright law was necessary to ratify the agreement. So none of this is a done deal.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    I don’t see how Canada would amend its copyright law within the next 2½ months, which means 1st January will arrive and render Willan’s work PD in Canada.

    Even if they do implement life+70 later, I wouldn’t think that that would be retroactive.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    "Even if they do implement life+70 later, I wouldn’t think that that would be retroactive."

    You might not think that, but it would not be safe to assume that....
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Is there precedent for a work entering, then leaving the PD in Canada?

    If that happens, then Poulenc is also probably not long for the PD.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    Well, it happened in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_v._Holder
    Thanked by 1Felipe Gasper
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    I was working in sheet music retail at the time of the (1994?) GATT treaty. Overnight, $15 cheap reprints of Shostakovich quartet parts were replaced by $40 Sikorski sets, and all the International orchestral excerpt books disappeared until copyright deals could be reached.

    Now it's just bytes. Back then, it was paper.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    The Uruguay Round Agreements were part of how GATT became the WTO:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguay_Round_Agreements_Act
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
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