Latin mass setting from South Africa
  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 7
    Dear friends,
    I have recently completed a draft of a mass setting (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei), and am seeking general comment, as well as any interest in a first performance. The setting is for choir & organ.
    The style is modal/tonal, and although it is fairly chromatic, the level of dissonance is quite low.
    It is inspired by the French tradition of Langlais & Vierne, and the melodies shaped by the plainchant style.
    An accomplished/semi-professional liturgical choir would not find it much more challenging than Faure's Requiem.

    MIDI demo sound file: https://youtu.be/ll3DqGvBYwI?si=NaudhcQwLW7IX8wi

    Although I am a Protestant, I greatly admire the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic Church, and am as at home singing Palestrina/Mozart as I am with Stanford & Vaughan Williams. I would add that I am somewhat isolated here in Bloemfontein, in the sense that I am removed from the central tradition of modern church music, so I hope that this mass does not come across as hopelessly old-fashioned or provincial! Even if it does, I would be very happy to receive your criticism, as I am keen to learn from experts who work in the field every day.

    This is also my first post on the forum, with the exception of a note of thanks to the administrator who approved my membership this morning.

    Regards from Bloemfontein, South Africa.
    Lance
    LancePhillip212@gmail.com
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn StimsonInRehab
  • VocesCapituli
    Posts: 123
    Hey Lance,
    I love your musical language. I was an assistant to the choirmaster at Antwerp Cathedral (Belgium) and now I have my own ensemble (tenors and basses) consisting of former choirboys. Don't mind what people think of your music: it is your expression!
  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 7
    Hi VocesCapituli,
    Thank you so much. It’s great to get such marvellous feedback from prominent musicians on my first day on the forum!
    If ever you want to exchange musical ideas, please email me at LancePhillip212@gmail.com.
    Ricardo Luna commissioned a brief communion anthem from me a few weeks ago, for St Peter’s Church in Vienna; hopefully this will be sung in the mass this coming Sunday - its a setting of Quinques prudentes virgines for TTB & organ. I’d be more than happy to send you the score after the premiere.
    One of my former students now conducts the Bloemfontein Children’s Choir, and I believe they are touring Europe next year, with a visit to the Cathedral in Belgium; I wrote them a setting of the Gloria in excelsis for SSAA & piano, and I hope they sing it there if invited to sing in the mass.
    Cheers,
    Lance
  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 7
    I have just rewritten the 'cum Sancto Spiritu' fugato at the end of the Gloria, and improved one or two details in the organ part besides. Suggestions welcome, as are enquiries for a first performance.

    https://youtu.be/cip0wEEzCE0?si=_pa2pC97GSi85Mix

    Lance
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • vansensei
    Posts: 222
    See if you can get in touch with Michael Barrett of the Tuks Camerata in Pretoria or Franco Prinsloo. I don't live in SA, but I know of them
    Thanked by 1LancePhillip212
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,092
    Hey, this is pretty good!
    I definitely hear the Vierne in the organ writing, but this sounds as English as French to me. I like the way you shift between harmonic planes so that you can get a lot of harmonic color out of basically diatonic material.
    As for it being "provincial", all the best work is being done in the provinces.
    Is there a particular reason why you didn't set the Credo? I don't think I'd use one in the liturgy (It's something I want the congregation to sing), but this is borderline concert-length anyway. I wish I had a choir that was up to it.
    Thanked by 1LancePhillip212
  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 7
    Dear Jeffrey,

    Thank you very much indeed for your kind words. I have listened to several of your works online, and I am grateful & humbled to receive these comments from a composer of such accomplished music.
    I am considering adding a Credo to this mass, but that will have to wait for the moment, due to other projects.
    I agree with your observation of the diatonic material being constantly recycled in this work - in fact, all the motives can be reduced to a one-bar theme, which is entirely diatonic, and plainchant-inspired at that.

    Lance
  • LancePhillip212
    Posts: 7
    Dear vansensei,

    Thank you for the suggestion - I will contact both Michael & Franco.
    As I will be registering for the Composition studies in Pretoria, they will be on my doorstep.

    Lance
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