My pastor has asked me to make it a high priority to find a Spanish musical Gloria that does not abridge the text, as it seems all those from OCP do. I want to find something more reverent than those which our people seem to know.
I would personally prefer to jump to Father Specer's chant setting, or one of Jeffrey's through-composed settings, but can't as this congregation just isn't ready for that yet. (Just getting the other Spanish music groups to agree to learn a new Gloria at all is going to be hard enough.)
SO...the specifications of what I am searching for are a simple but reverent setting of the Spanish Gloria that includes all the text, that is evenly metrical, and that includes a refrain.
As it seems nothing is available as described above, I am working on composing my own, but thought I would do a double-check here in case anyone knows of/has written something like this already.
I need to present the new option this Tuesday (Mar 6) when Father and I meet with the other Spanish musicians. Any resources appreciated!
Actually, for whatever it's worth, my parish jumped right into Fr. Spencer's Gloria. It's not that hard of a leap and this is from a group that is barely learning to read music. Suffice to say, we've managed to do rather well with his setting. It's not that hard.
ClaireH, finding a decent Gloria in Spanish has been so hard for so many choirs. When I was helping a handful of Spanish choirs in a parish a few years back, we simply couldn't find a single published Gloria that used the straight text from the Missal, even in a refrain style.
A choir from a neighboring parish (well, a few hours away that is) had written their own music to the Missal text, but it turned out to be too cumbersome to import because there was no written music for it (they just played it from memory after years of doing so) and it was very much wedded to their own style.
I wish we had more options for Glorias in Spanish that actually stick to the words in the Missal...if you end up finding/writing any, I would love to know of them!
I just received the new OCP Flor y Canto. It's a disaster, from the standpoint of sacred music. The Gloria settings are all responsorial, save one. The rest of the settings are just as bad.
Having tried Fr. Spencer's setting in real-life, his is the best solution. From what I understand, GIA is working on sung-through Gloria settings in Spanish for their new song book. We'll have to see how things go. Unfortunately, the new book won't be out until the summer.
Fernandogil, I'm simply delighted to discover your site! The Ave Maria duet video brought tears to my ears (perhaps partly because a meeting last night with the Spanish musicians in this parish left me somewhat deflated). I am going to contact you through your site to inquire about the Gloria you mentioned, and about some of the other projects you feature with graphics...
Ryand, our parish has tried them and, even though the choir does not know how to read music, let alone chant, they've been able to do just fine! You'll be quite impressed!
Also a good setting with a refrain is the Gloria from "Missa Auxilium Christianorum", composed by Manuel Rosillo who is choirmaster at Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe in Mexico. Audio here just for preview, please erase later. This is was the setting sung at Papal visit to Mexico in 2001
My Spanish Gloria project has been challenging, but I am continuing to learn.
To summarize...
Since none of the few options I found would fit the need here, I composed a Gloria that has the complete text, uses a simple refrain (just the word "Gloria"), utilizes some Mexican style (as I understand it) and (I hope) is still reverent. [If anyone is interested, I am happy to share a copy. Just message me.]
Since none of the other Spanish music groups here read music, I made an initial simple recording of myself singing, with some simple piano underneath.
Last week, we had a music meeting and I presented it to them using the recording. It didn't seem very palatable to them, despite my attempt to incorporate some "native" melodic and rhythmic style.
After the meeting and their obvious complaints, I realized that perhaps my very non-Mexican piano accompaniment colored their perception of the composition, so I got together with a Mexican friend who is a both a fabulous musician by ear AND has years of formal training. In about an hour we made a simple (but much nicer-sounding) recording of me singing with him on guitar. He accented it with a bit of percussion (shaker).
It seems they are responding much more favorably to this version. Even though it's the same composition, hearing it presented in with instrumental and accompaniment they can relate to appears to make a lot of difference.
One thing I learned: for future projects, collaborate with my Mexican friend *before* the initial presentation so that the first impression can be more favorable. ;) Unfortunately, I am not a guitarist (yet) and although I easily can direct and/or sing Spanish music (however, I'm not sure they can relate to my classically-trained voice), I am not very skilled at accompanying it in a way they can relate to.
Learning about the actual tradition and history of sacred music in Latin America is something that fascinates me more and more - previously I just assumed that if I went far enough back, the music would line up with the Western/European traditions, but I'm starting to realize that the tradition of the Church in Latin America has distinct characteristics (including folk and indigenous influences) that I do not understand. This can make me seem like more of an outsider to those I'm attempting to serve.
However, from what I can tell most Hispanics immigrants around here also have a limited understanding because their experience has been so shaped by pop-influenced/OCP music for Mass. It's all they know, so to them, this is the tradition.
So much restoration needed, and what a delicate and in-depth process!
I found two in the 4th edition of the St. Michael Hymnal. #256 (I think that's the right number) is in a quasi-chant style and through-composed. The one before it, #255, is in refrain-verse style (verses being a chant tone) but unabridged.
Very nice musicaecclesia! To pick one nit, it would be customary to put a cautionary flat in the bass at "glorifica-mos," as well as in the congregation's part "te damos".
Yes, it is simple but I like it. To pick another couple of nits, "nuestras suplica" should be "nuestra suplica"; various things, like "todo poderoso," "noso tros" and "Jesu cristo" should be single words; capitalization of "tú" should be standardized.
I heard a Spanish Gloria sung at the installation Mass of Archbishop Cupich last year. I don't have the order of service in front of me, but I believe it was composed by George Salazar and arranged by (Richard?) Ramirez. You can hear the complete Mass on YouTube (forward to 28:00 or thereabouts) and the order of service is online in pdf so you can print it out.
Here's the link for the Installation Mass of Archbishop Cupich, but it is a responsorial setting which won't answer to the original request. At a bilingual Mass I imagine even Rush might manage the three words "Gloria a dios".
I have successfully used the Gloria from Flor y Canto, 1st edition, #601. It has a refrain with psalm tone style verses. This is how I do it. We do the refrain at a moderate, unhurried tempo. We sing the refrain at the beginning, only once, then after the second verse, then after the fourth verse. After each verse would be a disaster. For the Amen our female voices add a harmony above the melody. The entire congregation sings loud enough to match the choir who are on mics. Hope this helps someone.
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