My Music Promo: Fragments of a Mass in C
/Since I’ve had to go back through all my music files — thanks, Finale — my feeling grows daily that very few of the notes I’ve written will ever be performed, and so I’m forcing myself to do the thing I hate most in the world, and that is bald-faced self-promotion.
Yes, I know that’s how the cool kids do it, but if you go back 50 years and look at my skills assessments, you will see that ‘entrepreneurship’ was always rock bottom. Like almost nonexistent. This has not changed.
::sigh::
So here’s my first of a semi-regular series on the music sitting on my computer
I even redesigned the album cover.
I wrote the Mass in C so long ago that I can’t remember the exact year, and it’s a mark of my dilettante status that I never dated my manuscripts. It was sometime in the 80s, I think, though it could have been as late as the early 90s.
The original score was handwritten, and it was originally titled Missa Simplex because it was going to be harmonically very simple and not a lot of contrapuntal texture (mainly because of my not knowing how to manage that correctly). But the title always sounded like a medical condition, so after I started using Finale to store and play back my music, I went for the more obvious name.
See how tidy my manuscripts were? I even had a music notation fountain pen!
Yes, I composed all the sections of the Latin mass except for the Credo. There exists a Gloria, (including a Gratias Tibi, a Domine Deus, and a Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus), but those sections are more representative of my early search for competence than I am comfortable sharing. I will leave that to my literary executors to muse over.
And here we are, with the remains of an early Lyles work, now re-retitled Fragments of a Mass in C.
Fragments of a Mass in C
1. Kyrie | score [pdf]
As promised, a simple intro. Can’t get much simpler than a C major chord, gently repeating over the tonic. Soprano solo, a limpid melody, with no real surprises. Remember, the goal was to be simple. Contrasting middle section in C minor with alto solo for the “Christe eleison.” A da capo ending with a challenging solo line for the soprano solo. A weird side-shift into an E major coda and back to close us out.
6. Sanctus | score [pdf]
Boom! The Sanctus bursts into full, double-forte, whirling glory and does not let up for the entirety of the section. I am particularly proud of the power of the music for the phrase “Pleni sunt caeli et terra.” The Hosanna — traditionally contrapuntal — gets a full workout.
7. Benedictus | score [pdf]
Mercy, this is lovely. The Benedictus is traditionally set for solo quartet, but I went with just the soprano and alto solos. That gentle arpeggiated accompaniment rocks along, while the soloists float above it. Nice middle section with contrasting treatment of the text, da capo ending. (You will find that I often fall back on the ABA form. STEAL FROM THE BEST.) The chorus joins in for the recapitulation of the Hosanna.
8. Agnus Dei/Dona nobis pacem | score [pdf] | mp3
A quiet, steadily increasing plea for mercy: The chorus floats, untethered to any definitive key, with their gentle phrasing interrupted by the sterner “Miserere nobis,” ending in that crushingly dissonant note held for eternity — and then that breathtakingly beautiful recapitulation of the Kyrie theme, which starts in the tonic (G major) and grows and grows until it bursts into its full C major incarnation, this time with a majestic, soaring accompaniment. Give us peace! It ends by settling into a gentle and comforting Amen on a unison C. (I think if I can get this performed, I am going to suggest a children’s choir for the opening of the Agnus Dei and the Dona nobis.)
There, I have self-promoted. IS EVERYONE HAPPY NOW?
Seriously, if this music appeals to you and you would like to perform it, feel free. Just think: a world premiere under your belt, and no royalties to pay! I’ll even clean up the scores, and if you have access to octavo size paper, I’ll lay it out for your copier just like the big boys do. (I was a choir director for more than a few years and produced all my pieces for that choir in standard octavo layout.)
