Mass in E for Soprano, Guitar, and Viola

1. Kyrie - Done

2. Gloria - Done(but not up)

3. Credo - 1/3 done(but not up)

4. Sanctus - Done(but not up)

5. Lord's Prayer - Done

6. Alleluia

This will be the ultimate outline of my Mass in E. I am writing this for three of my friends here at school. A Mass for three people is quite unusual, but I hope to exploit the chamber music sound and create something memorable.

The Lord's Prayer was what started this whole project. I wrote it about a month and a half ago, in about 5 hours. Since then I've revised it a little, of course. The trio of whom I wrote it for has given numerous performances of it alone, as well. There have been rehearsals of it in our floor lounge, where people sat and listened. Also, it was performed in te Soprano's Repertory class, in front of her studio collegues. A week later she performed it in the Voice Department Recital, in front of all the voice students and teachers, and various other folk. The complete Mass will be performed February 8th, in the third Composition Recital of the year.

The sound of the Mass has been described as the soprano as 'Jazzy Jesus'. I concur. There is a fusion of contemporary rock, jazz, and modern classical that I hope gives it a unique sound.

Here I present to you the Kyrie, most of the Gloria, and the Lord's Prayer.

If you cannot look at the Sib 3 file, the Kyrie and the Gloria are in the same MIDI. When the guitar and viola resolve in Ab major, then the voice sings Ab, Gb, Eb, C, Eb, Ab, and then the guitar comes in in 7/8, that is the Gloria.

If you have any questions about the lyrics(mixed English/Latin/Greek), ask away.

Where did you get your inspiration from?
I really like how it just floats and skimmers.

My inspiration? Hmm...well, I noticed one day that sacred text never really made it very big in modern music, so I decided to lend my hand to help. Sure, John Rutter is big, but I don't consider him modern music, and I think he's the closest to a 'modern' composer that does a lot with sacred text. So...here we are. I wrote the 7/8 riff of the guitar in the Gloria and my friend(the soprano) called it 'Jazzy Jesus'. I guess that's what's been in my mind ever since.

Any other comments?

Soprano, Guitar, and Viola? Seems like quite a random combination , but that's just me...

Mass in E -
Skimmers indeed. I take it you're not Catholic (Catholic Mass has been the same since the Middle Ages, with minor changes after Vatican II, and this wouldn't fly well). Random guess: Lutheran? While typically I don't enjoy modern pieces, I really found it interesting. Unfortunately, it did seem to get bogged down, and very much like elevator music after a relitively short amount of time into it. Then again, I appreciate music that is going somewhere, as opposed to music that just sort of "gets there when it gets there", which is where I would lump this piece.

Our Father -
Oh gosh, well...I liked the beginning guitar riff. It was nice when the soprano came in, and then it seemed to go downhill. How would anyone sing along to this? Or was that not the point? I liked 1:36. There is not really a melody (although there is a theme), which maybe you were shooting for, maybe not.

I hope this helps! Don't take it too harshly. I don't typically like this kind of music anyway.

Regards,

Evan

Haha, well, the Soprano the guitarist and the violist are friends of mine. They were sitting around together reading music from the rennaisance and the baroque periods when I decided to write something for them. Thus came the Lord's Prayer.

No, I'm not Catholic, nor Lutheran. And I have no clue as to why you would peg me as Lutheran(I know little to nothing about the different denominations). I've had most of my experience in the Episcopal church, and as of a couple of months ago, I am the organist at a Presbyterian church. But I'm not writing this music to fit any branch of Christianity. In fact I'm an atheist.

Perhaps you could explain what you mean by elevator music...whenever I think this term I think of 'The Girl From Ipanema'.

Haha I'm glad you liked the beginning of Our Father, you'll see it a lot in the rest of the Mass. How would anyone sing along? What do you mean? I wrote this piece for performance, for one singer. She is doing quite well with singing it. The melodies are not supposed to be as black and white as say a John William's movie score. They are supposed to be subtle. This piece probaby has the least amount of melody in it, but you have to look at the text and perhaps think of my intentions. This is a prayer. During church, this is usually said aloud, not sung like the rest of the mass(except the Credo). I wanted to keep a bit of chantiness and the element of the spoken word in the soprano line. I think, by evidence of your critiques, that I did a pretty good job of it. After all, who says a piece always has to have a clear cut melody? I tried to make the chords and the accompanimental figures as interesting as possible as well.

Thanks for your words.