Kyrie - My First Choral Work

I've never written a Choral work before. This year I started singing in my parish's choir (something else I've never done before), and so I wanted to attempt to do something once I've come to know the capabilities of the voice a bit more.

This is an experiment in many ways, but it is an attempt to bring a mysterious aural quality to the Kyrie. The Kyrie is sung in the Tridentine fashion, three Kyrie Eleison, three Christe Eleison, and three Kyrie Eleison.

Matusleo

Kyrie.MUS

Quite haunting stuff. Finale does the music absolutely no justice, of course - a live performance would drastically benefit things.

There is a fair amount of chromaticism, but the lines are predominantly conjunct, so a performance may not actually be too much trouble.

Good work!

I'd say a huge problem is that your tenor is below your bass throughout almost the whole piece - tenor is in treble clef, but transposed down one octave. As in, on the tenor staff, the C on the 3rd space is middle C.

As for the less technical critiques, I'd suggest using alot more...I guess "predictable" or "traditional" harmonic progressions, and use the chromatic, unexpected chords more sparingly to make them more interesting (because if you just jump to random chords the whole time it gets uninteresting after awhile). For instance, I love the first four measures - fantastic chord progressions in there - but the first chord of measure 5, try like, Bb major, root position. It's more expected, and the variance between expected and unexpected will hold interest better. Well, it holds MY interest better.

Dev,

Good point about the Tenor line. I missed that and will fix it.

As for tossing in a few expected chord progressions, I'll give it a try and see what I think. There is some logic to the chord progressions though, as the end of the first set of Kyrie's is a German 6th in F major, the end of the set of Christe's is a C7 chord, and of course it ends in F Major.

But thanks for the good points!

Matusleo

Do you have MIDI and perhaps a PDF, I cant do mus.

You sir, have inspired me to write my own. Which I am about to post...

I liked your harmony a lot, but the piece felt chunky at times or blocky (perhaps more extensions and less cut and dry chord changes ?). I also found it on the slow side, but that is probably because it is finale and not real performers who would bring more life to it.

I must say again I loved your harmony, but I didn't feel that the chord at the end fit too well, maybe put a minor chord there?

You sir, have inspired me to write my own. Which I am about to post...

Well, there is a first for everything! Thank you!!

I liked your harmony a lot, but the piece felt chunky at times or blocky (perhaps more extensions and less cut and dry chord changes ?). I also found it on the slow side, but that is probably because it is finale and not real performers who would bring more life to it.

What I didn't realize when I posted this is that the stated tempo and the tempo it's actually playing at are different. It's not supposed to be that slow.

I'm going to work with my choir director on this one, because hes always eager for new music. I'll mention some of these ideas to him and see what he thinks would work with it.

I must say again I loved your harmony, but I didn't feel that the chord at the end fit too well, maybe put a minor chord there?

Perhaps. I liked the major chord emerging from the fog, as if the singers just realized that the Mercy of the Lord had been given to them.

Dominus vobiscum

Beautiful. I really like the slowness* and the harmonies personally (I don't think it needs to have more "predictable" chords. It works well like this). I agree with everyone that it would be nice to hear a recording of this by actual people.

I wondered about the end though: Why does it (except for the tenor) end with "Kyrieson"? Is this actually intended, or an "accident"?

*I actually mean tempo 40, the tempo it plays back in. I really prefer it to 80, which I tried afterwards. I like having some time to "get into" those harmonies. Of course, Finale playback doesn't do tempo 40 much good, but I could imagine that it'd sound really beautiful like that with a real choir.

Beautiful. I really like the slowness* and the harmonies personally (I don't think it needs to have more "predictable" chords. It works well like this). I agree with everyone that it would be nice to hear a recording of this by actual people.

Well, if I could get my choir to sing it, tat would be doable. But we only sing stuff that we are actually going to perform at Mass, so that may be difficult.

I wondered about the end though: Why does it (except for the tenor) end with "Kyrieson"? Is this actually intended, or an "accident"?

*I actually mean tempo 40, the tempo it plays back in. I really prefer it to 80, which I tried afterwards. I like having some time to "get into" those harmonies. Of course, Finale playback doesn't do tempo 40 much good, but I could imagine that it'd sound really beautiful like that with a real choir.

I'm glad you like the slower tempo! I'll have to give it another listen at that speed.

As for the last line, that was deliberate. I wanted the final chord to have all the singers singing the same thing.

Dominus vobiscum