Missa 3 voices

A Messa for SABr and organ, for a small chorus, with Italian text.

Missa 3 voices

Very good. If I understand your dedication correctly, this was written for a church choir, whom I assume only have three voices rather than the usual SATB. The lack of a fourth part is not at all a problem in this piece; it sounds as full with three parts as it might with four. It's slightly unusual to have the Mass text in Italian instead of Latin but your word-setting is very professional, even where you have to place two syllables on one note. I did however find the endings of the movements rather odd; the cadences didn't seem to sound right. At the end of the Agnus Dei, you use an imperfect cadence (half-close), which does not close the music properly. This is not so much of a problem between the inner movements (although still a little odd) but you really can't end the whole piece this way. Other than that, I would comment that your part-writing tends to move in paralell motion a little too often. I don't ever criticise people for using parallel fourths and fifths (as you do in this piece) because we no longer live in the age of Bach and Mozart where this was harmonically 'wrong'; however, I feel your piece would benefit from the use of more contrary and oblique motion between parts. It enhances almost any music, especially the 'neo-baroque' style you use. This piece is rhythmically quite simple, although not necessarily a fault because you do use some counterpoint and variety of texture, but I suggest you might like to explore more adventurous use of rhythm in future. One final point concerns your instructions to feel particular bars in two or in three - I think you would be better off using time signatures and bar lines for this instead of words. There are some places where it is confusing, for example in the Gloria you write 'in tre' at bar 7 but a bar later change the time signature to 2/2, which cannot be sung in three! Metronome markings are also reccomended for this. But well done with this piece, your harmony progresses very well within the course of each movement and there is suffcient interest in the parts. I can tell that, unlike many people, you have actually studied voice leading and choral composition and applied what you have learned. I also notice you got your piece performed, which is definately the point of composition!

Unfortunately... as blunt as this SOUNDS, the music is VERY uninteresting. I feel like you did come straight out of college voice leading classes and choral setting classes. YES, you set the music well and your placement is wonderful and your harmonies are very well voiced... but I feel like you had no sense of line internally in the music. You never subdivided or created rhythmic interest except for word setting purposes. I feel like you should have had a gimmick or some sort of purpose... because to me it only sounds like an exercise. What I would do to fix this? Go back and at LEAST change the tempi. Also, maybe make it for THREE voices... like literally three people. That would be a WONDERFUL texture and a harmonious sound from these rich (yet simple) harmonies.

What I meant by the tempo remark, is make the Gloria a true "in duo". Up to speed and very glorious. Now that I think of it.. what this piece was missing was the "text" painting. I feel like the emotion in the harmony was missing. Some diminished chords in Agnus Dei and some glorious FF major chords in the Sactus.

I think you should consider adding variety to the piece.

-Morivou.

Glancing through the score, this looks like a valiant attempt to write a liturgically viable Mass in Italian vernacular for an average volunteer church choir, while attempting to emulate a polyphonic setting. All those limitations are a heavy burden for a composer to bear and try to make real music out of the product, but you've done a pretty good job. It's surely better than most of the dull-as-dishwater Mass settings we have to endure in America every Sunday of the world.

And an Italian church choir without any tenors? Che strano! ;)

Was this written for a festive occasion, where the congregation would not have been expected to participate in the music? I'm just a little surprised you didn't try to add a congregational part - most Mass settings these days have one, since it's tough to get one published or even performed in Church without it. That little inconvenience called The Second Vatican Council, shall we say, discouraged settings of service music that didn't include the participation of the congregation...which necessarily excluded just about every Mass ever written from Church repertoire. Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Just about the stupidest thing the Church ever did, in my opinion. Thank God that His Holiness, in his prodigious wisdom, has made the Tridentine Rite an option again, available without an episcopal dispensation - and congregations the world over are exercising that option!

But I digress...

Nice job on this! Hope to see more work from you.

Thanks a lot to everybody for your comments.

I'm the conductor (I do it for hobby) of a volunteer church choir, where the average age of singers is about 55, and I'm the only person who knows music; unfortunately I have only 4 baritones but no basses nor tenors: this often happen in volunteer church choir in Italy, at least on small choir on small churches that I know.

So I can tell that Siwi and J. Lee Graham fully understood my target. I was looking for a 3 voices (SABr) Mass for my choir, but it was hard to find it, so I decided to write it. This was one of my dreams since many years. The Mass should be in Italian (we already perform a 3 voices Mass in Latin, we needed a new one), easy to learn, sing and listen, and also easy to play on the organ while conducting (I have to do both things on the same time).

This Mass required us about 10-12 practice sessions to be studied before to be performed the first time (we started to study the first piece before I wrote the Gloria, that has been the last to be written...): this I think has been a great job and I have to thank my singers for that (I know, professional choir could perform it at the first view, but it's not our case...).

The Santo is a easier version of the Santo I wrote many years ago for another choir, and where time signature are very different. You can find it here on my music if you want.

Parallel motion between parts on Signore Pietà (Kyrie) and Agnello di Dio (Agnus Dei) is an experimentation I would try, as I did in the Ave Vera Virginitas (you can find it too, here on my music, if you want: C. Bosco is... me )

I know that The Second Vatican Council asked to choirs to be a guide for congregation while singing, but it's not so easy to apply, because often when the choir is singing congregation usually prefers to listen, and also because choir's singers would perform other musics, not the “usual songs”.

Tiberio

p.s.: please sorry for some mistakes you could find in my written English...