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Views from the Choir Loft

Staggering Canonic Setting • “Gloria” from Mass III

Jeff Ostrowski · January 14, 2016

HEN ABBOT POTHIER published the Editio Vaticana circa 1910, his work had a profound influence on composers like Claude Debussy, Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Dupré, Louis Vierne, Gabriel Fauré, Jean Langlais, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Famously, Maurice Duruflé was influenced by the Vaticana rhythmic markings of Solesmes—and he was not alone. Raphaël Mercier’s treatment of the vertical episemata in his ingenious (yet relatively simple) setting shows the influence of Solesmes:

    * *  PDF Download • “CANONIC GLORIA III” — (SATB Choir Score)

Organists will use this score.


Do you see how Mercier took the melodies of “Gloria III” and brilliantly combined them into canons? I was so impressed, I created rehearsal videos to help amateur choirs. (Please pardon the soprano notes—I did the best I could.)

REHEARSAL VIDEOS :

EQUAL VOICES : YouTube   •   Mp3 Audio

SOPRANO : YouTube   •   Audio

ALTO : YouTube   •   Audio

TENOR : YouTube   •   Audio

BASS : YouTube   •   Audio



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   This setting by Mercier came from a rare collection of Church music by Roman Catholic composers in France. At some point, I’d like to scan the entire thing and post it online—but many of the pages are in pretty bad shape and it’s missing the first 50+ pages. The manuscript appears to be handwritten (possibly a lithograph) and I’m told “in house” collections were common for cathedrals during of that time. Fr. Adrian Fortescue gave his organist scores written by hand, and I believe the Birmingham Oratory routinely used handwritten scores, which frequently were (eventually) printed for the general public.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Contemporary Sacred Music, Raphael Mercier Composer Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“After a discussion lasting several days, in which arguments for and against were discussed, the Council fathers came to the clear conclusion—wholly in agreement with the Council of Trent—that Latin must be retained as the language of cult in the Latin rite, although exceptional cases were possible and even welcome.”

— Alfons Cardinal Stickler, Vatican II ‘peritus’

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