Y CHOIR GREATLY ENJOYS singing Mercier’s CANONIC GLORIA, which uses the Editio Vaticana version of Gloria III as a canon between men and women. Mercier’s luxuriant modern harmonies never get old, melding perfectly with the ancient plainsong. In the footnote section, I mentioned the “in house” collection where I found that Gloria.
The following hymn comes from that same book, except Mercier appears to have chosen a French variant instead of the Vaticana melody. 1
I attempted to record the vocal lines myself—to give a rough idea how this piece sounds—but just remember I’m a baritone! These harmonies were meant to be sung by a full choir:
* * PDF • “CAELITUM JOSEPH” by Raphaël Mercier (d. 1953)
REHEARSAL VIDEOS :
EQUAL VOICES : YouTube • Mp3 Audio
Organists can teach the chant melody using this score.
Or they can print the Lower Key for training purposes.
Our priest has a special devotion to St. Joseph, so we’ll be singing this piece a lot at our FSSP Apostolate here in Los Angeles.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 For the record, neither does it correspond to Mocquereau’s 1903 Liber Usualis. In that book, Mocquereau chose a “Renaissance” variant which matches the one chosen by polyphonic composers such as Fr. Victoria (†1611) and Fr. Asola (†1609).
