Composed in December 2023, this Mass setting was requested for use by the ladies’ schola at Mater Dei Parish. The setting is mostly written for three voices (SSA), but the Benedictus includes a fourth part (SSSA). Free PDF is attached at the bottom of this post and licensed under a Creative Commons license.
Kyrie
Gloria
Sanctus
Benedictus
Agnus Dei
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About the Featured Image
The featured image is a painting of Our Lady of Carmel (1740) by Lorenzo Romero. It is in the public domain in the United States.
Thank you for this, Michael.
There are a few places (ie., m. 13 of the Gloria) where you seem to have an open fourth( D-G-G) — sounds unfinished to my ear — instead of a more cadential octave with 5th in it (G-D-G). This is intentional, I think, since you have 2nd inversion chords at cadences, too?
As soon as I have the resources to have my choir learn this, I shall set it on the list of pieces to learn.
Chris, thank you for your interest in this piece! The explanation for m. 13 is a combination of things. I had tried a B in the soprano to complete the chord in inversion, but it sounded strange — even less cadential than the open 4th. I agree that G-D-G would be more final; however, because our ladies choir doesn’t have many true altos at present, I try not to write lower than an A in the alto line (and keep those As fewer and farther between). It is also true that I don’t shy away from 2nd inversion chords at cadences if they are not the final cadence — especially in three-part writing where it feels like I don’t have as many options in completing the chord.
It really makes my day to hear that choirs want to sing my compositions. Thank you so much for adding this to your list!