Missa Triueriensis

Vocal score

Forces or Category: SATB unaccompanied

New Horizons

for SATB unaccompanied
A setting of the Mass in Latin, written for the Truro Cathedral Choir.

Missa Triueriensis

Vocal score

Description

for SATB unaccompanied
A setting of the Mass in Latin, written for the Truro Cathedral Choir.

Programme Notes:

Missa Triueriensis was written to celebrate my father's 75th birthday in 2005. It is one of my many pieces that is 'about' Tudor music, but it is also 'about' Truro Cathedral Choir's singing of Tudor music, which is as modest and graceful as the music itself. I wanted to write something compact and direct, on a similar scale to the Byrd Masses; following modern liturgical protocol there is no Creed and the Sanctus & Benedictus is short. References to 'early music' abound: there are canons throughout the piece, most notably in the Kyrie which are amplified in the Agnus Dei; in a kind of neo-isorhythm, the rapid ascent of the Gloria's opening is stretched out a few bars later to make a treble cantilena; the six bell-chords that open the Sanctus reference the same gesture in Christopher Tye's Missa Euge Bone; and the divided trebles and altos at 'Pleni sunt caeli' allude to my favourite Tudor device â gimell. In the final bars I call upon Truro Cathedral Choir's special capacity for numinosity — as the boys ascend (canonically) one more time, the Lay Vicars, with Stravinskian breaths inside the words, haltingly descend to an eventual, essentially Truronian, calm.
Copyright Gabriel Jackson 2016

Missa Triueriensis

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Composer Information

Gabriel Jackson (b.1962)

Gabriel Jackson was born in Bermuda. After three years as a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral he studied composition at the Royal College of Music. Jackson's music has been commissioned, performed and broadcast worldwide, and his works have been presented at many festivals including Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Spitalfields, and the BBC Proms. His liturgical pieces are in the repertoires of many of Britain's cathedral and collegiate choirs, and his choral works in general have been recorded by some of the world's leading choirs including Polyphony, The Vasari Singers, The State Choir of Latvia, and Merton College Choir, Oxford. He is currently the Associate Composer to the BBC Singers, who have premiered and broadcast a number of recent commissions. Over recent years Jackson's music has been equally focussed on instrumental works. Commissions include works for organist Michael Bonaventure, Red Note Ensemble, and the Lunar Sax Quartet.

Gabriel Jackson's website

b.1962

Missa Triueriensis

Vocal score

Gabriel Jackson

New Horizons

Reviews and Awards

"Jackson describes it as compact and direct, inspired by the Byrd masses but suitable for modern liturgy, with plenty of references to early music. There is a lovely gentleness for much of the Kyrie, and the music is full of lovely polyphonic textures, whilst the Gloria has its jazzier moments. The short Sanctus is all vibrant radiance, whilst the Benedictus is quiet yet magical in its texture. The Agnus Dei starts of quite austerely with just two line, but Jackson allows his textures to thicken until the lovely transparency of the closing pages." - www.planethugill.com, September 2016