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MacDonald: Missa Brevis Sancta Cecilia Vocal Score

Mixed Voices (SATB+)

MacDonald: Missa Brevis Sancta Cecilia Vocal Score

Mixed Voices (SATB+)

This item is in stock and will be dispatched within 48 hours.

More than 50 units in stock.

Vocal Score

£5.30

Publisher: Cathedral Music
ISBN: CM1157

Listen to the Choir of Selwyn College Chapel conducted by the composer:

Kyrie

Gloria

Sanctus and Benedictus

Agnus Dei

 

I was invited to write this mass by the Director of Music of St Timothy’s Church in Winston-Salem North Carolina. The church has a very good choral tradition, but most of the singers are volunteers, so I was aiming to write something that would be satisfying for the professional section leaders, without being too challenging for the volunteer members of the choir. I also wanted something that would resonate with the congregation, both liturgically and musically. A good deal of the musical material appears in various forms more than once (including plenty of repetition), and there is a lot of doubling of parts (so four-part writing is actually only in two parts). This should mean that the tunes become familiar quickly, and also (I hope!) that it won’t take too much time to rehearse. I also wanted something that worked well liturgically, so I thought carefully about a musical depiction of the intimate pleading of the Kyrie, the joyful dance of the Gloria, the pealing of Sanctus bells, and the mysticism of the Agnus Dei. The piece was premiered at St Timothy’s on 22 November 2022, namely St Cecilia’s Day (which also happens to be my birthday) so it is dedicated to her, the patron saint of music and musicians – though of course it is suitable for use at any time of the year.

Sarah MacDonald

Sarah  MacDonald is a Canadian-born organist, conductor and composer, currently  living in the UK, where she is a Fellow and Director of Music at Selwyn College, Cambridge, and 

Director of the Girl Choristers at Ely Cathedral. She has been at Selwyn since 1999, and is the first woman to hold such a post in an Oxbridge chapel. MacDonald studied at Toronto's 

Glenn Gould School and at Cambridge University; her teachers were Leon Fleisher, Marek Jablonski, John Tuttle, and David Sanger. 

  

MacDonald has performed across the UK, North America, the Middle East, and mainland Europe, and is in demand internationally as a conductor, organist, and teacher. She has 

made over 35 commercial recordings and has over 60 published works for choir and organ. 

She holds the Fellowship diploma of the Royal College of Organists, and writes a popular monthly column for the American Guild of Organists' magazine, The American Organist. 

Her first solo disc, a recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations performed on the Steinway-D piano in Ely Cathedral was released in May 2024. 

  

In 2018 MacDonald received the honorary ARSCM (Associate of the Royal School of Church Music) in recognition of her contribution to choral music.  Sarah took up the office of 

President of the Royal College of Organists in July 2024. She is an Honorary Patron of the Herbert Howells Society, a Patron of the Society of Women Organists, and President of the School Organists’ Association. She was appointed University Organist at Cambridge in 2022, and is the first woman to hold that prestigious ceremonial role, which dates back to 

1670.