Page 43 - MacDonald Missa Brevis

Composer’s notes
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 premièred 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.