Missa Gloriæ Patris

SATB chorus divisi and organ
No. 0112

Movements

1. Kyrie
2. Gloria
3. Sanctus
4. Agnus Dei

About the piece

Missa Gloriæ Patris is a setting of four of the five Ordinary texts of the Mass in Latin. The piece is a huge milestone for me. As my senior thesis for my degree in Choral and Liturgical Composition, it’s my most ambitious work yet. It’s also my first work written explicitly for a liturgical setting. The project gave me the opportunity to take a closer look at some of the most ancient, abiding prayers of the Roman liturgy and reflect on my own understanding of them, in order to draw out an artistic vision of the mass. What I’ve attempted to express in the piece is a sense of the glorification of God that the Church is constantly engaged in. This is where the title Missa Gloriæ Patris comes from. Gloriæ Patris is Latin for “to the Glory of the Father,” which not only means that the mass is meant to glorify God the Father, but that it does so through the person of Jesus Christ, who himself is the Glory of the Father. As the body of Christ, Christians are able to take part in this glorification through our own worship. The purpose of this piece is to take part in that constant glorification, achieved through the beauty of the piece itself, through those who sing it, and through those who hear it. The full version of Missa Gloriæ Patris took me 10 months to complete and consists of about 25 minutes of music.