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Gloria XV - gateway to singing the Mass

This Sunday, the St. Cecilia Schola Cantorum of Auburn, AL will be introducing to their parish for the first time a Latin plainsong setting of the Gloria in excelsis: Gloria XV. Jeffrey Tucker has blogged about this on NLM.

The choice of Gloria XV is a wise one for reasons that may not be readily apparent to the casual chant enthusiast.

Let’s listen:

Here’s what can be observed from listening to the chant:

  • It is predominantly syllabic chant (one note to a syllable);
  • While the range of the chant is a major sixth (already very narrow), most of the melody resides on three notes spanning a perfect fourth;
  • There are simple melodic formulas for half- and full stops, making the chant predictable;
  • In addition to serving as full stops, the melodic elaborations on “Christe” and “Patris” bring direct attention to both Christ and the Father (and indirect attention to the Holy Spirit who falls in between them);
  • The Phrygian mode revealed in the final “Amen” is not something one would readily associate with popular music.

What’s interesting about this setting is that is the melody’s simplicity gives even the uncertain singing worshiper an entry point to sung prayer. And not just to this setting of the Gloria; here are other chants of the Mass that share the same, or similar, melodic characteristics. (This may not be readily apparent due to the transposition of the recordings):

  • Signum Crucis (GR 798)
  • Formulae Salutationis I (GR 798)
  • Formulae Salutationis II (GR 799)
  • Formulae Salutationis IIIb (GR 799)
  • Pater Noster B (GR 813)
  • Pater Noster C (GR 814)
  • Tonus Embolismi (GR 815)
  • Ad Pacem (GR 816)
  • Dominus Vobiscum B (GR 817, 819, 820)
  • Ad Benedictionem Simplicem B (GR 817)
  • Ad Benedictionem Sollemnem B (GR 819)
  • Ad Benedictionem Episcopalem B (GR 820)

Lastly, all three versions of the Te Deum (GR 838-847) share similar melodic characteristics to Gloria XV. Here is the third setting, “Alio Modo, Iuxta Morem Romanum”:

(All page references above are from the 1974 Graduale Romanum. Recordings of Gloria XV and Te Deum courtesy of the Christus Rex Gregorian Chant page. All other recordings courtesy of MusicaSacra.com Audio Library.)

Posted 04.04.2008
by Aristotle Esguerra
3 comments.
Filed under: Gregorian Chant.

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3 Comments

Love the music,

It is however, hard to listen to.

If I might, I\’d like to make some suggestions, (Sorry if I\’m a little intrusive, really just want to help):

1. Please consider investing in a decent mic setup, especially if this is a method you\’ll be using to disseminate your musical ideas. Also, you can do a few things to help you sound, even without a pricey mic / mic preamp set up. Those are:

1. Record at a distance of 1-2 ft — get some room tone into the sound by so doing, and the better room (acoustically) the better the sound, obviously.

2. This will also dissipate the plosives and sibilance, breathiness, which all together are making yours just a hard to listen to sound. Not your voice, per se, it is fine, but the recording of the voice.

3. If that is not sufficient, or even if it is, some artificial reverb could be nice. You would want something in lieu of room tone, if it is not the best. So, in this case, a reverb to add the same kind of sonic information that the natural room tone does, early reflections, reverberation, decay of the sound through time. It is important, however, to not over do it. In somewhat of a contradiction to what I said in number one, you may actually want to mitigate natural room tone if you are going for the artificial reverb, and you do that by recording in a very dead space. If you don\’t have access to the reverb, you might want to try the program called the Reaper, (shareqware or freewear. Has some reverbs, or some cheap audio application. (Audacity is free as well) Most will have a reverb plug in or effect, and it can be applied after the actual recording, and have it active will you mix to your mp3 format or wav or…??

Sorry to be emphasizing what might seem obvious, but from your recording I have to assume this may not part of your skill set.

All the best and keep the music coming.


Joseph
04.06.2008 @ 7:54 pm #

Sorry, I did not listen to the whole thing, and of course, now I hear the reverb.

Still, the problem remains. Again, whether in imitation of priest or the response, back off the mic, and what one hears now is the artificail reverb on top of , not really room tone, but “mic tone,” as you are so close your plosives and breath sounds are “the sound” and so again, the reverb comes off as ‘tagged on” not really the voice sitting in a real room at all. Now part of that is the quality of the reverb, but it does not even get a chance to be convincing here.

Again, to make this better, experiment with the distances from the mic and the room you are recording in. Then perhaps use some blend of reverb on the priest voice, (or ?? Cantor) and a little stronger on the choir. Not a bad idea to double track your “choir” sound or triple, quadruple, and use different weight, texture in the voice if possible.


Joseph
04.06.2008 @ 8:09 pm #

I should have made made clearer in the post that I did not make any of these recordings; however, when I get around to creating my own recordings I will be sure to employ the tips you suggest. Thank you!


Aristotle A. Esguerra
04.06.2008 @ 8:57 pm #

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