My Missa Brevis was written in 2021. The scoring is for two vocal lines, one in the bass register (i.e. tenor+bass together) and one in the treble register (i.e. soprano+alto together). The vocal parts have a limited gamut, making the pitches within reach of any voice type. There is an organ part which is more difficult than
the vocal one.
Following liturgical practice, there is no setting of the Credo. The Kyrie and the Gloria and Agnus Dei are separate movements as you would expect, but the Benedictus is a full variation of the Sanctus and these two sections together form one movement.
I was mindful of the necessity to get away from a kind of music that uses madrigalisms and expressive elements in place of a strong independent musical structure. For that reason, I took three piano pieces that I had already written as the basis for my new work. The piano piece that is the source for the Gloria is called Via Dolorosa. It was written in Madeira at the beginning of 2019 when I was on holiday and feeling rather lonely. As a diversion, I began a series of piano pieces that would somehow match the Stations of the Cross.
I have written a number of pieces of Church music during my career, but the Missa Brevis is easily the most ambitious of these efforts. In 2019, at Eastertime, I was baptised into the Roman Catholic Church and I feel myself to be part of European Christendom, the way I also feel part of a long established European musical tradition and that is not just the classical one because I am also devoted to folk music. I lived for many years in Scotland and there are sometimes echoes of Scottish folk music in my work. The musical language of my Missa Brevis is a case in point.
Amsterdam, 26th June 2022.