Missa Brevis

Purchase Scores

Scores for the first movement “Kyrie Eleison” (which may be performed separately) are available for purchase through Musicspoke.

Scores for the complete work are available for purchase by contacting me.

More Information

Work on my Missa Brevis began with the “Kyrie Eleison” movement which was composed in three days in mid-December of 2017, excepting a few preliminary sketches made earlier that year.  It originally was planned to be a stand-alone movement, but I later decided to add more movements to make a “Missa Brevis” (not a complete mass because I have left out the “Credo”).  The “Sanctus” and “Agnus Dei” movements were written in fall and early winter of 2018 and the “Gloria” completed a few days into 2019.  The “Benedictus” was composed last in September 2019.    

The “Kyrie” deals with topic of mercy and compassion, which is something I have been thinking about a lot during the past few tumultuous years for my country and the greater world.  I firmly believe that each of us needs to cultivate more mercy and compassion for all other beings if we are to have a brighter, better, and happier future.  This movement is a meditation on these oftentimes overlooked virtues. 

The “Gloria” and “Sanctus” are both upbeat and joyful songs of praise, while the “Benedictus” has echoes of early music and the “Agnus Dei” is an almost angelically consonant song of comfort.  This last movement has its beginnings in a very unlikely place. 

During the summer of 2018, my wife, a good friend, and I all walked the Portuguese route of the Camino de Santiago, the ancient pilgrimage route to the city of Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region of Spain where the alleged remains of St. James lay.  Unfortunately, with just a couple days of walking remaining I fell sick with a cold, but because we were on a tight schedule to make our flight back to the USA I decided to keep walking the 10-12 miles each day despite my sickness.  After walking all day and making it into a crowded pilgrim hostel, I collapsed on my bed and look a long nap.  At some point while sleeping (or half asleep), I started to hear some sort of tone that sounded like singing.  It was holding this major 3rd between an Ab and a C, and in that moment I found that interval just so beautiful.  All of a sudden, my mind started composing the melody that opens the movement and then added the parallel 3rd above it, even though I usually find parallel 3rds to be rather boring and cliched.  Soon after forming that melody, the words “Agnus Dei” merged into them, and within a half-hour or so I had the basic idea for the movement planned out, all this while lying sick on a bed in a pilgrim hostel in Pontevedra, Spain.

Winner, 2020 Belle S. Gitelman Award from the Eastman School of Music

Finalist, 2019 Ithaca College Choral Composition Contest (for “Kyrie Eleison”)

“Kyrie Eleison” premiered March 23, 2019 by the East Lyme High School Choir (CT), Anthony Maiese-conductor, at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.

“Sanctus” and “Agnus Dei” premiered April 9, 2019 by the Algonquin Regional High School Chamber Choir, Katherine Waters-conductor, in Northborough, MA.

“Gloria” and “Benedictus” have not yet been premiered.