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A Mass for Mixed Voices, Winds and Percussion is a twenty minute composition for chamber choir (SSAATTBB), wind ensemble and percussion. It uses the following texts in their original languages which have been taken from the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. Any mass is a celebration, on some level, of the significance of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A Mass places particular emphasis on musically interpreting these events for the listener. The inner three movements serve as the introduction and conclusion to the complete work. A Mass uses some contemporary vocal techniques such as speaking and whispering but relies largely on its harmonic and rhythmic language to communicate its message.

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The Latin Mass is a musical composition in five movements, scored for large choir, standard orchestra, and two soloists. The movements are the standard parts of the Roman Catholic Mass Ordinary. The language is set mainly in Latin with two exceptions: the Kyrie movement is set in Greek (which is the standard Roman Catholic setting), and the Credo is simultaneously recited in English and sung in Latin. The work is scored using conventional notation techniques and employs rather conservative technical demands on both the choir and orchestra. No extended techniques are required of any of the performers. It is set in a modal harmonic language.

Spanish Priests of the Franciscan order built 21 missions along El Camino Real between 1769 and 1835 before the mission system collapsed. El Camino Real, now generally referred to as “The King’s Highway” or “Mission Road,” runs 600 miles in California between Mission San Diego de Alcalá in modern-day San Diego to Mission San Francisco Solano in modern-day Sonoma. The missions served as communities with Catholicism and music, specifically music for services, at the heart of the culture. The music reflected the culture of these missions by presenting a hybrid of European and Native American styles. The Misa de Cataluña appears in nine of the extant mission manuscripts making it one of the most frequently transcribed surviving works in the California Mission System. Often the work appears in a position of honor within the intentional ordering of the choirbooks. Frs. Durán and Tapís, noted for their musical contributions to the California Mission System, both included this work in their choirbooks. Since the mission period, there have been at least two known arrangements of the work. As such, this work holds a respected place in California’s musical history. In this project, I seek to honor and explore this notable work by creating a critical edition of the Misa de Cataluña from the nine surviving manuscript sources to enable performance by modern choirs. Additionally, I discuss various challenges of performing the work with modern choirs and provide solutions to potential difficulties. / School of Music

Mass is written for large mixed choruswind ensemble consisting of woodwind quartet (flute, oboe, Bb clarinet, and bassoon), brass quintet (two Bb trumpets, F horn, trombone, bass trombone), and recorded digital synthesizer. This setting of the Ordinary is in Latin and includes the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. The duration of the work is approximately twenty-seven minutes.

Mass/360 is computer music in the sense that the audio tape was realized with a computer language for digital synthesis. This tape is combined with traditional choral and instrumental forces, and demonstrates only one technique available for the use of computers in composition. The work displays a number of elements which afford both unity and contrast. The arch span of the whole is supported by timbral, melodic, rhythmic, and textural parameters. Recurring events include tone clusters, chant-like melodies, angular melodies, and counterpoint. Special vocal effects are found in all movements, and the large scale tonicizing effect of the movement from f to b-flat gives the composition a sense of direction over a long temporal span. The single pitch (doubled unison/octave) arises as the major event in the work, and other events are generated from this element. The use of different formal designs within each movement corresponds to the natural textual divisions found in the liturgy, and affords a contrast from one movement to the next. The relationship of the Gloria/Qui Tollis to the Sanctus/Benedictus, which is not a mirror relation, contrasts with the chiastic design of the whole. Traditional contrapuntal devices juxtaposed against contemporary vocal techniques and the use of diversified timbres from movement to movement add variety to the composition. Controlling parameters in the Mass are timbral, harmonic, textural, and formal. Rhythmic and melodic parameters are of surface importance, and not considered in the higher structural levels of the composition. This particular handling of musical parameters as elements of unification and diversification is the foremost structural force at work in Mass/360.

The purpose of this Thesis is to present a modern critical edition of the Missa Assumpta est Maria (H. 11) and the Elevation a 5, sans dessus de violon (H. 251) of Marc-Antoine Charpentier (c. 1634-1704). The Thesis is divided into three chapters. The first chapter provides an introductory biography of the composer and a general overview of his works. The second chapter deals specifically with the Missa Assumpta est Maria and the Elevation a 5, offering first an investigation of the historical background to these works. This discussion continues with stylistic analyses and is followed by an examination into questions of performance practice that are raised by the music. The chapter is completed with a declaration of editorial principles, critical notes, texts and translations, and a conclusion. The final chapter of the Thesis is comprised of the edited transcriptions of the Missa Assumpta est Maria and the Elevation a 5, sans dessus de violon. Endnotes and bibliography are inserted at the end of chapter two.

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