BCS - The Billingshurst Mass

The Billingshurst Mass

By Stanley Vann

First Performance : 18 November 2000

This setting of the Mass, though written for concert performance, is rather more liturgical than operatic in style and content, in that it has more of a feeling of austerity than of flamboyance. It could, with some pruning of the score of the Kyries and Agnus Dei (and the omission of the Ave Maria), well be used within the liturgy.

Kyrie eleison opens with a quietly throbbing bass note (in ’Celli, Double Bass and Timpani), over which Horns and Strings, followed by Woodwind and finally Brass, build up to a climax at the first key change – from F into A (up a major 3rd). This key change is significant as it is the second of three keys (a ‘Trinity’ of keys) on which both the Kyries and the Agnus Dei are based. The third key, into which the music soon flows, is D flat (again up a major 3rd), after which the original key is re-established as the choir sings the first petition ‘Kyrie eleison’ (Lord, have mercy). The choir’s part in this movement is terse in each of the three sections, but the last section has an extra dimension in that the Soprano soloist embellishes the choral line by a part above the Sopranos of the choir.

Gloria in excelsis Deo starts with a very brief orchestral fanfare, setting the chorus immediately into the joyful acclamation “Glory to God in the highest”. After these initial phrases the Baritone soloist enters at “Domine Deus” and, for a time, has the choir reflecting his utterances in differing form. A brief Fanfare, reminiscent of the opening of the Gloria, leads to a fugal exposition on “Cum Sancto Spiritu in Gloria Dei Patris”, which in turn proceeds to the climactic “Amen”.

Credo in unum Deum immediately presents a bold statement of faith, in a four-bar phrase, the music of which recurs more than once in this movement. Before long we are into the most solemn moments of the Credo – the Crucifixion of Christ, his death and burial. It is at this point that a departure from the strict text of the Mass is made – the introduction of the ‘Ave Maria’ (sung by the Soprano) and where the effect, momentarily, is more ‘operatic’. At the “Resurrexit” the text is restored and soon the two soloists join forces in antiphonal phrases with the chorus, leading to the ascending final climax.

Sanctus. The three-fold statement of Sanctus is in turn made by Sopranos and Altos with upper instruments, then by Tenors and Basses with lower instruments, and then by the full choir and orchestra leading to the first “Osannas”. A short four-bar figure for Horns links the Sanctus to the Benedictus, sung first by the Soprano and followed by the choir, the orchestra all the while quietly supporting, until all build up for the final “Osannas”.

Agnus Dei. As in the Kyries, the “Trinity” of keys F, A, D flat form the harmonic basis of the movement, in which the quietly undulating Strings and Woodwind alternate under motifs for Flute and Oboe. The first part of the Agnus Dei is of quiet contemplative music, but the central section (in the ‘middle’ key of A) has a more ardent plea in its “Miserere nobis”, producing a brief but powerful climax before subsiding gradually into the quiet final section. But the Soprano soloist has a last tranquil contribution to make before the end, where the Flute and solo Viola ‘point’ the final four bars with a hint of the familiar undulating motif.