‘Misa Latina’ – a programme note

In advance of the first performance of ‘Misa Latina’ by London Docklands Singers on Saturday 25th June at All Saints, Poplar, here is the programme note for the piece. Tickets are available on the door or in advance from http://carminaburana2016.brownpapertickets.com.

The title of this mass setting is a terrible pun. The ‘latin’ of ‘Latina’ owes more to ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ than to the traditional Roman Catholic liturgy, and all the movements except the ‘Kyrie’ are in English (and even ‘Kyrie’ is Greek, not Latin!) That said, the work is a serious setting of liturgical texts that draws on the rhythms and idioms of Latin American dances and fuses these with western choral tradition. The borrowing is genuine, without claiming to be ‘authentic’ – it is born (as Stravinsky said of some of his own borrowings) out of love rather than respect.

The ‘Kyrie’ is a taut Argentinian tango, with the double bass (pizzicato) and snare drum giving the rhythm, the piano filling this out with chords, and the choir weaving sinuous melodic lines around them. Brief solos on bass interrupt the choir’s ‘Christe eleison’ before the ‘Kyrie’ returns in a climax that fades out to a single line, with bass and snare having the last notes.

The penitential opening of the mass over, we move to Cuba for ‘Glory’. This is a cha-cha-cha suggesting an open-air festival parade approaching, passing close (with a vigorous timbale solo punctuated by shouts of ‘Glory!’) and fading into the distance. It also owes something to Ezekiel’s description in the bible: ‘I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with his glory.’

The ‘Credo’ is an affirmation of faith, not one of the classic Christian creeds. The text is based on an address given by Revd Alan Boesak to the World Council of Churches in Vancouver in 1983. The text has been widely used since in different versions including the Iona Community Worship Book, which is where I encountered it. Salsa rhythms underlie the triplet melody of the text, which is shared between women’s and men’s voices. The choir combine towards the end to shout words from the prophet Daniel, ‘I will pour out my Spirit…’ and the movement ends with the whole ensemble declaring in unison ‘We believe this is true!’

‘Holy’ was the first movement to be written. Its syncopated melody is tossed between different keys and groups of voices, with a countermelody added to create a rich texture of overlapping lines and rhythms. Guaracha is a genre of Cuban popular song dating to the C18th, often comic or baudy in style, but also sometimes religious, using contrasting solo and chorus sections. Here the Benedictus ‘Blessed is he…’ forms a gentler solo section between choruses of ‘Holy!’

In Cuba the bolero is a slow ballad, rather than the dance form immortalised in Ravel’s Spanish Bolero. A solo voice sings the whole melody, which is then taken up by the choir. An instrumental solo section follows, before the choir returns with its own choral ‘solo’ section, and a final restatement of the tune.

I would like to thank Andrew Campling, conductor, and the London Docklands Singers for giving this work its first performance. My thanks go also to Malcolm Ball for his valuable advice on percussion, Jonathan Pease (piano), Paul Moylan (bass) and to percussionists Shaun Bajnoczky, Katy Elman and Rob Farrer. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Caroline and son Joe for putting up with my endless tinkering with scores and parts over the past months.