Stylistic Features of the Compositions of the Modern American Composer Peter Williams, Particularly As Found in His Missa Brevis

Stylistic Features of the Compositions of the Modern American Composer Peter Williams, Particularly as Found in His Missa Brevis

Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation

Authors Wachsman, Todd

Publisher The University of Arizona.

Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Download date 10/10/2021 01:57:30

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/645789

STYLISTIC FEATURES OF THE COMPOSITIONS

OF THE MODERN AMERICAN COMPOSER

PETER WILLIAMS, PARTICULARLY AS FOUND IN HIS MISSA BREVIS

Todd Wachsman

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

FRED FOX SCHOOL OF MUSIC

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

2020

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Doctor of Musical Arts Document Committee, we certify that we have read the document prepared by: Todd Wachsman titled: Stylistic Features of the Compositions of the Modern American Composer Peter Williams, Particularly as Found in His Missa Brevis, and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Musical Arts.

Bruce Chamberlain ______Date: ______Aug 19, 2020 Bruce Chamberlain

______Date: ______Jul 29, 2020 John T. Brobeck

______Date: ______Aug 19, 2020 Matthew Mugmon

Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the document to the Graduate College.

We hereby certify that we have read this document prepared under our direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the document requirement.

Bruce Chamberlain ______Date: ______Aug 19, 2020 Bruce Chamberlain Document Committee Co-Chair School of Music

______Date: ______Jul 29, 2020 John T. Brobeck Document Committee Co-Chair Fred Fox School of Music, UA

Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I must thank Peter Williams for being a constant inspiration. Your humor, acerbic wit, and above all your peerless musicianship set a high bar against which I have gauged all musical progress since my early childhood. You were one-in-a-million and I feel honored and blessed to have called you a friend. Thank you to my professors at the University of Arizona, especially the members of my doctoral committee. Dr. Mugmon, Dr. Brobeck, and Dr. Chamberlain. Your support and scholarship have proven invaluable in getting this degree over the finish line. Boundless thanks to Mr. Williams’ family and musical colleagues for sharing their experiences and memories to help paint a more complete picture of the man behind the music. Most particularly, thank you to his brother Bruce and his daughter Katelyn for stories of his childhood and his home life. Tina Halvorson, Ken Neufeld, and Rhonda Pooler, your recollections about his schooling and professional musical life were invaluable. Sincere thanks to my classmates in the DMA program at the Fred Fox School of Music. Your comfort, commiseration, and acumen have made the process worthwhile. Thank you to my past music professors, Dr. James John, Dr. Edith Copley, and Dr. Jo- Michael Scheibe. I carry lessons from each of you and they have always pushed me to be better and learn better in order to serve the music and my students. Your guidance is as relevant today as ever, and I am grateful for your wisdom. Profound thanks to Frances Wachsman and Christopher Bradshaw for proofreading this project in all phases. It takes a special person to give their time so generously. Thanks also to Chris for brainstorming the topic in the first place as well as so patiently standing by me as it worked its way into reality. Thank you to my mother, Frances, for unfailingly offering support throughout the entire doctoral degree program. It never could have happened without your steadfast love. Finally, thank you to my father, Chuck Wachsman. You are not only the reason that I ever knew Pete in the first place, but your love of music set the path for my life. Thank you for your talent, your passion, and your integrity and for instilling in me that we teach people first and music second.

For my father

Table of Contents

Tables and Musical Examples ...... 9

Abstract ...... 11

Chapter 1: Peter Williams ...... 12

a. Family, Childhood, and Aptitude ...... 12

b. Pima Community College ...... 16

c. California State University, Long Beach ...... 18

d. Post-California State University, Long Beach ...... 20

e. Return to Arizona, Return to California, and Death ...... 21

f. Compositions ...... 22

Chapter 2: Missa Brevis History ...... 25

a. Renaissance Period ...... 25

b. Baroque Period ...... 28

c. Classical Period …...... 29

d. Romantic Period ...... 33

e. Cecilian Movement ...... 33

Chapter 3: The Modern Missa Brevis ...... 39

a. Movements ...... 39

b. Chant ...... 42

c. Soloists ...... 44

d. Tonality and Texture ...... 47

Chapter 4: Polystylism ...... 50

a. Musical Borrowing ...... 50

b. Alfred Schnittke ...... 51

c. Terminology ...... 53

Chapter 5: Analysis ...... 55

a. Kyrie ...... 55

(1) Organum ...... 55

(2) Duets and Points of Imitation ...... 58

(3) Text and Extended Chords ...... 58

(4) Cadences and Extended Chords ...... 60

b. Gloria ...... 62

(1) Text Setting ...... 62

(2) Harmonic Language ...... 63

(3) Duets and More Harmonic Language …...... 64

(4) Chant, Extended Chords, and Modulatory Techniques ...... 66

(5) Alternatim, Modal Borrowing, and Extended Chords ...... 69

(6) Duets and “Speed Chant” ...... 73 c. Sanctus ...... 74

(1) Extended Chords ...... 74

(2) Cadences ...... 76

(3) Duets ...... 80

(4) Rhythmic Imitation ...... 81

(5) Secondary Dominants, Harmonic Motion, and Word Painting ...... 82

(6) Metric Interpretation ...... 86

(7) Stepwise Cadence ...... 86

d. Benedictus ...... 86

(1) Extended Chords ...... 86

(2) Points of Imitation ...... 87

(3) Modal Manipulation ...... 90

(4) Harmonic Language ...... 91

(5) Polychords ...... 92

(6) Harmonic Planing ...... 95

e. Agnus Dei ...... 95

(1) Extended Chords ...... 96

(2) Piano Meter ...... 99

(3) Secondary Dominants and Cadences …...... 100

(4) Duets/Texture ...... 101

(5) Harmonic Language and Suspensions ...... 103

(6) Text ...... 107

Chapter 6: Conclusion ...... 109

Appendices ...... 110

Appendix A: Peter Williams Timeline ...... 110

Appendix B: Dedications in Peter Williams’ Missa Brevis ...... 111

Appendix C: Peter Williams Catalogue ...... 112

Bibliography ...... 121

Tables

Table 2.1. Missae Breves: Gaffurius and Palestrina ...... 27

Table 5.1. Key Transitions in Williams’ Missa Brevis ...... 96

Musical Examples

Musical Example 2.1. Polytextuality/Telescoping Text in Haydn, Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo in B, Hob. XXII:7 Gloria, mm.1–9 ...... 31

Musical Example 5.1. Williams Kyrie, mm.5–10 ...... 56

Musical Example 5.2. Williams Kyrie, mm. 11–12 ...... 57

Musical Example 5.3. Williams Kyrie, mm. 13–19 ...... 59

Musical Example 5.4. Williams Kyrie, mm. 21-25 ...... 62

Musical Example 5.5. Williams Gloria, mm. 11–14 ...... 65

Musical Example 5.6. Williams Gloria mm.14–17 ...... 66

Musical Example 5.7. Williams Gloria, mm. 25–30 ...... 68

st Musical Example 5.8. Schubert, Sonata in B-flat Major, D960, 1 Movement, mm. 44–48 ...... 69

Musical Example 5.9. Williams Gloria, mm.38–43 ...... 72

Musical Example 5.10. Williams Gloria, mm. 48–51 ...... 74

Musical Example 5.11. Williams Sanctus, mm. 1–4 ...... 75

Musical Example 5.12. Williams Sanctus, mm. 17–20 ...... 78

Musical Example 5.13. Williams Sanctus, mm. 26–32 ...... 80

Musical Example 5.14. Williams Sanctus, mm.33–35, Imitative Rhythmic Cells ...... 82

Musical Example 5.15. Williams Sanctus, mm. 37–42, Repeated Text in Sequence ...... 83

Musical Example 5.16. Williams Sanctus, mm. 48–53, Rhythmic Motives and Courtesy Accidentals ...... 85

Musical Example 5.17. Voice Entrances in Williams Benedictus Movement ...... 88

Musical Example 5.18. Williams Benedictus, mm. 12–16, Modal Borrowing ...... 91

Musical Example 5.19. Williams Benedictus mm.21–28, Bass Movement ...... 94

Musical Example 5.20. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 1–5, Tonic-Dominant ...... 98

Musical Example 5.21. Setting Similarities between Mozart Ave verum corpus, K. 618,

and Williams Agnus Dei ...... 102

Musical Example 5.22. Accompaniment Similarities between Chopin Ballade in G Minor, Op. 23 and Williams Agnus Dei ...... 104

Musical Example 5.23. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 14–15, Suspensions ...... 105

Musical Example 5.24. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 37–40, Suspensions ...... 106

Abstract

This document explores the life and work of the American composer Peter Williams, particularly his Missa Brevis. It will examine relevant facets of Williams’ compositional technique and how he adapted them into his Mass. The first chapter gives an overview of

Williams himself: his background, his family, his schooling and his aptitude. Chapter 2 discusses the genesis and the evolution of the Missa Brevis genre and how it changed over the centuries.

The third chapter is an examination of modern Missae Breves, the features and trends found in the genre since the end of the Romantic period. Included in this discussion is a comparison of characteristics of modern settings of the Missa Brevis to Williams’ own Mass.

Chapter 4 covers the concept and origin of polystylism. Williams was proficient in a number of musical styles and his Missa Brevis is an excellent example of his polystylistic proclivities. The fifth chapter delves deeply into Williams’ Missa Brevis and analyzes each movement for various elements which are indicative of his compositional style.

The goal of this research is to increase awareness of the compositions of Peter Williams.

It uses his Missa Brevis to illustrate the techniques he employed to realize his artistic interpretation of a particular genre. This document will introduce the reader to his biography and provides a capsule study of his compositional practices.

Chapter 1

Peter Williams

a. Family, Childhood, and Aptitude

Peter Owen Williams (1952–2011) was born in New York City in 1952. His father,

David H. Williams (1919–2002), was a prolific composer and an active music director. He worked at H.W. Gray publishing house in New York City as well as numerous churches in the

New York City area. H.W. Gray specialized in church, choral, and organ music and made a deliberate effort to support the music of American composers, including some such as Arnold

Schoenberg [1874–1951], who were not American by birth, but became American citizens.1

David Williams also was an active church musician, and led the music at Ft. Washington

Collegiate Church located at 729 West 181st Street in New York City. His mother, Ruth, was a stay-at-home mother for the three boys (David, Bruce, and Peter) and two girls (Ruth and Susan, who were twins). The Williams family’s primary source of income in New York City came from

David’s compositions. The family income began to suffer, however, due to the illegal reproduction of his musical scores by means of the emerging technology of photocopying. It was for this reason, as well as concerns for the senior Williams’ health, that the family decided to relocate to Arizona.2 David managed to secure a position as the Director of Music at St.

1 H.W. Gray Music Publishers, accessed March 3, 2020, https://jubilatemusic.com/collections/h-w-gray.

2 Bruce Williams, email to author, October 9, 2019.

Andrew’s Presbyterian Church at 7650 N. Paseo Del Norte in Tucson, Arizona, and the family moved in 1964 when Peter Williams was 13 years old.

Music was an important component of the Williams household. All of the members of the

Williams family could expect to sing at church when David needed additional voices for the choir at whichever church he was serving as the music director. In addition to this, the array of music in the home far exceeded the strictly religious fare David used in his church work. Bruce

Williams recalls:

One jazz group that really comes to mind whose records we played the grooves off of growing up was Dave Brubeck. There were wonderful piano solos and piano accompaniments in Brubeck’s music which I’m sure really resonated with Peter. Another jazz pianist that comes to mind which we loved and Peter admired a great deal was Oscar Peterson. Again, it wasn’t just jazz, but music of all types that molded Peter musically.3

In addition to the diverse range of musical styles offered in the Williams home, David harbored a strong desire to attend the Three Choirs Festival in England and ultimately managed to take his wife, daughters and son with him to the festival during a year it was hosted at

Hereford Cathedral. The trip was so successful, that they went again three years later. Peter

Williams developed a particularly keen appreciation for English music as a result of these trips.4

The elder Williams also attended concerts in association with his work for H.W. Gray publishing house and it wasn’t uncommon for him to have his children attend with him. David and Peter also spent a few summers together at a summer music camp/workshop held annually in

Riverside, CA. This workshop lasted for a week each time and was led by the English conductor

Sir David Willcocks. David Williams’ propensity to involve his family in his musical enterprises

3 Bruce Williams, email to author, October 9, 2019.

4 Ibid.

provided his children with an unusually rich and sophisticated musical background during their formative years.

Peter Williams started displaying musical aptitude at an early age. Since music was highly regarded in their home, Williams’ parents started him on piano lessons while he was still very young. His brother Bruce remembers that, “Peter never practiced piano in between his weekly lessons.” Their father, understandably concerned, contacted the piano teacher and asked if his son’s performance in his lessons was satisfactory. The piano instructor assured him that it absolutely was and there were no problems. David Williams thought about this, then asked the instructor if she played the pieces for her student as she assigned him work each week and she told him that she did. They eventually determined that he would listen to her play the piece, not touch the piano for a week in between lessons, then reproduce the piece from memory during his next lesson.5 His remarkable musical memory continued to be a feature of his life for his entire career. Peter’s daughter, Katelyn, told of “Challenge Days” that her father would hold when teaching at Mt. View High School, Marana High school, or Catalina Foothills High in the 1990s.

Williams challenged his students to bring in any music that they wanted: pop, jazz, choral, symphonic, gospel, or any other genre or style. After he listened to the recording a single time, he was able to reproduce the work at the piano. He possessed considerable powers of retention coupled with unusually sharp concentration skills. These abilities served him well in the musical world, but also affected other parts of his life as well. His college roommate, Dana Seufert, recalls:

‘POW,’ as we fondly called him (from his initials P.O.W.), sat in his favorite chair in front of the TV watching Ted Koppel on ABC-Nightline's latest report on the Iranian hostage crisis. Pete was also finishing the vocal part—by ‘ear’ and

5 Bruce Williams, interview with author, May 20, 2019.

pencil—on his latest choral composition AND listening to Charles Ives' ‘The Unanswered Question,’ an LP on the stereo.6

Williams demonstrated unusual facility on the piano from the beginning of his lessons on the instrument. Whatever the reason may be, playing the piano had always come easily to him, and from his youth he demonstrated considerable facility with jazz improvisation on the piano, even though he never had formal training in the style. It seems likely that the exposure to various styles of music he received in his home environment informed his own ability to create music once he started playing the piano. Williams possessed absolute pitch and this ability, coupled with strong instincts, for the piano resulted in a considerable command of various musical styles.

Once again, this tendency lasted through his youth and extended into his adult life. Williams’ colleague from Pima Community College, James Kings, recalled that Williams, who was white, demonstrated an aptitude for musical genres primarily associated with black musicians:

From my experiences with him, he seemed fluent in several genres of music, which, besides the early “classic” genres, included jazz, gospel, and pop music. Specifically regarding gospel music, Pete once shared that while he was attending college in the L.A. area, a friend took him to a choir rehearsal at a black Pentecostal church called West Angeles Church of God in Christ where he met the celebrated gospel keyboardist and choir director, Patrick Henderson… Pete related that it was there he got a chance to sit in and play some black gospel songs with Patrick and his choir. I remember Pete half chuckling at remembering how amazed Patrick, his choir members and his band were that a “white boy could whoop the piano like that!”7

Peter Williams attended Canyon Del Oro high school in Arizona. He was not involved in any music classes at this time. His exposure to music continued to come primarily through his father and the church. During his first few years in Arizona, however, Williams started branching out into other musical areas as well. He formed a band with four other friends from high school.

6 Dana Seufert, www.Legacy.com, accessed October 1, 2018, https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/peter-williams-obituary?pid=154241848&page=3.

7 James Kings, email to author, October 1, 2018.

They called themselves The Telstar Five,8 and while they were in most respects a typical high school garage band, Williams started writing jazz and pop arrangements for the group. He continued to perform in many different pop groups throughout his life and regularly arranged and wrote music for each of them. He also began writing music for David Williams’ church services during this time. b. Pima Community College

Williams did not enroll in music classes until he matriculated at Pima Community

College in 1970.9 At PCC, he joined the choral program under the direction of Carl C.

Wachsman10 with whom he developed a lifelong friendship. When Williams entered into the choral program, he was extraordinarily shy. When he auditioned for choral placement,

Wachsman conducted the usual battery of sight-singing and tonal memory exercises, all of which

Williams executed perfectly. After administering the tests, Wachsman said to Williams, “You have perfect pitch, don’t you?”11 While Williams obviously displayed significant musical aptitude, it wasn’t until Wachsman took his choirs from Tucson on a tour to Los Angeles that

Williams’ more exotic musical strengths became apparent. It was Wachsman’s custom to take his choirs to California and exchange concerts with other colleges. This afforded his students the chance to work with well-respected directors and allowed Wachsman the chance to work with other students as well. Among the schools that the Pima Community College choirs traditionally

8 Bruce Williams, email to author, February 20, 2020.

9 Williams also attended the University of Arizona simultaneously in 1970, but he felt that the music department at Pima Community College was superior. He left the university entirely in 1971, and continued taking classes at Pima from 1970–1976.

10 Carl C. Wachsman is the author’s father.

11 Frances Wachsman, interview with author, February 23, 2020.

visited were Loyola Marymount, where they worked with the Grammy-nominated conductor and educator Paul Salamunovich (1927–2014) and California State University, Long Beach where they worked with the master of contemporary choral repertoire Frank Pooler (1926–2013).

During one such tour, the Pima choirs workshopped a gospel tune with the renowned blues musician Vince Jordan, who accompanied them on the piano. After the Pima choirs returned to Tucson, Williams approached Wachsman and told him “I think I can play the accompaniment that Vince Jordan did.” Wachsman allowed Williams to get behind the piano and was surprised to hear Williams replicate Jordan’s style almost exactly.12 Wachsman was quick to capitalize on Williams’ ability and encouraged his student to not only to play piano for the college choirs, but also to write his own scores for them as well.

In time, Williams came to regard the choral program at Pima Community College as a laboratory for musical ideas. During his six years in the program, he wrote dozens of arrangements and original scores. Up until this point, Williams’ compositions had been sung primarily by capable volunteer church choirs and his high school friends in a pop band. His explorations into more sophisticated expressions of vocal harmony gained an outlet in the choirs of Pima Community College and his compositions began to take on greater complexity. It was during this time (1970–1976) that he wrote the five movements that would later be published as his Missa Brevis in 1993.

12 Frances Wachsman, interview with author, February 23, 2020.

c. California State University, Long Beach

Williams never completed any degree program at Pima Community College. When he left PCC, he transferred to California State University, Long Beach along with his PCC friends

Jim Baum and Randy Pennington. He left to pursue a degree in composition and to work under the direction of Frank Pooler, who was aware of Williams due to the exchanges between CSULB and PCC. The first piece of his own arranging that Williams showed to Pooler was of the Dave

Frishberg tune “Peel Me a Grape.” Pooler was sufficiently impressed that he made certain that

Williams had the opportunity to exercise his abilities to their fullest extent in the choral program at CSULB. Pooler wrote of Williams:

Pete Williams was born to make music. He arrived at the Long Beach scene with a stack of first-class choral compositions written during his stay at Pima College in Tucson. Several of these were published during his student days at Long Beach State. One of the great joys of my years at Long Beach was to turn the reins of the music-making over to Pete. His exciting arrangements and compositions remain in the minds of those who sang them as though fastened by glue. The same can be said about his work at the keyboard. It was not long after I became an ex-employee of the State of California that I got hungry to hear Pete’s music again, and put together a CD of the medleys he had arranged for us over his time in choir… I play it often, and love it now as I did the first time I heard it. Pete was never limited to Pop; his Mass [Missa Brevis] for choir and keyboard contains moments of unsurpassable beauty and received an overwhelming response in performance at Carnegie Hall (2000).13

Pooler made a concerted effort to arrange opportunities for students who showed musical promise, as he had done with the recording artists Richard and Karen Carpenter at the beginning of their careers. Just as Wachsman had before him, Pooler allowed Williams to run rehearsals at

CSULB periodically, an experience to which Williams referred as “driving a golden Cadillac.”14

In addition to leading rehearsals, Pooler also arranged for Williams and his classmate Tina

13 “Kensington Choralworks, Our Composers,” accessed October 1, 2018, https://www.kensingtonchoralworks.com/about.html.

14 Sue McCloud Gibson, email to author, June 23, 2019.

Halvorson to work as adjudicators for a festival at the University of South Dakota under the choral director Larry Torkelson (1940–2008), who also became a friend to Williams.15

In addition to the education Williams received in the realm of traditional choral music during this time, he also continued to participate in jazz and pop bands. He was in a jazz band called Rapture for approximately four years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.16 The band primarily performed at a club in Long Beach called the Rusty Pelican. Although the band mostly performed cover songs and standards, Williams wrote most of the arrangements. Following his departure from Rapture, he was in a band called Stretch from approximately 1982–1984.

Williams also found work at churches in the Los Angeles area while he pursued his degree and arranged and composed music for any ensembles with which he was involved. The most significant church work he accomplished during this time period was at St. Luke’s in Long

Beach from 1977–1988. He started work at St. Luke’s almost immediately on arriving in

California to attend California State University, Long Beach and remained there until returning to Tucson in 1988.

Williams’ biography suggests that he was not strongly motivated to obtain academic degrees. He attended Pima Community College from 1970–1976 and California State University,

Long Beach from 1976–1982. Although he participated in the CSULB graduation in 1979, he did not finish his academic work for a Bachelor of Music Degree in Choral-Vocal Music until June

1, 1990. The delay between graduation and posting of the degree may be attributable to the fact

15 The Gloria movement of Williams’ Missa Brevis is dedicated to Dr. Torkelson and the choirs of the University of South Dakota.

16 Tina Halvorson, interview with author, June 2019.

that it was not until he applied for teaching positions in southern Arizona that he needed an official degree to secure the job he wanted. d. Post-California State University, Long Beach

At the end of his time at California State University, Long Beach, Williams was hired by his classmate Ralph Opacic to work at Los Alamitos High School in Orange County, California.

He served as the pianist and arranger for five separate choirs at the high school from 1984–1988.

It was during his time at Los Alamitos High School that he married Pam Gordon, who would become the mother of his two children, Katelyn Paige and Rhys Owen. As was his practice,

Williams continued to involve himself in multiple projects (his daughter Kate recalls he was

“never able to only do one job”).17 One of these projects was to work with the cheerleading coach at Los Alamitos High School. Williams helped the coach organize her demo tape so that she could be considered for singing work by record companies. The coach was Paula Abdul, who eventually became an internationally recognized pop star. One of the students at Los Alamitos was Susan Egan, who would later become a Broadway performer, portraying the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway.18 Susan recalls that Williams used to informally address small groups of students from the school about music. He maintained a sort of “inner circle” with whom he would share his impressions and opinions. As Susan recalls, “Ralph was the passion,

Pete was the genius.”19 He would offer his opinions about why certain musicals were “bad” and

17 Kate Williams, interview with author, October 2019.

18 “Susan Egan”, Playbill.com, accessed February 2020, https://www.playbill.com/person/susan-egan-vault-0000037234.

19 Susan Egan, interview with author, February 2020.

what musicals were “good” by comparison. She recalls that these sessions were very instructional and useful to her in rendering critical evaluations in her own career.

Ms. Egan also recalled that Williams once told her why he wrote almost exclusively for the voice and choral groups. According to her recollection, Williams felt that “the voice was the only medium where he could ever hear music in tune.”20 Instruments were frequently subject to temperature fluctuations in the room, experienced mechanical flaws, or encountered other problems that prevented them from holding consistent and accurate pitch. Egan’s recollection was that Williams was always in search of “a perfect chord.”21 His absolute pitch made it extremely difficult for him to be satisfied with standard tuning. Halvorson, one of many people with whom Williams was roommates in college, remembers that “Pete would sometimes unplug the refrigerator while he was working because the pitch it generated distracted him from something he was writing.”22 e. Return to Arizona, Return to California, and Death

In the late 1980s, Williams left California to return to Arizona. He secured the job of

Director of Music at Trinity Presbyterian in Tucson in 1989 and remained in this position until

2002. Williams and Gordon had experienced difficulties in their marriage and divorced in 1993.

He married Laura Lane in Tucson at Trinity Presbyterian Church in 1997. In 1990, after his degree was posted, he began working at Mt. View High School, where he remained until 1997.

20 Susan Egan, interview with author, January 2020.

21 Susan Egan, interview with author, January 2020.

22 Tina Halvorson, interview with author, July 2019.

He started work as the choir director of Catalina Foothills High School in August of 1998, but didn’t stay in the position for long.23

When he left Trinity Presbyterian, he accepted an appointment at Christ Presbyterian, where he worked from 2002–2007. In 2007 he returned to California and secured a position at the First United Methodist Church of Pacific Grove, where he worked from 2007 until the end of his life in 2011.

Williams contended with substance abuse for much of his life, particularly alcohol. It is likely that this was part of the reason for the marital troubles that he experienced with both wives. Williams and his second wife Laura were experiencing difficult times and were in the process of divorcing when Williams returned to Tucson in a car driven by his eldest brother,

David. During this journey, Williams began experiencing significant withdrawal from alcohol which resulted in an immediate hospitalization upon arriving in Tucson. It was there that he died on July 19, 2011 from acute alcohol poisoning. f. Compositions

One facet of this project has been to collect as many of Peter Williams’ compositions as possible. Williams’ manuscripts have been largely dispersed across southern Arizona and southern California for approximately the last forty years. He was unconcerned with archiving his work, particularly because he could easily reproduce anything he had written at a later date if he so chose. Currently, the catalogue has one hundred and three works. Of the works collected, ten are instrumental parts—seven of which were written to accompany choral works he had

23 In email exchange with longtime CFHS employee and band director Renee Shane-Boyd, she had no memory of Williams at CFHS. She suspects he may have only stayed for a partial year.

written (likely for a special event at a church where he worked). The remaining three (Main

Verse, Piano + Winds [+Violin], and Suite R, P, K [only R]) lack enough identifying information to determine their specific usage and don’t seem to correspond with any of his other extant works. Given Williams’ habits regarding such instrumental compositions (writing them at need, typically on-location), it seems likely that these works would have been written for similar implementation as the seven which can be traced, most probably for church services. Five songs are for solo voice and piano. The remaining works are for choral ensembles of various configurations. The vast majority of his scores (eighty-nine) are unpublished, though he was in the process of publishing his arrangement of “I Saw Three Ships” at the time of his death. The process had advanced to the point where he was making edits on scores sent back to him from the publisher. Forty-eight of his works are sacred in nature and the remainder are secular, mostly spanning the genres of contemporary choral, jazz, and pop. One recurrent feature of Williams’ compositions is the lack of a written-out piano part, even though most of them were intended to be performed with piano accompaniment. Williams typically improvised24 the accompaniment for each performance.

The 103 pieces collected represent manuscripts acquired to date. In addition to these scores, there are numerous recordings of works which have yet to be transcribed. Interviews with his colleagues regularly unearth favorite Williams compositions for which the manuscript is now lost (if it ever existed at all). There is at least one anecdotal story about a piece entitled “Just a

Little Bit of Faith” written for the Chancel Choir at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Tucson

24 It may be more appropriate to say, “played from memory.” While Williams was a capable improviser, multiple sources who worked with him through the years claim that his accompaniments were remarkably consistent from performance to performance. He seemed to have the score mapped out in his mind and would read it thusly, producing nearly the same piano accompaniment with each iteration.

which was taught to the choir orally, so there never was a written score. The piece was, by all reports, extremely successful. Unfortunately, there was no written score and no recording, so all that remains of the piece are the memories of the people who sang it.

This project is primarily focused on the stylistic features of Peter Williams’ Missa Brevis.

The next section contains an overview of the Missa Brevis throughout history up to and including modern versions of the genre. The discussion of the modern Missa Brevis compares

Williams’ version to other current compositions of the same type and contrasts them with the way in which such works were set historically.

Chapter 2

Missa Brevis History

a. Renaissance Period

According to James McKinnon’s article on “Mass” in Grove Dictionary, the term Missa

Brevis originated in the late fifteenth century in Milan. At this time, the term “denoted the shortest possible setting of the full Ordinary (of the Mass) consistent with conveying the entire text.”25 The initial appearance of a Missa Brevis can be traced back to approximately 1490 in a compilation assembled by the Italian theorist, composer, and choirmaster Franchinus Gaffurius

(1451–1522). The collection included a volume which contained “four very short Masses, all probably by Gaffurius himself, which are so designated in the contemporary list of contents.”26

McKinnon indicates “these settings are typified by brevity, absence or near absence of mensural contrast and, in the Gloria and Credo, considerable omission of text and syllabic setting with many repeated notes.”27 Although the Missa Brevis was generally understood to convey the entire text of the Mass Ordinary, it is interesting to note that the work which first utilized the term Missa Brevis contained truncated versions of portions of the rite (the Gloria and the Credo).

25 James W. McKinnon, Theodor Göllner, Maricarmen Gómez, Lewis Lockwood, Andrew Kirkman, Denis Arnold, and John Harper, "Mass," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed October 11, 2019, https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781 561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000045872.

26 Ibid.

27 Ibid.

The Council of Trent (1545–1563), an ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic church that convened in response to the Reformation sparked by Martin Luther (1483–1546), prompted modifications in a great deal of church music. The Missa Brevis probably fared better than some other forms due to the fact that one of the hallmarks of the form was the use of newly composed material. Since Missa Brevis compositions did not tend to borrow existing secular tunes as the basis for their composition, they usually did not violate the Council’s edicts against the incorporation of secular tunes into settings of the Mass. Also, the “Reform Mass” which came about in response to the Council’s dictums conveniently aligned with the extant structural needs of the Missa Brevis form. In his book Renaissance Music, the musicologist Allan W. Atlas says that the Council “inspired the development of the Missa Brevis.”28 The intrinsic qualities of the form at its inception suited the musical mandates of the Counter-Reformation admirably.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525–1594), widely regarded as the composer who best realized the intent of the Council’s musical directives, only wrote one work titled Missa Brevis.

It is interesting to note, however, that Palestrina’s work in the Roman liturgical style closely parallels Gaffurius’ small Masses in terms of text setting and brevity with the major difference being that Palestrina did not omit any text from the Mass. Gaffurius not only followed the

Ambrosian tradition, which typically omitted the Kyrie and the Agnus Dei movements, but also removed text from the Gloria and Credo movements. The following chart compares the content of two of Gaffurius’ Missae Breves with Palestrina’s analogous work. Note that while the Kyrie was not included in the Ambrosian liturgy, Gaffurius nonetheless included it in his Missa Brevis

Primi Toni (though none of his small Masses contain an Agnus Dei).29

28 Allan W. Atlas, Renaissance Music (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998), 583. 29 Anthony Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey of the Missa Brevis from 1490 to Modern Times (PhD diss., Florida State University, 2015), 28.

Table 2.1. Missae Breves: Gaffurius and Palestrina

Composition Kyrie Gloria Credo

Missa Brevis 58 measures 77 measures 145 measures (Palestrina)

Missa Brevis Ejusdem Toni – Omitted 103 measures 166 measures (Gaffurius)

Missa Brevis Primi 39 measures 48 measures 69 measures Toni (Gaffurius)

Luther’s reforms attempted to make religious practice more accessible to the communities they served. Accordingly, Missae Breves did undergo some modifications in regard to the newly emergent Lutheran denomination. One of the tenets of Luther’s uprising was that church services should be conducted using the vernacular of the local populace with the intent of increasing parishioners’ understanding of the service and investment in church proceedings. He also felt, however, that some of the Latin portions of the service should be kept, as he considered the language useful for educational purposes, especially for the younger congregants. Robin

Leaver has noted:

Latin was actively encouraged in the churches and towns where there were Latin schools and/or universities. ... Many of the numerous Lutheran church orders of the 16th century were based on conflations of Luther’s two liturgies. The first part of the eucharistic rite...being mostly in Latin, and the later part...being mostly in German.30

30 Robin A. Leaver, "Lutheran Church Music," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed November 18, 2019, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000046760.

Lutheran worship at its inception was often flexible in responding to the needs of the community (another component of Luther’s vision to make worship more relevant), allowing for traditions that served a group of parishioners well to persist. Therefore, some choirs continued to sing portions of the Mass set by Catholic composers even as the new Lutheran composers

(including Luther himself) wrote new settings of the Mass Ordinary and developed new forms of music such as the congregational hymn or chorale. “Since the Sanctus and Agnus Dei were not necessarily sung at every celebration, a composed Lutheran mass came to mean settings of just the first two parts of the Ordinary that were customarily sung, the Kyrie and Gloria, being referred to as ‘Missa,’ or simply ‘Kyrie’, later “Missa Brevis.”31 This alternate Lutheran definition of the Missa Brevis term serves as an indication of the ways in which the term was adapted to fit the needs of the communities in which these works were employed. b. Baroque Period

The Lutheran Missa Brevis continued to develop at the same time as the original Roman

Catholic version over the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While the definition of the genre may have experienced change in regions subject to Luther’s influence, the Roman Catholic tradition continued to interpret the Missa Brevis as “a four or five-movement setting of the

Ordinary that was highly abbreviated.”32

31 Ibid.

32 Lewis Lockwood and Andrew Kirkman, "Missa brevis," Grove Music Online, 2001, Accessed November 6, 2019, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-0000018782.

The Lutheran church was less preoccupied with all musical material being newly composed than the Roman Catholic faith. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) is a good example of Lutheran musical borrowing in the Baroque era. While he certainly wrote a great deal of original material, he also borrowed music from other compositions he had written previously and from other composers to develop the repertoire he needed.

Specifically, Bach wrote four Missae Breves that borrowed material from cantatas he had previously composed. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bach’s small Masses were structured in a fashion similar to his cantatas in that the first and last movements were choral, with the internal movements being comprised of various combinations of soloists. Each of his

Kyrie-Gloria Masses (BWV 233–236) is arranged in six movements: the Kyrie, then five movements which separated the Gloria text into smaller portions. A significant amount of the musical material for these works came from his cantata output. In fact, “of the twenty-four movements contained in the Masses BWV 233–236, nineteen have been linked to pre-existent cantata movements.”33 Bach’s “Cantata-Masses” are a sterling example of this Lutheran practice of musical borrowing in the Baroque era. c. Classical Period

The Missa Brevis in the Classical period continued to fill a similar niche in the life of the Roman Catholic church as it did during the Renaissance and Baroque eras. It tended to be shorter than other Masses; it was used in smaller churches, and sometimes featured abbreviations or omissions in the Ordinary text. The Classical period saw the

33 Chester L. Alwes, “J.S. Bach’s ‘Lutheran’ Masses: Aspects of Chronology and Structure,” The Choral Journal 29, no. 7 (1989): 7.

categorization of Masses in a more rigorous fashion than had been seen previously.

Religious institutions and nobility began requesting specific kinds of Masses in order to fill a particular need. Bruce Mac Intyre in his book, The Viennese Concerted Mass of the

Early Classical Period, defined the Missa Brevis of the Classical period in the following way:

1. Short Mass for ordinary Sundays or smaller churches (with elements of

abbreviation such as fewer movements and polytextuality).

2. Simple setting (mostly for chorus; few solos; “church trio” orchestra).34

“Polytextuality,” also known as “telescoping text,” was a practice employed by composers who wished to faithfully include the entire text of the mass, but also wanted to compress the time needed to deliver that text. The technique employs multiple voice lines delivering different portions of Mass Ordinary texts simultaneously. Thus, all of the text was included, but there was the danger of the text becoming unintelligible as multiple voices issued a layered delivery of the material. Telescoping text was particularly useful in the Gloria and Credo movements of the mass, as these are far larger sections of text than other portions of the Mass Ordinary. The first page of the choral score from the

Gloria movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s (1732–1809) Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de

Deo in B-flat, also known as the “Kleine Orgelmesse” (Hob. XXII:7), offers an excellent example of this polytextual practice (see Musical Example 2.1).

34 Bruce C. Mac Intyre, The Viennese Concerted Mass of the Early Classical Period (Ann Arbor, Michigan: UMI Research Press, 1986), 6.

Musical Example 2.1. Polytextuality/Telescoping Text in Haydn, Missa Brevis Sancti

Joannis de Deo in B-flat, Hob. XXII:7 “Gloria”, mm.1–9 35

35 Josef Haydn, Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Hob. XXII:7 (New York, NY: G. Schirmer, ed. H.C. Robbins Landon, 1972), 3.

As is evident in the example, the sacred text of the beginning of the Gloria is fully represented, but found in multiple voices simultaneously.

The Classical era of music was immediately preceded by Pope Benedict XIV issuing an encyclical in 1749 entitled “On the Upkeep and Cleanliness of Churches; on the rationale of the Divine Offices and the Music of the Church, on the occasion of the upcoming Holy Year.”36 This document addressed numerous musical concerns, particularly:

1) No theatrical or profane music, using many instruments and polyphony. “There is

certainly no one who would not desire some distinction between ecclesiastic chant

and stageworthy crooning, and would not doom theatrical and profane songs to be

not tolerated in churches.”

2) The continued enforcement of the Council of Trent’s edicts regarding the re-

purposing of secular or bawdy tunes. “Only those kinds of music, in which,

whether by the organ or in the singing, anything lascivious or impure is mixed,

were banished from churches.”

3) The exclusion of certain instruments. “Permit no other musical instrument with

the organ, except the violone, the violoncello, the bassoon, the violas, the violins:

for these instruments serve to strengthen and sustain the voices of singers. But

[your fraternity] shall forbid the timpani, the natural horns, the trumpet, the oboes,

the flutes, the piccolos, the orchestral harps, the mandolins, and others of that sort,

which produce theatrical music.”

36 Pope Benedict XIV, Annus Qui Hunc, , 1749, accessed December 15, 2019, www.Papalencyclicals.net/ben/14/annus-qui-hunc.htm. The following quotations in 1), 2), and 3) are drawn from this source.

This encyclical was essentially nothing more than an official reminder that the recommendations of the Council of Trent laid down two centuries prior were still very much in effect in the Catholic church. d. Romantic Period

The Missa Brevis genre experienced a dip in popularity in the Romantic period and larger works enjoyed greater frequency of performance. Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809–

1847) oratorios were pieces of tremendous scale, utilizing enormous orchestral forces, soloists, and mixed choirs and some of them taking several hours for a complete performance. In fact, even works written for smaller periods of time nonetheless demanded significant performing forces to execute. Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813–1901)

Stabat Mater (a medieval Latin hymn which extols the suffering of Jesus Christ’s mother

Mary upon the crucifixion of her son), features winds, brass, strings, harp, percussion,

SATB choir and soloists—all in a twelve-minute-long piece.37

While smaller Masses were still practically useful for certain communities, the production of concertized works during the Romantic era tended to overshadow such small-scale performances. The Cecilian Movement represents one response to the more elaborate presentations of this era. e. Cecilian Movement

The developing complexity and sophistication of music in the Romantic period did not go unchallenged. Perhaps the most notable rebellion against the wave of larger musical works was

37 Giuseppe Verdi, Stabat Mater (G. Ricordi & Co., 1898), 3.

the Cecilian movement. The clergyman Karl Proske (1794–1861), Kapellmeister of Ratisbon

Cathedral, was exceptionally dedicated to the reform of church music during the Romantic era.

Proske felt strongly that music in the Roman Catholic church should exclusively focus on promoting the liturgy rather than explore artistic frontiers. “He regarded Gregorian chant and the old style of vocal polyphony as the two basic types of ‘pure, exclusively sanctioned sacred song’.

Proske’s ideas made him an important instigator of the Cecilian movement.”38 His musings attracted a great deal of attention and eventually made Ratisbon a coveted destination for scholars and liturgists longing to recapture what they perceived as a purer and more faith-driven musical experience in worship.

One adherent of Proske was the German church musician and composer Franz Xaver

Witt (1834–1888). Witt studied science and theology at Regensburg, where he was also a singer in the cathedral choir and it is here that he was exposed to sacred Renaissance polyphony, which had a significant and lasting effect on him. He eventually taught Gregorian chant at the theological seminary in Regensburg, at which time he also studied counterpoint. Witt continued to receive music-related appointments throughout his professional career, always espousing the reform of German Roman Catholic music. He wrote a program of objectives entitled Der

Zustand der katholischen Kirchenmusik zunächst in Altbayern (The state of Catholic church music first in Old Bavaria) and contributed to journals pertaining to church music in 1866 and

1868. He used these platforms to issue his arguments for the reform of church music, but

38 August Scharnagl and Raymond Dittrich, “Proske, Carl [Karl]”, Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed December 5, 2019, https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.ezproxy3.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781 561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000022433.

eventually decided that these efforts were not sufficient to achieve the changes he felt were so desperately needed. Eventually, Witt “realized that mere talking and writing were not sufficient, and that a successful propaganda could only be carried on by means of a Society.”39 In Bamberg in 1868, Witt’s vision was realized and the Allgemeine Deutsche Cäcilienverein (General

German Cecilian Society) was founded. The name “Cecilia” pertains to the patron saint of musicians in Roman Catholicism and was thus applied to their efforts to make music more relevant to the liturgy in their estimation.

Witt’s passing in 1888 did not doom the movement, as by this time he had succeeded in winning over a sufficient number of people to his cause to keep the idea’s momentum moving forward. The active propaganda continued under the capable leadership of Dr. Franz Xaver

Haberl (1840–1910), who was a student of Proske. He became the Director of the Ratisbon

School of Sacred Music and the President of the Cecilian Society, so was thus ideally situated to champion the society’s agenda—even campaigning for the construction of a church dedicated to

St. Cecilia in Regensburg. Haberl wielded exceptional influence, serving on the papal council for the revision of official chant books.

The rise of the Cecilian movement ensured that the principles governing the structure of the Missa Brevis (accessibility, clear presentation of the mass material, and relative brevity) were not forgotten. Despite this, there are very few notable works of this type from this period. The only Missae Breves by notable composers during this era were not written by Cecilian movement members. The works in question followed several of the precepts of the Cecilian agenda and could perhaps be argued as fitting into that category, but the composers themselves were not

39 R.R. Terry, “Sidelights on German Art: The Great Church-Music Imposture,” The Musical Times 56, no. 870 (1915): 457.

affiliated with the movement. In fact, the organist and composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger

(1839–1901) found himself the recipient of criticism in a Cecilian music journal of the time, claiming his works were too chromatic and the text-handling too clumsy to live up to the

Palestrinian ideal so cherished by the Cecilians. Rheinberger penned a rebuttal:

Nowadays even a modern Palestrina (if he were to exist) would compose “modern music” in a good and true sense of the term... . No poet would light on the notion of writing in the dialect and idiom of an earlier century and proclaim this to be the only true form of poetry; for everyone, even the church artist, gives expression to the feelings and view of his age and employs the artistic devices of his day while remaining firmly rooted in immutable laws.40

Although his works weren’t considered as standard Cecilian repertoire, Rheinberger composed three Masses that are excellent representatives of the Missa Brevis genre: Opus 151

Missa Brevis in G Major (St. Crucis), Opus 117 Missa Brevis in F Major (Sanctissimae

Trinitatis), and Opus 83 Missa Brevis in D minor. Each of these pieces is scored for unaccompanied SATB choir and has a running time of under twenty minutes. These works contained several features favored by those who idealized Palestrinian techniques such as primarily stepwise motion and smoothness of line within limited ranges. These were blended, however, with those elements which those same adherents found intolerable. While

Rheinberger’s use of chromaticism and employment of functional harmony may have disappointed members of the Cecilian society, the simplicity of these three Masses argues that the genre of the small Masses was not entirely unexplored in this period. As Rheinberger posited, no artist could simply parrot the techniques of an earlier age and consider himself progressive or

40 Hans-Josef Irmen, Gabriel Josef Rheinberger als Antipode des Cacilianismus (Regensburg: Gustav Bosse Verlag, 1970), 199.

advancing his art in any way. He expanded the art in the way he thought most natural, reasonable, and appropriate.

Other composers of this time who wrote Masses which might be construed as representatives of the Missa Brevis genre include Anton Bruckner (1824–1896), Charles Gounod

(1818–1893), and Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924) of France. Bruckner’s Windhaager Messe (WAB

25) from 1842 can be performed in ten minutes due to a highly compressed text. The score is written for alto voice, two horns and organ, and the text is delivered in an almost chant-like fashion. Nonetheless, Bruckner still evinces the chromatic tendencies of the Romantic period, even in this extremely brief work. Gounod and Fauré wrote small Masses similar in length to those Bruckner wrote, but many of these French Masses were used as vehicles for strictly treble or bass voicings. Gounod’s Messe Breve #2 in G Major is scored for TTBB chorus and organ and similarly, Fauré’s Messe Basse is written for soprano solo, SA choir, and organ.

Additionally, Gounod not only chose to sometimes omit movements of the Mass Ordinary as previous composers had done, but sometimes elected to add new material as well. In his Messe breve No. 7, Gounod includes an O Salutaris Hostia41 movement immediately after the Sanctus.

This didn’t conform with the standard order of the Mass, but it was relatively common practice in France at the time. The tradition of including this text derives from letters the canons of Notre

Dame in Paris received from King Louis XII in 1512 wherein he requested that O Salutaris

Hostia be sung at the cathedral and all affiliated churches at the moment of the elevation (when

41 “O Saving Sacrifice”—part of a Eucharistic hymn in the Christian faith written by Saint Thomas Aquinas for the feast of Corpus Christi.

the Host is raised for congregational adoration).42 The Romantic era saw this inclusion as a standard component of the Parisian rite of worship.

The small Mass continued to be a part of musical culture, but the Romantic period did not yield any particular masterpieces of the genre. Despite the aims of the Cecilian movement, which seem ideally suited to the Missa Brevis form, Cecilian-dedicated music was not very well received in some musicological circles. The English musicologist Richard Terry (1865–1983), when commenting on the Caecilien-Vereins-Katalog of 1903, said the following, “Judged by any artistic standard whatever, this ‘Cecilian’ music is deplorable. Dull, monotonous, uninspired, it always is.”43 This perspective may provide insight into why the movement is more renowned for its ideals than for its literature. Regardless, the form persisted through the Romantic age, if not through the likeliest sources, and eventually carried over into the modern era.

42 Craig Wright, Music and Ceremony at Notre Dame of Paris, 500-1550 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 119.

43 R.R. Terry, “Sidelights,” 457.

Chapter 3

The Modern Missa Brevis

The following section will address commonalities in Missae Breves since 1900 as explicated in the research of Dr. Anthony Bernarducci in his dissertation “A Historical and

Analytical Survey of the Missa Brevis Genre from 1490 to Modern Times.”44 Additionally, after each section, I will note whether Peter Williams’ Missa Brevis conforms to Dr. Bernarducci’s model. While his work goes into greater depths than will be plumbed here, he nonetheless posed several standard questions which allow for an excellent overview. His model was derived from the analysis of fifty-five separate works and gives a broad understanding of trends which have occurred over roughly the past century. a. Movements

Many versions of the modern Missa Brevis appear to echo the Renaissance practice of omitting portions of the Mass text at the composer’s discretion, while also incorporating the

Romantic practice of including texts which are not part of the Mass Ordinary should the composer so desire. Most of the standard Mass Ordinary is still the foundation of the genre

(Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) but how (and if) all five of these movements are used varies from composition to composition. The Lutheran model of the Messa di Gloria (utilizing

44 Anthony Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey of the Missa Brevis from 1490 to Modern Times (PhD diss., Florida State University, 2015), 50.

only the Kyrie and Gloria movements as the entire Missa Brevis) is nowhere to be found in modern practice. The Ite, missa est, while part of the Mass Ordinary, is rarely set in any era.

Williams set his Mass in five movements but chose to omit the Credo. This choice is not uncommon. In Bernarducci’s dissertation, he notes that of the fifty-five Missae Breves he analyzed, only fourteen of them included a Credo movement.45 The reasons for these omissions are likely varied, but as the Credo is the largest body of text in the Mass Ordinary, it is possible that composers simply didn’t wish to set what might be perceived as an unwieldy bit of literature. Similarly, the Credo is difficult to break into smaller parts, which means that in many

Masses, the Credo section is of a significantly different proportion than all other movements.

The Gloria is the next largest section of text but has been broken down successfully into a number of smaller sections by many composers throughout history. Also, the Gloria is sometimes, itself, excerpted as a stand-alone work; a practice which is not as common with the

Credo, possibly due to the celebratory nature of the Gloria text and its generally upbeat quality which might be palatable to many audiences.

Another possible reason to avoid setting the Credo may be the desire to avoid setting a stark depiction of faith. This may appear odd, as one wouldn’t think that a composer would bother to set a religious text at all if they chose to avoid one of the central creeds of the faith. The

Mass text, however, has been a standard text in music composition for centuries. While it is possible to avoid such texts entirely as a composer, it is also likely that a musical person may have encountered and perhaps even been inspired by such works. Such experiences can lead composers to attempt their own use of similar materials. Modern musicians are not strictly

45 Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey, 50.

confined to writing Masses exclusively for worship services but are free to write music based on a particular text purely for the aesthetic value or to realize a personal inspiration. Such a person may decide that the declaration of the Nicene Creed is not as relevant to their revelation of the

Mass text as it would be in a more devout or liturgical context. Peter Williams always intended his work to be performed as a concert piece. Due to this, he felt free to make certain decisions in his handling of the Mass text.

Williams’ Missa Brevis includes the following movements: Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus,

Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. He chose not to include any additional texts that were not found in the standard Mass, and only set Greek and Latin texts. The only text omission occurs in the

Gloria movement. He chose not to set the words “Domine Deus, Rex coelistis, Deus pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe. Domine Deus.” Williams’ reason for this excision remains unknown, but the entire cut section amounts to a litany of titles (Lord God,

Heavenly King, God the Father almighty, Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son Lord God). It is possible that he felt that the “Agnus Dei” portion of the Gloria text was the best place to initiate the slower tempo of the next section of music and that the extra titles were unnecessary.

The number of measures in each movement is one metric Bernaducci employed when comparing modern Missae Breves. At 234 measures, Williams’ Mass is somewhat smaller than other modern Missae Breves. The average small Mass without a Credo movement features approximately 313 measures, according to Bernarducci’s study. The proportions in Williams’

Mass align with similar Masses included in Bernarducci’s survey with the Gloria movement being larger than all other movements.46 One notable feature of Williams’ setting is the Sanctus

46 Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey, 54.

movement, which is almost as large as the Gloria section and that is even without the inclusion of the Benedictus which Williams chose to set as a separate movement. This discrepancy is due to Williams’ treatment of the Sanctus text. The beginning of the movement features each voice line articulating the word “sanctus” until all voices have stacked into a large chord. This handling of the text extends the opening section (in fact, it results in the word “sanctus” being iterated thirty-three times in the first seventeen measures of the movement). The remainder of the movement is expanded by Williams’ repetition of the phrase “Hosanna in excelsis,” which he employs as both a rhythmic device as well as a building block for harmonic structure. Using the same stacking mechanism he did for the word “sanctus,” he builds harmonic tension with the

“Hosanna” phrase from measure 49 until the end of the work in measure 56.47 b. Chant

The origin of the Missa Brevis is thought to have been an attempt to simplify the sung

Mass. Polyphony had become too complicated in the opinion of certain influential bodies in the

Roman Catholic clergy and the idea of a return to a simpler form would make the Mass material more relevant and easier for parishioners to assimilate. The Council of Trent, the Cecilian movement, and Pope Benedict XIV’s Encyclical of 1903 all lauded Gregorian chant as the pinnacle of Roman Catholic church music. The modern version of the small Mass isn’t particularly beholden to worshipper accessibility, but the concept of using chant (specifically,

Gregorian chant) as source material for the Missa Brevis is an idea that persists into twentieth and twenty-first century compositions.

47 Peter Williams, Missa Brevis (Greeley, CO: Twin Elm Publishing, 1993), 25.

Williams makes significant use of chant in his setting of the Mass. Bernarducci’s study revealed that only nine of the fifty-five works he reviewed in his study of modern Missae Breves employed chant techniques in their composition, so Williams’ Mass distinguishes itself in this regard.48 The Kyrie, Gloria, and Sanctus movements could all be argued to contain characteristics of Gregorian chant (for instance, stepwise motion, parallel organum, non-metric sections, monophony, and syllabic text setting). Williams included the marking “chant-like” in the Gloria movement at m. 24 over a portion of text, supporting the idea that his emulation of these characteristics was deliberate.49

The Dutch composer Ton de Leeuw (1926–1996) wrote in the foreword of his own Missa

Brevis, “References in the Missa Brevis to Gregorian chant and early polyphony are revealed, for example, in melodic movement in seconds or in recitation, parallel-writing in perfect intervals, and characteristic rhythmic suppleness.”50 Williams incorporates chant into his opus in much the same way. Bernarducci concluded that chant in similar modern Masses is used “as a form of recitation, texture change, and shift...to a more defined rhythmic section.”51 Williams’ Mass fits this description almost exactly, but also uses chant sections to modulate to new key areas (as an example, see mm. 25–29 of the Gloria). Also, the concept of moving to a more defined rhythmic section is inverted. The Gloria movement of Williams’ Missa Brevis opens with rhythmic alacrity and driving motion with the quarter note at 128. It is one of only two sections of the

48 Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey, 55.

49 Williams, Missa Brevis, 8.

50 Ton De Leeuw, Missa Brevis: Gemengd Koor = Mixed Choir a Cappella, Zeitgenössische Chormusik (Amstelveen, NL: Annie Bank, 1977), foreword.

51 Anthony Bernarducci, “Missa Brevis: An Ancient Genre Revitalized,” Choral Journal 57, no. 9 (2017): 14.

work wherein Williams prioritizes the rhythmic motif over the natural stress of the text. This setting lasts from mm.1-23. Once this section finishes, the tempo at m. 24 slows dramatically

(the quarter note shifts to 60) and the rhythmic notation once again adopts the natural stress of the words. He also uses this moment to modulate, setting up a chain of harmonic shifts through a section where the key signature has been removed, but numerous accidentals guide the development toward the next key area in m. 34 when the harmonic flux finally arrives at an A- flat Mixolydian tonality.52 c. Soloists

There is evidence that soloists may have been used in Mass settings throughout several periods in musical history. The solos written tended to reflect musical trends during the time of their writing and the techniques developed during this time sometimes carry over into modern

Mass settings. As an example, Williams occasionally alternates between solo and choral writing in his Missa Brevis, as was common in many Mass settings composed during the Baroque and

Classical eras. Solo writing is more often found in Missae Breves composed during the Baroque or Classical periods than during the Renaissance or Romantic epochs.

During the 20th century, the Missa Brevis was no longer confined to a liturgical context.

While institutions such as the Roman Catholic church were still active and respected, the proliferation of the musical art throughout all strata of society became commonplace. The choice to participate in a music-making ensemble with semi-professional practitioners became more viable in this era than in any other in all of recorded history. This democratization of the musical craft led to experimentation and permutation which had either been eschewed or outright rejected

52 Williams, Missa Brevis, 10.

in the past. Composers were free to write music in whatever style they saw fit with no regard to conventions, councils, or encyclicals. Not only were people free to explore whatever musical notions they could imagine, the capacity to reproduce and disseminate music became vastly more convenient and accessible. Additionally, the practice of writing Masses strictly for a concert performance, which gained popularity in the Romantic period, continued into the twentieth century (as well as the twenty-first). The familiar form of the Mass still retains the power to engage the imagination, but in modern times, large-scale musical settings of the Mass are often intended more for concert performance than as an enhancement of the Catholic liturgy.

Since musical traditions from previous eras only affect modern composers as much as they choose to be affected, there is a commensurate array of voicings and instrumentations in

Missae Breves from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Soloists are employed or not employed at the composer’s discretion. There are trends, however, in modern compositions which may be observed.

The two most common places for composers to utilize soloists are in the Gloria, specifically on the text Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, Qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis, and the Agnus Dei movement.53

Each of the key words/phrases listed connotes a particular change or moment in the

Gloria text, which composers tend to respond to with changes in voicing (and possibly other musical shifts as well). It is important to note that these decisions (like all others in music past the twentieth century) are highly individualized and not necessarily indicative of any deliberate

53 Bernarducci, “Missa Brevis: An Ancient Genre Revitalized,” 14.

trend. More likely, the text itself evokes a response which inspires composers to instigate such changes.

Williams’ Missa Brevis features three soloists: soprano, alto, and baritone.54 The soprano and alto solos are extremely brief (soprano= 9 mm., alto= 5 mm.) and are found in the Gloria movement. The baritone solo is found in the Agnus Dei movement and is more substantial than the soprano and alto solos (13 mm.). The baritone solo also establishes the new prime melodic theme of the Agnus Dei and is further set off by the addition of the piano for the first time in the entire Mass. The soprano and alto solos which begin at m. 34 are presaged in m. 24 of the Gloria with a unison line in the treble voices which Williams marks as “chant-like” and is accompanied by a significant change in tempo (the quarter note shifts from 128 to 60). After several measures of harmonic ambiguity (mm.24–33), the next stable key area (G Mixolydian) is established by the alto soloist. The soprano and alto solos in the Gloria are antiphonal in style and feature the choir responding to the soloists with a continuation of the text. Williams divides this antiphonal solo/ensemble section between mm. 34–47 of the Gloria movement as follows:

A solo: Qui tollis peccata mundi

Choir: Suscipe deprecationem nostrum

A solo: Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris

Choir: Miserere nobis

54 The solo in Williams’ Agnus Dei movement was originally written for a baritone (Bob Stauffacher), but there is no voice part assigned in the score. It is likely that Williams pragmatically chose to leave the solo voice unassigned, allowing performers to decide what worked best for their ensembles.

S solo: Quoniam tu solus Sanctus

Choir: Tu solus Dominus

S Solo: Jesu Christe (x5)

Choir: Tu solus Altissimus, Tu solus Dominus, Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe, Jesu Christe55

The section immediately following this portion begins at m. 48. It harkens back to the unified SA chant idiom, but at a lively tempo on the “Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris” text before concluding with a driving homophonic treatment of the remaining text in the movement. d. Tonality and Texture

Bernarducci’s review of contemporary Missae Breves revealed that a significant majority of the works studied “fell into the category of either functional western harmony or functional chromatic harmony similar to the Romantic period.”56 Williams’ work conforms to this expectation, exhibiting earmarks of functional harmony augmented by jazz- and chant-inspired material.

The texture of the small Mass genre has not changed significantly since its inception in the late fifteenth century. In order to project the text clearly, many examples of the genre tend towards textures which are homophonic.57 Modern examples, however, exhibit other common qualities:

55 Williams, Missa Brevis, 10–12.

56 Bernarducci, A Historical and Analytical Survey, 59.

57 Ibid.

One difference in the Modern Missae Breves is the use of mixed and asymmetrical meter pervading these works. Similar to the lack of bar lines in chant and the a cappella style of the Renaissance, composers of the twentieth century do not restrict their creativity for the sake of a consistent meter. Unlike the Missae Breves of the Renaissance, where the homophony was mostly syllabic, in the twentieth century Missae Breves, there is a mix of both syllabic and melismatic homophony. It was also very common to see the texture of homophonic pairs.58

Williams’ Missa Brevis conforms almost exactly to Bernarducci’s analysis of the modern genre. Measures 1–7 of the Kyrie movement of Williams’ Mass feature meter changes in every measure. There is not a single movement in the work which holds to the same meter throughout its entirety. The closest thing to a consistent meter is found in the Benedictus movement, where

Williams increases the sense of retardation and expansion by inserting a single measure of 6/4 five measures from the end of the section. Elsewhere, he regularly employs 2/4 measures in a predominantly 4/4 meter to give a sense of interruption or suspension. An example may be found in the two-bar figure employed throughout the Sanctus movement upon the initial iteration of the word Sanctus by successive voices (for example, measures 1–2).59

The use of asymmetrical meter is also found in the work. Williams employs asymmetrical meter in a transitional fashion, bridging a shift from duple meter to compound meter in the

Sanctus. Measures 1–19 are written in 4/4 and 2/4, then change to 7/8 from measures 20–30.

Measures 31 and 32 contain a driving rhythm in 6/4 which then evolves into a 6/8 for the next ten measures. He constantly shifts the metric nature of the section, typically in response to new sections of text.60

58 Ibid. 59 Williams, Missa Brevis, 14.

60 Ibid., 14–18.

Williams’ Mass is set almost entirely syllabically. This may be another nod to the chant origins of the text, or possibly a decision made to ensure clarity. The primarily homophonic and syllabic declamation of text allows for an uncluttered delivery of the Latin words.

Homophonic pairings are ubiquitous in Williams’ Mass. The Kyrie (mm. 13–17), the

Gloria (mm. 5–8), the Sanctus (mm. 20–26), the Benedictus (mm. 29–31), and the Agnus Dei

(mm. 36–40) all feature such pairings. More specifically, he invariably sets the soprano and alto voices as one pairing, then the tenor and bass as another set. Williams not only uses this device in every single movement of his Missa Brevis, but he even uses it the same way each time with a single exception. Nearly always, the soprano-alto pairing will initiate the phrase and be echoed shortly afterwards by the tenor-bass. This incident of phrase-chasing goes on for several measures, then the voices unify both harmonically and textually. The exception to this practice occurs in the Benedictus movement. When the soprano (divided) and alto voices sing their C major chord in m. 29, the tenor and bass response is not simply an echo of the phrase the trebles sang a moment before as transpires in every other movement. Instead, the lower voices intone a final utterance of the opening subject of the movement Benedictus qui venit (Blessed is he who comes) before all voices conclude the movement with a pianissimo “Hosanna.”61

61 Ibid., 26.

Chapter 4

Polystylism

Peter Williams’ Missa Brevis incorporates different styles into one cohesive work. A part of Williams’ compositional creativity is rooted in this blending of many styles of music into unique musical outcomes. Since this approach capitalizes on borrowing elements of different musical styles, this section explores the use of musical borrowing and the origin of the concept of polystylism itself. a. Musical Borrowing

Musical borrowing involves taking portions of a musical work and incorporating them into a different musical work. This practice has been exercised throughout the history of recorded music and perhaps for as long as music has existed. As the musicologist J. Peter

Burkholder states:

A new piece may use or refer to existing music in various ways. It may feature qualities identified with another tradition, as when a modern symphonic work incorporates sounds and gestures from jazz or Baroque music. A piece for one instrument may use figuration typical of another, such as fanfares in a piano sonata. Within a tradition, a piece may use common melodic formulae and formal conventions. Most broadly, all music draws on the repertory of notes, scales, gestures and other elements available in that tradition, so that every piece borrows from earlier pieces in its own tradition. Thus, in the widest sense, the history of borrowing music is the history of improvisation, composition and performance.62

62 J. Peter Burkholder, "Borrowing," Grove Music Online, 2001, accessed February 13, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline-com.ezproxy2.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781 561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000052918.

Beyond this wide-ranging definition, musical borrowing may also be applied more specifically:

The study of borrowing in music focuses, not on this broadest of interrelations, but on the use in a new composition of one or more elements from a specific piece. Musical borrowing has typically been studied as an issue related to a particular repertory or genre, such as the Renaissance Mass or the 20th-century avant-garde, or to a particular composer, such as Handel or Mahler. Yet the use of existing music as a basis for new music is pervasive in all periods and traditions, parallel to and yet different from the practices of borrowing, reworking and allusion that contribute to the formation of traditions and the creation of meaning in literature, architecture, painting and sculpture.63

History is replete with composers (and artists of all mediums) borrowing material from one another as inspiration for creating entirely new works. While this may sometimes create contention or accusations of plagiarism, it is also eminently reasonable that certain sounds or experiences inspire creative people to pursue new ideas on their own. The concept of musical borrowing acknowledges the input of outside sources, but nonetheless gives credit for the resultant artistic creation to the composer of the newly inspired work. b. Alfred Schnittke

The writings of the Russian composer, theorist, and musicologist Alfred Schnittke (1934–

1998) are particularly useful in explaining the blending of different styles. The term polystylism, or the blending of two or more stylistic features in a single composition, is most significantly connected with Schnittke, though the practice itself is actually a re-imagining of the practice of musical borrowing which has been employed for centuries. According to Schnittke:

The polystylistic tendency has always existed in concealed form in music, and continues to do so… So is it worth even discussing the subject? I believe it is essential to do so, because in recent times the polystylistic method has become a conscious device. Even without making direct quotations, a composer often plans a polystylistic effect in advance, whether it be the shock effect of a clashing

63 Burkholder, “Borrowing.”

collage of music from different times, a flexible glide through phases of musical history, or the use of allusions so subtle that they seem accidental.64

Schnittke goes on to make the case that while musical borrowing has existed since virtually the inception of music, his concept of polystylism utilizes these borrowings somewhat differently than previous works. The genesis of his thought process may be traced back to Schnittke’s Russian roots. The Russian musicologist, composer, and critic

Boris Vladimirovich Asaf’yev (1884–1949) was a highly influential figure in Russian musicology during Schnittke’s lifetime. In particular, Asaf’yev advocated for a concept he called intonatsiya (интонация) or “intonation.”

The word intonatsiya is a knowing reference to Asaf’yev’s idiosyncratic usage, in which “intonation” is actually something like what linguists mean by the word “morpheme,” a minimal meaningful or communicative verbal unit, or like what music analysts following Leonard Ratner mean by the word “topic,” a musical term that makes extroversive reference to recognizable, preexisting musical genres, presumably within the listener’s range of experience.65

Asaf’yev’s model of intonation included sections of music which could themselves be used as materials to build larger musical works. This take on musical manipulation may have informed Schnittke’s development and eventual conviction that the incorporation of multiple styles/ideas/motives into a work of music wasn’t just borrowing, but was an art unto itself. As

Schnittke said, “in spite of all the complications and possible dangers of the polystylistic method, its merits are now obvious. It widens the range of expressive possibilities…it creates a wider musical world and a general democratization of style.”66 It is unknown to what degree Peter

64 Alfred Schnittke, John Derek Goodliffe, Aleksandr Ivashkin, A Schnittke Reader, Russian Music Studies (Bloomington, Ind., Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002), 89.

65 Klára Móricz, and Simon Alexander Morrison, Funeral Games in Honor of Arthur Vincent Lourié (Oxford University Press, 2014), 96.

66 Schnittke, A Schnittke Reader, 98.

Williams may have been familiar with the writings of Alfred Schnittke or the philosophy of

Boris Asaf’yev, but Williams’ music attests to his affirmation of the “democratization of style”

Schnittke cherished. c. Terminology

Williams likely didn’t specifically utilize Schnittke’s research while composing, but

Schnittke’s definitions are nonetheless useful when analyzing the blending of styles in Williams’

Missa Brevis. One of the difficulties often encountered when discussing polystylism is a lack of accepted terminology. This problem is slowly being overcome due to the efforts of figures like

Schnittke and the composer and theorist, Leonard Meyer (1918–2007), who had similar perceptions of musical borrowing, despite the fact that they did not use the same vocabulary to describe it.67 I will primarily apply the terminology coined by Schnittke in this study. According to his theory, polystylism may be understood as having two basic categories: quotation and allusion. Quotation encompasses “a whole range of devices, from using characteristic microelements of the style of a particular epoch or of a foreign national tradition (e.g., typical melodic turns, harmonic progressions, cadence formulas) to resorting to literal or somewhat modified quotations, or pseudo quotations.”68 Also, within the paradigm of quotation, he lists another subcategory he refers to as adaptation. This is classified as “the retelling of an alien musical text in one’s own musical language… or a free development of alien material in one’s

67 Ibid., 13.

68 Schnittke, A Schnittke Reader, 87.

own style.”69 Williams makes use of both the overarching quotation and the subtype of adaptation in his Missa Brevis.

Alternately, allusion “manifests itself in subtle hints and unfulfilled promises verging on quotation, without, however, becoming one… Allusion is characteristic of neoclassicism, which flourished in the twenties and is still encountered nowadays.”70 Obviously, there is some subjective overlap between these designators, and even Schnittke himself conceded that “it is hard to distinguish between quotation and allusion.”71 When considering what is required in order to analyze the traits of Peter Williams’ works through Schnittke’s polystylistic lens, the breadth of possibilities covered by his designations of quotation and allusion are sufficient to the task. These terms will be applied in the Analysis portion of this document as illustrations of

Williams’ compositional techniques.

69 Ibid., 87.

70 Kirsten Peterson, “Structural Threads in the Patchwork Quilt: Polystylistics and Motivic Unity in Selected works by Alfred Schnittke” (PhD diss., University of Connecticut, 2000), 13.

71 Petersen, “Structural Threads,” 14.

Chapter 5

Analysis

Each movement of the Mass will be analyzed to determine which elements illustrate Williams’ polystylistic practices. The analysis will vary from movement to movement as different devices are used in different ways in each section of the work. Each discrete movement will be analyzed in a more general sense as well. This helps to provide context to the polystylistic choices

Williams makes in each musical moment. Thus, various devices, both polystylistic and not, will be discussed in the review of the Missa Brevis. The elements discussed will include the following: chant and organum, duets, points of imitation, text, extended chords (tertian extensions–9ths, 11ths, 13ths, etc.), cadences, harmonic language, modulatory techniques, alternatim, modal borrowing, rhythmic imitation, harmonic motion, word painting, secondary dominants, modal manipulation, harmonic planing, polychords, texture, and suspensions. a. Kyrie

(1) Organum

Williams makes use of a number of polystylistic techniques in the Kyrie movement, immediately setting the stage for using what Schnittke would term adaptation. The opening movement of the Missa Brevis begins with open fifths in parallel movement for the first six measures. This parallel organum (a form of rudimentary polyphony first documented in the medieval era) treatment lasts until m. 7 when it evolves to a far more modern musical figure.

Measures 7–9 divert toward oblique organum (one note stays stationary while the other note moves), but feature chromatic movement which would not have been found in early forms of

Gregorian chant. Most particularly, these sequences feature prominent augmented fourths or diminished fifths through the course of these measures. These set the stage for an arrival in m.

10 on a reiteration of the opening theme, but now altered into parallel tritones—a figure that runs counter to the rules of early parallel organum. Through this motion, Williams has adapted a centuries-old technique to accommodate modern harmonic sensibilities (see Musical Example

5.1).

Musical Example 5.1. Williams Kyrie, mm. 5–10

Williams further preserves the chant-inspired motion of the opening by setting the Kyrie in a host of different time signatures, with 5/4, 4/4, and 3/4 alternating with one another for nearly every measure on the first page alone. He seems to have done this in an attempt to emulate the non-metered origins of chant. Removing a predictable consistent meter allowed

Williams to push the piece into a semblance of free-form motion while still maintaining concrete meters for performers to follow.

As is shown in Musical Example 5.2, mm. 11 and 12 close the first section with an unusual succession of chords: D-flat, ( a major third, doubled in treble and bass voices), an inverted E-flat seventh, a D-flat dyad, then a G major dyad. The first and third sections of his

Kyrie movement diligently avoid including the third in final chords, possibly as an homage to the concept of the sonorous open fifth from the medieval period when chant was conceived and codified. Williams’ unusual cadence in this section (D-flat dyad to a G dyad) is another example of Schnittke’s adaptation, the imposition of Williams’ musical language upon an established musical convention.

Musical Example 5.2. Williams Kyrie, mm.11–12

The tritone movement of the final cadence is unusual even by the standards of modern functional harmony. Williams’ conflation of medieval chant with more modern cadential motion might even be interpreted as allusion in a broader sense which culminates in the adapted final dyad of the section.

(2) Duets and Points of Imitation

Another example of stylistic borrowing in the Kyrie movement takes place in mm. 13–16.

As can be seen in Musical Example 5.3, Williams starts the section with the parallel organum with which the movement began, but the soprano and alto enter first, followed by the tenors and basses singing the same notes with the same rhythm, but displaced by two beats. The resultant tones yield major and minor seventh chords, as well as fleeting polychords. While these harmonies are interesting in both sonority and method of arrival, the sense of horizontal motion overwhelms these transient chordal stacks in favor of a mounting urgency to the cadence.

(3) Text and Extended Chords

The text “Christe eleison” is set with significantly chromatic pitch content, perhaps reflecting the appalling state of human affairs without Christ’s influence. This imploring section closes in m. 19 on an (enharmonic) C half-diminished 7th chord in second inversion–hardly a rock-solid resolution, but might be interpreted as giving voice to the anguish of a humanity untended (see Musical Example 5.3). Williams actually referred to diminished chords and chords featuring tritones as “cry chords” because he felt they invoked a sense of anguish or loss.72 This is a blend of adaptation and word-painting: it takes a fairly straightforward sample of organum and twists it with modern harmonic sensibility while simultaneously depicting a possible interpretation of the text which culminates in a moment of potent uncertainty–the C half- diminished 7th chord. Interestingly, Williams’ perspective is an echo the eighteenth century

German musical aesthetic of Empfindsamkeit (sensitive and subjective expression) which was

72 Tina Halvorson, interview with author, June 1, 2019.

espoused by such notable musical figures as Johann Quantz (1697–1773) and Carl Philipp

Emanuel Bach (1714–1788).

Musical Example 5.3. Williams Kyrie, mm. 13–19

(4) Cadences and Extended Chords

Williams also avoids using tertian harmony at the end of the first section (the section encompassing mm. 1–12) and the end of the last section (including mm. 20–24). This may be interpreted as another nod to the medieval idiom in which he was working. The prominent harmonic thirds that do appear occur in the extended cadences at m. 11 and at mm. 21 and 22 as he is making his way back to an open fifth sonority after his tritone diversions.

It is also relevant to note that Williams employs what might be called “stopped cadences” twice in this movement. The first comes at m. 9 where the end of the “eleison” is pulled up short by the return to the opening motif in its tritone form. The harmonic progression of the “Christe eleison” through mm. 7–9 is halted by this abrupt transition and the “cadence” in m. 9 hardly merits the moniker. This treatment is much more stark in m. 19, where he progresses from a first inversion D major chord on beat one to a chord spelled F-sharp, E-flat, B-flat, C. This cluster of notes can be respelled as a half diminished C7 chord– C, E-flat, G-flat, B-flat and, as mentioned in the Text and Extended Chords section, occurs in its second inversion. This unusual phrase closure seems to be a nod to Williams’ jazz background, though handled in thoroughly non- traditional fashion. These chords might be interpreted as quotation in Schnittke’s lexicon, borrowing the language of another musical genre. Once again, the sense of harmonic motion is interrupted at m. 19, then resets at m. 20 prior to the cadence.

The last several measures of the piece (mm. 20–24) revisit the parallel tritone motive first iterated in m. 10. As can be seen in Musical Example 5.4, the interval between the treble voices in these measures decreases with every measure: from tritone (E-flat and A), to perfect fourth (E- natural and A), to major third (F and A), to a major second on the downbeat of the penultimate

measure. Throughout this phrase, the soprano voice continuously repeats the pitch A, foreshadowing the ultimate open A chord at the end. The bass and tenor voices exhibit contrary motion to the soprano and alto voices. In m. 20, they are a tritone apart, starting on the same pitches that the alto and soprano just produced two beats earlier (E-flat and A). M. 21 has them moving to C-sharp and A; m. 21 moves to C natural and A, and finally, in the downbeat of m. 23 to, a B and A dyad. This protracted journey to the cadence moves mm. 20–22 through a new tonality each measure, beginning with the tritones in m. 20. The contrary motion between the treble and bass voices results in a new chord at every downbeat: an E-flat tritone in m. 20, A major (first inversion) in m. 21, F major (first inversion) in m. 22, then the denouement in mm.

23–24 as the chords move from a G9 to a G minor 9th (both in first inversion), and finally on the open A dyad. Two other movements in his Mass end with whole step motion to the final chord, but this is the only movement where the penultimate chord has a minor sonority. Williams’ final chord omits the third, which moves the ear away from the complexity of the extended chords and harkens back to the open fifths at the beginning of the movement.

One other notable feature of the approach to the final cadence is the bass line. From mm.

21–24, the bass moves by descending half steps. The harmonic motion from the last chord of the

Kyrie movement dovetails into the beginning of the Gloria, creating a dominant–tonic relationship (open A chord at the end of the Kyrie to the D major chord which starts the Gloria).

If this V-I movement is taken into account, the chromatic descent in the bass may be seen as a prolonged dominant gesture. In fact, given the relatively passive nature of the cadence that does occur at the end of the Kyrie, it perhaps makes more sense that the conclusion of the Kyrie movement is primarily constructed in order to launch the opening of the Gloria. It is unknown if

Williams conceived this transition from the inception of both pieces. The link between the movements, however, is harmonically very strong, so mere coincidence seems unlikely.

Musical Example 5.4. Williams Kyrie, mm. 21-25

b. Gloria

(1) Text Setting

Williams expands upon the previously covered techniques in the Gloria movement. This movement abandons the organum model and instead starts on a D major chord in 6/4 time and offers a sterling example of Williams’ text setting technique. While the rhythm of the Gloria movement feels distinctly modern, he makes sure to align the text stress with the metric stress.

Moreover, he handles the surrounding text in such a fashion as to emphasize the important words. The eighth notes of “in excelsis” at the end of measure one point unerringly to the “Deo” on the downbeat of the second measure. Deo is Latin for “God,” and thus is a critical word in a

sacred work. This emphasis is compounded by the following “et in terra” (and on earth) which includes another eighth note run which is then followed by a C major 9th chord on a half note

(the longest note value in the movement so far) on the downbeat with the word “pax” (peace).

Williams regularly indicates word stress by either 1) arranging the text so that the most important word in a line of text falls on a metrically accented beat or 2) by upward melodic motion. The second version of the text accent occurs in measure 5 in “Lau-DA-mus”. This form of text stress is implemented during another section where the soprano and alto sing in tandem and are echoed by the tenor and bass–a duet technique we saw Williams use in the Kyrie as well.

(2) Harmonic Language

While the Gloria movement is written in the key of D major, Williams offers what might be a simultaneous nod to both the church modes of the medieval period and to some jazz scalar practice by employing C naturals in the opening section (mm.1–4); clearly placing the opening of the Gloria in D Mixolydian. While the use of the Mixolydian scale by itself is not sufficient to indicate that Williams intended to introduce jazz elements, its appearance in a movement permeated with extended chords strongly suggests that this choice was inspired by his familiarity with jazz. This sort of polystylistic approach builds from what was established in the Kyrie movement: a simultaneity of old and new devices.

Williams’ harmonic presentation in the Gloria seems to be predicated upon starting from powerful, simple sonority, undergoing harmonic tumult, and then returning to where he started in an altered form. This scheme illustrates how Williams could take a chant-inspired tune and inform it with his own musical ideas and identity per Schnittke’s paradigm.

(3) Duets and More Harmonic Language

The “Laudamus te, Adoramus te” section that begins in m. 5 goes on in the duet fashion used in the Kyrie movement. It diverges in m. 9 by having the bass splinter off into its own part and the tenor join the soprano and alto. Williams employs the duet treatment again in mm. 11-14, but this time between the soprano and tenor. What is unusual about this duet pairing is the answer from the alto and bass, which features contrary motion to an implied V chord. This sequence repeats, then ultimately dodges the dominant and the tonic of the key of D entirely and instead moves to an open-fifth E dyad. Williams constantly foils harmonic expectations with implied movements that end up diverting elsewhere and by employing accidentals which derail predictable patterns (i.e., the implied dominant chord in measure 12 would be much stronger if mm. 11–13 contained the C-sharp of the key signature). Considering the way the soprano and tenor lines in mm. 10–13 move, however, there is a strong implication of G major. Williams has effectively conjured two simultaneous harmonic expectations which are both frustrated with his resolution to the E dyad. He then uses the E dyad to transition to a new portion of text with a different treatment than the chasing duets seen in the Kyrie (see Musical Example 5.5).

Musical Example 5.5. Williams Gloria, mm. 11–14

Williams opts for a different treatment of chant at m. 15, though there was a preview of this type of movement in the section immediately preceding this one. As Musical Example 5.6 shows, mm. 15–16 employ contrary motion, much like the bass and alto just demonstrated in

Musical Example 5.5. This particular usage, however, features a true inversion (mostly occurring

in m. 16), with all of the intervals in each moving voice directly mirroring the other. This particular sequence is brief and concludes with a 9/4 measure to reset metric expectations.

Musical Example 5.6. Williams, Gloria mm. 14–17

Following the 9/4 measure, the soprano and alto launch a sequence of parallel fourths countered by long dotted half notes in the bass and tenor. The constant pitting of treble versus bass voices is pervasive, but he achieves different musical effects by varying the content of treble/bass voice interplay.

(4) Chant, Extended Chords, and Modulatory Techniques

Measure 23 includes the direction “chant-like.” The extreme shift of tempo (from quarter at 128 to quarter at 60) denotes a change in atmosphere and a transition to a new musical idea.

Williams has the treble voices singing a chant-like melody, which is answered by the tenor and bass in unison singing the same line, but a perfect fourth higher (the trebles started on an F- sharp, the basses start on a B). Williams then reiterates the line in the altos, but when it returns in the soprano, he places it on an A-flat. Measures 25–29 of the Gloria movement outline an effective modulation achieved by imposing accidentals in m. 28 in anticipation of the new tonal center in m. 29. He eschews the D major key signature of the opening, opting instead for a wide- open field (no sharps or flats) upon which he makes alterations in the line by inserting

accidentals. By clearing the key signature, Williams is free to lead the listener through a development in constant harmonic flux. Leading up to m. 29, the harmonic cues seem to indicate an eventual destination of C-sharp minor, but by modifying the third at the resolution on the downbeat of m. 29, Williams slips instead into a D-flat major sonority. This is further supported by the A-flat 7th chord on the third beat of m. 28, giving a powerfully dominant-tonic sense to the transition between mm. 28 and 29. The fact that he switches the accidentals from the sharps found in mm. 25–27 to flats in m. 28 underscores the deliberate nature of this pivot. Despite this wandering harmonic language, the music is still powerfully tonal (see Musical Example 5.7).

Musical Example 5.7. Williams Gloria, mm. 25–30

Williams may have styled this technique of shifting accidentals after a practice followed by several Classical era composers when approaching modulations. In Musical Example 5.8 by

Franz Schubert (1797–1828), the changes are anticipated by inserting accidentals presaging the shift of harmonic focus in similar fashion to mm. 25–30 of Williams’ Gloria.

Musical Example 5.8. Schubert, Sonata in B-flat Major, D960, 1st Movement, mm. 44–48

(5) Alternatim, Modal Borrowing, and Extended Chords

The “qui tollis peccata mundi” (who takes away the sins of the world), opens the next section in an alternatim-style setting (alternating between a solo voice and the choral ensemble).

Williams is, again, taking a deep dive into early music treatment of chant forms, featuring a solo soprano voice intoning the first portion of the text and the choir responding with the following

“Suscipe deprecationem nostrum.” He adapts the choral response in m. 35 by beginning on an

A-flat minor chord, but eventually mutates to an A-flat dyad. In addition to the call-and-response form, Williams also re-establishes the sense of the Mixolydian mode for this section (mm. 34–

39) with his definitive use of G-flats. Later, following the soprano solo in m. 39, he again incorporates jazz chords into the texture, concluding the text “Dominus” in m. 40 with a G-flat

9th chord resolving to a D-flat major 7th. There is an unusual sense of cadence at the end of m.

40 (reasonable to expect, given the G-flat to D-flat movement in the bass voice), which is

somewhat complicated by the lack of contrary motion towards the resolution. Williams uses this uncertainty to prolong the sense of harmonic suspension, despite a cadence that (if voiced differently) could evoke a stronger sense of closure. The inclusion of the extended chords contributes to the constant feeling of evolution in the work and also sets the stage for shocking effects like the modulation in m. 41 to m. 42. He moves from a feeling of A-flat minor or major

(A-flat uncertain?) to E minor or major (uncertain). He achieves this by means of reiterating the opening chord of m. 40, but an augmented second higher. What was spelled F-flat, A-flat, C-flat,

E-flat in m. 40 suddenly, over a bar line, is transformed into G, B, D, F-sharp. Despite the abrupt change, the repeated pattern holds the choral texture together over the unusual transition into a key which only lasts for two measures. Williams abandons the augmented second motion and reverts back to A-flat major in m. 44. He finishes the slow chant section with another series of chasing “Jesu Christe” repetitions in mm. 44–46 and ending with the solo soprano lofting a lone

E-flat under a fermata.

Alternately, and perhaps more appropriately, one could analyze mm. 40–44 as a series of

“slash chords” where the chord symbol comes before the slash and the bass note after the slash.73

Williams’ familiarity with jazz and pop music may have led him to regard the harmony in this section as a series of chords in the soprano, alto, and tenor voices with an independent bass voice offering up a countermelody. Looking at these harmonies through this filter, the sequence of chords in m. 40 may be observed as: A-flat minor/F-flat, G-flat major/E-flat, G-flat major/A-flat,

F-minor/D-flat. All of the chords above the bass notes in this portion are in second inversion and

73 Steven Strunk, "Harmony (i)," Grove Music Online, 2003, accessed March 16, 2020, https://www-oxfordmusiconline- com.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo- 9781561592630-e-2000990085.

move downward simultaneously. The slash chord analysis presents a simpler way to understand this passage than would traditional harmonic analysis.

This entire sequence speaks strongly to Williams’ jazz and pop roots and his ability to make harmonies move in unexpected directions. Williams’ polystylistic compositional tendencies are underscored by the multiple, valid forms of analysis that can be applied (see

Musical Example 5.9).

Musical Example 5.9. Williams Gloria, mm. 38–43

(6) Duets and “Speed Chant”

The final section of the movement returns the tempo to 184 to the quarter note and starts at m. 48 with an Allegro giojoso marking. This jubilant explosion continues Williams’ practice of treble/bass echoing with the sopranos and altos blasting into the “cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria

Dei Patris” (with the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father) in a line that, while fairly chant- like in contour, moves at a distinctly un-chant-like velocity. This text is then repeated by the tenor and bass voices in parallel fifths, which move into smaller intervals. When the voices reunite in m. 52, they sing the text in four-part, vivacious rhythm until coming to the driving sequence of dotted half notes that begin at m. 54. This segment features the soprano and bass parts holding steady on an E-flat from m. 54 through m. 61 while the alto and tenor create harmonic interest by inching away from one another in stepwise contrary motion (see Musical

Example 5.10). This unusual styling of “speed chant” coupled with quasi-organum movement makes for a distinctive and unusual ending which, notably, deigns to include the third in its final chord in the second tenor part. Additionally, Williams again chooses to move from a flat VII chord to a major I chord at the final cadence.

Musical Example 5.10. Williams Gloria, mm. 48–51

c. Sanctus

The Sanctus movement applies several of Williams’ techniques seen in the first two movements. The opening of the Sanctus movement is somewhat unusual, as many Sanctus movements often begin homophonically, then diverge into greater textural variety at the text

“pleni sunt coeli et terra.” Williams chose to set the text in a different fashion.

(1) Extended Chords

The Sanctus movement begins by building up chords one note at a time, starting with the bass and ending with the first soprano. The five-note chord that forms has a moment of sustained vibration before the chord is dispelled and the next chord begins (see Musical Example 5.11).

This setting is somewhat unusual for the Sanctus text and its effect is magnified by the fact that

Williams builds these stacks of pitches with unusual chord extensions. Measure 1 introduces a series of notes which culminate in m. 2 with a D major 7th chord in first inversion with an added

9th. The same sequence occurs again in m. 3, only this time it concludes in m.4 with a C-sharp minor triad with an added 9th in the bass. While the non-homophonic presentation of this text may be unusual, given Williams’ piano background, he probably was accustomed to rolling chords in this fashion.

Musical Example 5.11. Williams Sanctus, mm. 1–4

Once again, there are chords in the Sanctus which may be analyzed either as extended chords in traditional nomenclature or as slash chords from the pop idiom. Measure 4 may be seen as a C-sharp 9th chord as mentioned above, but an even simpler analysis labels it as a C-sharp minor/ F-sharp. This practice continues throughout the sections of chordal stacking in the

Sanctus, most relevantly in mm. 3–4 (C-sharp minor/F-sharp), 7–10 (C / D and e minor/D), and

15–16 (D/C).

Harmonically, the opening of the Sanctus movement functions as a protracted dominant extension for the first 16 measures. The first cadence point in m. 6 ends on a D7 chord. Measures

7–11 continue to dwell upon a D pedal point in the bass through medial harmonic motion in the treble voices in mm. 7–10. The voices unify textually in m. 11 on the word “Sanctus” on a B-flat

9th chord. The harmony then transitions through an F chord in the last note of m. 11 to a G suspended 4th, which itself resolves to a G chord in m. 12. The transition from m. 11 to m. 12 also features a VII-I progression (the last chord of m. 11 to the first chord of m. 12), a progression Williams has used before. Williams shows a penchant for stepwise resolutions in several of his works and in other portions of the Missa Brevis in particular (e.g., the last two measures of the Gloria movement featured a G major 7th chord resolving to an A-flat major chord). This resolution is a foretaste of things to come, as mm. 13 and 14 again push the extended chords with a C 11th and mm. 15 and 16 build a D7 chord in second inversion before the forte arrival of all voices on a unified open G dyad. It is significant that this arrival in m. 17 has a very different and declamatory presentation than the previous iterations of “Dominus Deus

Sabaoth,” since it presages the end of the opening section of the movement.

Several sections of analysis overlap in the next portion when the harmonic progression in mm. 27–28 ends on a stopped cadence on an A9 chord. Williams’ use of extended chords can be found in nearly every facet of the composition. Their use is not restricted to deployment at particular musical markers, but is a feature of his blending of styles.

(2) Cadences

After a strong assertion of the key of G in m. 17 (there is no real sense of major or minor until m. 18 with the introduction of the B and the F-sharp pitches), Williams executes a quick pivot at the subito mezzo-piano at the end of m. 18, and m. 19 moves rapidly through the chords

A minor 9th, C major, and E dyad. This ends the opening section in the relative minor of the

strongly emphasized key of G. The absent third in the final E chord of m. 19 is something also seen in the first two movements and once again drives home the original inspiration of the piece

(organum/chant). This particular cadence at m. 19, however, is unique. The bass line in m. 19 moves up in a minor triad (A, C, E) while the chords move from greater complexity to simpler

(paired fifth dyads in the A minor 9th, to a C major chord to another E dyad). This relatively quick abandonment of the significantly extended chords encountered up to this point has a fairly abrupt hollowing effect on the core of the harmonic language, exacerbated by the unexpected diversion to the relative minor of what has thus far been the predominant tonal center. Pivoting away from the generous usage of extended chords in the opening section, the open-fifth dyad at the end under a fermata resets the ear to a simpler level and sets the stage for the following section which features the soprano/alto duet in unison, but in an asymmetrical meter (i.e., the focus of interest is shifting from the harmony to the rhythm). This closure sets up the transition into the second section which modulates to the key of A major. As has been seen before,

Williams uses the conclusion of one section to serve a harmonic function for the succeeding portion. He ends on an open E dyad in m. 19 immediately before the soprano and alto begin the second section on an E pitch, but in the key of A major–thus tying both sections together in a dominant-tonic relationship (see Musical Example 5.12).

Musical Example 5.12. Williams Sanctus, mm. 17–20

Williams employs the “stopped cadences” technique found in the Kyrie movement once again in the Sanctus in Musical Example 5.13. While the feeling of phrase conclusion is more decided here than it was in the first movement, it is a very non-traditional cadence and feels more like a fragment of a musical phrase than a complete idea. This idea is never developed, however, instead being repeated once (mm. 29 and 30 are an exact repeat of mm. 27 and 28) before moving into new material. Starting in m. 26, the polyphony moves through a succession of B major chord inversions which culminate in m. 28 in an A9 chord (slash chord analysis of m. 28 offers the simpler option of A/B). Once again, Williams’ apparent proclivity towards stepwise chordal resolution is featured. The rhythmic content of mm. 27–28 leaves no doubt that the A9 chord is the destination of the phrase (even including appropriate textual word stress on the downbeat of m. 28), despite the relatively unstable quality of the closure. The stopped cadences in mm. 28 and 30 have the feeling of pre-dominant chords due to the heavy usage of D-sharps in

mm. 25–29, which pushes the tonal center to an E pitch. The sense of pre-dominant functionality is never realized fully, as mm. 31 & 32 are given over to a fortissimo repetition of an open F- sharp chord in syncopated rhythm. This energetic rhythmic pattern in all voices based on the F- sharp takes place for two measures and is then reinforced by the addition of the C-sharp in m. 32.

These two measures are a rhythmic and tonal preview of the end of the movement, but when encountered here, they are an isolated slice of F-sharp tonality in a constellation of E and B major tendencies.

Musical Example 5.13. Williams Sanctus, mm. 26–32

(3) Duets

The duet technique which Williams adopted in the first two movements is on display again in the third movement. It occurs in the soprano and alto voices (which is the most common duet pairing in the entire work) in m. 20. The tenors and basses echo the treble voices in m. 22 in

a sequence one whole-step higher, but the upper voices foil this development by keeping the sopranos on the same pitch content they sang initially, with the altos in mirror motion a third beneath them. As in previous movements, the treble and bass voices play off one another for a time, creating new harmonies by being offset by a whole step from one another. The lines coalesce in m. 27 and resume a homophonic presentation of the text.

(4) Rhythmic Imitation

The section that begins at page 19 features several small cells of repeated motives in the soprano, alto and tenor voices. These play comfortably within an A major tonality from mm. 33–

39. Each of these motives features the same rhythmic configuration: three eighth notes, one quarter note, one eighth note, one quarter note, then concluding with a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth rest. Each of these cells takes place in 6/8 time over the course of two measures. While the rhythms in these voices are the same, the pitches are different, so when the entrances are staggered, there is a sense of anacrustic overlap to the opening three eighth notes in each voice (see Musical Example 5.14).

Musical Example 5.14. Williams Sanctus, mm.33–35, Imitative Rhythmic Cells

(5) Secondary Dominants, Harmonic Motion, and Word Painting

The bass is introduced in m. 37, but instead of conforming to the A major found in the other voices, it begins an ascent on an E major scale through a series of dotted half notes encompassing degrees 2–5, heralding an ultimate tonality shift to E major in mm. 40-41. As

Musical Example 5.15 indicates, the bass rise beginning in m. 37 starts on F-sharp and proceeds up by steps to B. After the B arrival, the bass moves to an E in m. 41 (in a classic dominant/tonic motion) and falls in immediately with the other three voices in supporting an A major tonality.

The bass segment from mm. 37 to 40 acts as a protracted secondary dominant to E major extended over four measures. This harmonic evolution takes place simultaneously with the A major tonality which began the section in m. 33. Williams appears to concede to the transition to

E major in m. 40, even going so far as to add a D-sharp in the tenor line. A closer look reveals that while he does set up m. 40 as a pivot to E major (particularly via the D-sharp giving the movement from m. 40 to m. 41 a feeling of V–I), m. 41 instantly reasserts the key of A major,

eliminating the D-sharps of the previous measure and moving stepwise through scales degrees 5–

1 in A major in the bass. Measure 42 is a mini-sequence of m. 41 on the text “pleni sunt coeli”

(heaven is full). Williams illustrates the abundance of heaven by repeating both the text and the musical content of m. 41 one step higher, in effect, “overflowing” the musical figure established in m. 40.

Musical Example 5.15. Williams Sanctus, mm. 37–42, Repeated Text in Sequence

Measures 43–46 serve as prelude for the conclusion of the movement by exactly recalling mm. 27–30. Measures 27–30 preceded the introduction of the rhythmically energetic, syncopated figure in 6/4 time in mm. 31 and 32. At m. 47, Williams reiterates mm. 31 and 32 as he launches the movement’s close. Measures 49 through 54 feature an accumulation of pitches which becomes more dense with each measure. The sequence of added pitches (at a rate of one new pitch per measure) is: F-sharp, D, E, G-sharp, C-sharp and then ultimately to the open F-sharp dyad with F-sharp or C-sharp sounding in all voices. As each new pitch is introduced, each successive measure reiterates the rhythmic figure established in m. 31, gaining harmonic complexity with each repetition. The sequence of pitches may be interpreted as a rather complicated C-sharp minor flat ninth and eleventh classical chord (C-sharp, D, E, F-sharp, and

G-sharp), or via the slash chord analysis which identifies it as a C-sharp minor flat ninth/F- sharp.74 In the context of the movement’s concluding F-sharp sonority, the slash chord may be seen as a minor five chord with an added minor 9th. Williams seems to have recognized this as a highly unusual chord as he included a courtesy D-natural in the tenor voice from mm. 50–53 despite the fact that there is no D-sharp in the key signature and the last D-sharp in the harmony was five measures previous in m. 45. He utilized a similar courtesy natural on the E pitch in the soprano and alto pitches from mm. 51–53, presumably to ensure that the C-sharp minor flat 9th chord was preserved intact. This accumulation of pitches is a curious blend of tone cluster

(degrees 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 in F-sharp minor) and functional harmony (pitches within the chord have harmonic function, but are largely obscured), evolving through the crescendo marked in measure

51 before arrival at the jubilant, fortissimo open F-sharp dyad on the text “Hosanna in excelsis.

Amen” in mm. 54–56 (see Musical Example 5.16)

74 This could also be interpreted as a C-sharp minor flat ninth chord over a pedal F-sharp.

Musical Example 5.16. Williams Sanctus, mm. 48–53, Rhythmic Motives and Courtesy

Accidentals

(6) Metric Interpretation

Performance of the rhythm found in Musical Example 5.16 might prove difficult for some ensembles. The portion is written in 3/2 meter, but the tied eighth notes found in every measure of this section may prove difficult for a choir that is not adept at feeling syncopation such as Williams has written. The section could be conducted as three large beats which each contain four eighth notes, but it may also be useful to reinterpret this meter as 12/8. While the syncopation is still present, beats one and two are explicit and may serve as a better guide to a choir in need of guidance.

(7) Stepwise Cadence

Also noteworthy is the fact that the final cadence of the piece is stepwise. Coming from a powerfully repeated F-sharp tonality, the final two chords of the movement are E, G-sharp, B to

F-sharp, A-sharp, C-sharp. The VII to I cadence at the end of the Sanctus movement provides further evidence of Williams’ preference for jazz/pop-inspired stepwise cadences and another example of adaptation. d. Benedictus

(1) Extended Chords

This movement contains extended 9th and 11th chords similar to those seen in the previous movement. Williams’ tendency in his usage of these chords puts the extended tone of the chord in the bass voice. In m. 20, the chord on beat four is G, D-flat, E-flat, A-flat D, F—in ascending order, D-flat, E-flat, F, G, A-flat or a D-flat major chord with the ninth and eleventh.

The bass in this chord is the G—the eleventh of the D-flat major chord. In m. 28, the chord is spelled C, B-flat, C, D, F or B-flat, C, D, F—a B-flat ninth chord with the C sounding in the

bass. This proclivity towards certain inversions occurs elsewhere in Missa Brevis as well. In the

Sanctus, it occurs in m. 28 and has the A9 chord with the ninth degree in the bass (B, C-sharp, A,

E) and also in m. 53 in the C-sharp minor flat 9 11th chord (F-sharp, D, E, G-sharp, C-sharp).

Williams seems to do this to foil harmonic expectations. When extended chord tones are located in the bass, the ear may hear the harmony in a different way and thus he can maintain the harmony he wishes while exploiting his extended devices to their fullest potential.

(2) Points of Imitation

The Benedictus movement is unique in the Missa Brevis for the way in which it begins with a series of points of imitation. As each voice enters, it picks up the melodic subject stated by the previous voice. The sequence of entrances moves from high to low (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), exactly opposite the entrances of the Sanctus movement, which stacked each chord note by note from low to high. As each new voice takes over the melody, the voice or voices which have already entered sing counterpoint to the new melodic voice.

The Benedictus starts in the key of F-sharp major, a nod to the final F-sharp major chord in the Sanctus movement. The way that each voice in this section begins with the same melodic material is similar in fashion to a fugue subject. As the line “Benedictus qui venit…” is passed from voice to voice, it is always a real answer, even when moving through a key change. At “in nomine Domine” the ending of each phrase is adjusted to mesh smoothly with the entrance of the following voice. This information is relevant when looking at mm. 9 and 10. The tenor entrance takes place across a modulation from F-sharp major to E-flat major. Williams navigates this transition by having the tenors sing from A-sharp to E-flat, an enharmonic perfect fourth (see

Musical Example 5.17). Williams uses this fugal approach as a method of creating interest and intensity before branching into a sequence of extended chords at the climactic heart of the piece.

Musical Example 5.17. Voice Entrances in Williams Benedictus Movement

The end of the first phrase overlaps with the entrance of the alto phrase. The interplay between the two passes the melody from the opening voice to the next entering voice while still proceeding with harmonic development. The transition from the alto melody into the tenor melody is handled similarly, but also includes a fairly abrupt modulation from F-sharp major to

E-flat major (an augmented second relation). The soprano and alto negotiate the key change to continue in descant fashion as the tenor enters on an A-sharp against the trebles’ G-sharp and C- sharp (forming an A-sharp 7th chord which resolves into a first inversion C major chord in m.

10). As per Williams’ practice, there is a courtesy accidental on the first note of the tenor entrance, despite the fact that it isn’t truly warranted (possibly it was included due to an abundance of caution on his part when negotiating the modulation). This same cautious tendency with courtesy accidentals is used in the Sanctus movement in mm. 50–53. The cadence to the

soprano and alto phrases in m. 9 of the Benedictus is blurred by the continuing motion in the alto and the entrance of the tenor in the new tonality. This augmented second modulation is unusual, but Williams used it before in the Gloria movement in mm. 40 and 41 and is repeated in sequence in mm. 42 and 43, starting an augmented second higher. Finally, the soprano, alto and tenor cadence in m. 12 from an E-flat chord in second inversion to a C minor 7th chord in 4/2 inversion, once more placing the highest note in the stack at the base of the inversion.

Williams deploys what could be considered another stopped cadence at m. 18. The movement of the A-flat sus4 chord to the E-flat second inversion chord falls in the same place of the bass’ melody line where all other voices cadenced before. Due to this, the ear is primed for some kind of harmonic gesture or closure. Williams instead extends the harmonic denouement into mm. 20–21 and integrates it into the beginning of the homophonic section that follows the first 21 measures. The extended chord on beat four of m. 20 (D-flat with a ninth and eleventh) is spelled with the eleventh tone (the G) in the bass. This has the effect of not only feeling the half- step motion of the D-flat to the C as the voices transition into the new key, but also a G to C in the bass, giving a sense of dominant to tonic in a place where Williams does not typically use such a motion.

The final harmonic gesture of the movement takes place in mm. 29–33. It is set up by the treble voices holding a C major triad and the bass voices beginning a melodic sequence beneath the triad. After one sequential repetition, the bass melody relents and the entire movement concludes with a root position C major chord.

(3) Modal Manipulation

Williams commits to some intense modal exploration in the first several measures of the

Benedictus movement. He begins in F-sharp major, tying the beginning of the Benedictus to the final sonority of the Sanctus. The melodic subject is then presented in the soprano voice75 for the first five measures. This melody sounds like F-sharp major through the first six measures, but the introduction of a B-sharp in m. 7 gives the melody an F-sharp Lydian quality. The B-sharp reverts back to a B-natural in m. 9, but the modulation to E-flat at m. 10 again uses raised fourths

(A-naturals) in the alto line, perpetuating the Lydian borrowing. When the bass voice sings the subject at m. 13, it presents it in such a way as to imply an A-flat tonal center, even though there is no change in the key signature itself. This implication in the bass voice may impose a Lydian sensibility on the D-natural in the alto voice in m. 14. This harmonic gesture, however, is concurrent with a series of ascending second position seventh chords from beat three of m. 13 through m. 14. These seventh chords eventually result in a D-flat in the tenor voice in m. 15.

This D-flat serves the double function of supporting the A-flat tonality of the subject in the bass voice and also serving as a Mixolydian borrowing for a pivot to E-flat major in m. 16 (see

Musical Example 5.18). The multiple modes occurring over a small span of measures (especially mm.13–16) results in a highly transient harmonic environment.

75 Including courtesy accidentals.

Musical Example 5.18. Williams Benedictus, mm. 12–16, Modal Borrowing

(4) Harmonic Language

The melody sets the contour for the harmony in this movement, moving up in a simple arc along the length of the phrase. As this melody is repeated in each new voice, the counterpoint sets the harmony against the melody, typically rising in the beginning, then tapering slightly

down at the end. When the alto takes over the melody from the soprano, the soprano then progresses through a Lydian scale through mm. 6–9 against the alto’s phrase. The counterpoint increases in complexity with each successive voice until ultimately, there are inverted 7th chords ascending in a parody of fauxbourdon-style motion (soprano, alto and tenor mm. 13–16) against the familiar melodic subject in the bass.

(5) Polychords

After moving out of the points of imitation section, the voices start to sing polychordal stacks. This begins in m. 21 where Williams employs all the key notes for both a D chord and a

G chord simultaneously. Using this technique, he creates a fleeting sense of sonority but with tension and conflict still built into the thick, declamatory chords. In m. 24, the downbeat features a close stack of five notes: C, E, F-sharp, B, D or B, C, D, E, F-sharp. Played together, this could be termed a B diminished chord with a ninth and an eleventh, a sonority that occurs elsewhere in

Missa Brevis. The moment all of these notes sound concurrently is extremely fleeting and thus does not strike the listener as being harmonically significant. The clash of the “five-note stack” in the evolution of the musical phrase is another technique Williams employs to build harmonic tension. Immediately following the polychordal stack on the downbeat of m. 24, there’s another one on the downbeat of m. 25 spelled A-flat, B-flat, C, D, E-flat or an A-flat major chord with a ninth and a raised 11th. These tight clusters ratchet up the expectation for resolution so when it does finally occur, there is a sense of closure.

Williams not only blends multiple stylistic elements in the same work, but also layers them simultaneously within the same section (see Musical Example 5.19). The “Hosanna” portion of the Benedictus movement begins with a C major chord at m. 21. This C chord is itself

set up in the previous measure by movement from both the C and a D-flat in the bass line. Not only is a dominant-tonic relationship present, but an inverted leading-tone effect (D-flat moving down to C) highlights this establishment of C as a new tonal center. Following the C major chord at the downbeat of m. 21, a period of polychordal activity begins, with the treble voices in one tonal region (G major) and the bass voices in another (D Mixolydian). This passage may be interpreted as bitonal, but there actually is an underlying sense of C major, which is created by repetition of the notes C, A, and G in the bass (I, vi, and V in C major); the constant repetition of

C in mm. 25-29; and the resolution of the passage in C major in m. 29.

Musical Example 5.19. Williams Benedictus mm.21–28, Bass Movement

Taking the bass line into consideration, the polychordal embellishment in the upper voices can be perceived as a tour of chromatic harmonies heralding a C major arrival at the downbeat of m. 29. Williams employs multiple elements to distract the listener from this resolution. The polychords from mm. 21–24 serve this function, as does the telescoping of text.

This textual technique amplifies the harmonic clashes within the polychords by introducing

multiple vowel sounds into an already dissonant harmonic environment. This friction is further magnified by the fact that the lines move in rhythmic synchronicity, which serves to emphasize and maximize the vowel and tonal discrepancies.

Throughout this polychordal development, Williams continues to make use of extended chords to further highlight the dissonance between the treble and bass lines. The bass line features major chords with a major seventh (G major seventh chords on beat 4 in mm. 21-22).

These chords don’t feel structural, but also never arrive at a particularly satisfying resolution due to the polychordal environment in which they are found. The entire harmonic structure of mm.

21–28 is built to delay the ultimate resolution as long as possible.

(6) Harmonic Planing

Additionally, from mm. 23–26 (see Musical Example 5.18), Williams engages in harmonic planing, setting the majority of the voices in parallel downward motion. This treatment helps the line to “wind down” as the sharpness of the clashing polychords recedes and a stronger sense of uniformly extended chords across all voices asserts itself. It is interesting to note that the polychords, the telescoping of text, and the planing are all elements that are peeled away incrementally in preparation for the movement’s conclusion on a simply voiced C major chord. e. Agnus Dei

Williams chose to conclude his Mass with one of his greatest strengths, a piano accompaniment. The Agnus Dei is the only movement in the Missa Brevis that employs piano.76

If the first four movements of Missa Brevis are performed entirely unaccompanied, this can be

76 This is similar to the song set “Les Chansons des Roses” by the American composer Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943). Lauridsen’s cycle also features piano accompaniment on the fifth and final movement of a five-song set, though it is not a Mass setting.

potentially problematic as intonation must be maintained. The transitions from movement to movement, however, are relatively navigable.

Table 5.1. Key Transitions in Williams’ Missa Brevis

First Chord of Next Movement Final Chord Movement

Kyrie A dyad D Major

Gloria A-flat Major D Maj. w/Maj.7 and 9

Sanctus F-sharp Major Sol-Do in F-sharp Major

Benedictus C Major C-sharp minor

Agnus Dei D-flat Major –

Excepting the Gloria moving into the Sanctus, the transitions are simple. In performance, even the Gloria–Sanctus transition is relatively straightforward, as the bass voice starts the new movement. The initial F-sharp pitch of the Sanctus is iterated in the bass voice in the penultimate measure of the Gloria and is therefore recent enough for easy recall. Additionally, the opening of the Agnus Dei is relatively easy to sing in tune prior to the piano entrance, because of its slow- moving, homophonic chords.

(1) Extended Chords

The Agnus Dei movement makes less use of extended chords in the voice parts than the other movements. This may be because the addition of the piano allowed for a broader sound palette than previous movements, so Williams felt he could place more of the harmonic content in the piano rather than the voices. There are, however, a few notable moments.

The second measure of the movement features a G-sharp minor chord built over a C- sharp in the bass (G-sharp minor/C-sharp). What is most interesting about this chord is that, contrary to other extended chords/slash chords in the work, this chord is probably best interpreted as a C-sharp 9th chord. This is due to the pedal point of the C-sharp in the bass voice that extends across the first three measures, giving a strong impression of C-sharp as the tonal center. In m. 4, the harmony switches to a G-sharp chord, employs an F-double-sharp on beat four to affect the secondary dominant of G-sharp, then ends on a half cadence in C-sharp minor in m. 5. Essentially, it makes more sense to hear this section as a protracted delivery of the C- sharp tonality which renders the opening harmony into a five-measure tonic-dominant structure

(see Musical Example 5.20).

Musical Example 5.20. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 1–5

The piano accompaniment for this movement begins at m. 14 and consists of chords with large rhythmic values in the left hand and a series of flowing eighth notes outlining chords in the right hand. The chords the right hand outlines are universally tertian and primarily basic Do-Mi-

Sol stacks in different configurations. Williams does include ninths and elevenths, but the fluid nature of the right hand imparts a sense of constant transition and gentle harmonic motion very

different from other parts of Missa Brevis (Benedictus, mm. 21–24, for example). The perpetual motion of the piano part allows for an expansive sense of phrasing in the vocal lines and helps to sustain a sense of constant momentum and keep both piano and vocal lines pushing forward.

(2) Piano Meter

The piano accompaniment of the Agnus Dei movement may be interpreted in more than one meter. When the piano enters at m. 14, the section is marked in 6/4 time and the eighth notes are unambiguously beamed in groupings of two. The undulating arpeggios in the right hand, however, result in a three-note figure moving between octaves. This movement between octaves strongly implies a meter of 12/8 with the rising and falling pitches contributing to a sense of compound meter. This pitch presentation might be considered an argument for feeling the section in four beats per measure rather than the indicated six.

A reunion of the choirs of California State University, Long Beach took place in 2010. It was a gathering of all the students who sang in choirs at the school while Frank Pooler was the director of choral activities. During the reunion, Pooler once again turned the choir over to

Williams so that Williams could conduct his Agnus Dei. There is video of this performance that illustrates Williams’ intentions for this section.77 Williams stopped the pianist at m. 14 because he determined that the accompaniment was not being played correctly. Williams directly instructed the pianist to articulate each coupled grouping of eighth notes distinctly and proceeded to conduct the 6/4 meter as two three-patterns.

77 Ken Neufeld, Pete@UniChoirReunion, from private video collection, 2010, https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pbH8kkXYeGx5yJdMJ5-fRmMUXeliCExD.

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While the right hand piano part might suggest that the accompaniment in the Agnus Dei should be interpreted in 12/8, Williams himself explicitly stated that he intended it to sound in

6/4. Since the composer’s intent is known and recorded, performances of the work may be informed directly by the composer’s vision.

(3) Secondary Dominants and Cadences

Williams explores the use of secondary dominants in this movement. The piece begins in

C-sharp minor and remains in a C-sharp tonality for the first three measures. In measure 4, he moves from a G-sharp major chord to a D-sharp major 7th chord with an added 9th. This D-sharp major chord then transitions into m. 5 and the end of the first phrase. He uses the V/V relationship from the D-sharp major chord to C-sharp minor in m. 5 to effect a half cadence.

The end of the opening section before the addition of the piano in m. 14 features another half cadence in C-sharp minor with the voices ending the phrase on a unison G-sharp pitch. This not only supports the initial C-sharp minor of the key signature, but when the piece pivots to D- flat major in m. 14, it also functions as an enharmonic dominant for the new tonality.

Williams continues to utilize secondary dominants in the piano while the vocal solo is present. In mm. 19–20, the bass moves from an F minor 7th chord, to an F dominant 7th chord, into a B-flat minor chord at m. 20. This use of a secondary dominant pivots to the key of the relative minor of D-flat (within the grander I-IV harmonic scheme of this section). When the choral ensemble enters at m. 26 echoing the solo line from mm. 14–25, the same harmonic device is used, with the F minor 7th / B-flat minor occurring from mm. 31–32.

There is a particularly interesting pre-dominant/dominant/tonic harmonic episode from mm. 45–48. Williams’ harmonic language becomes particularly dense in mm. 44 and 45 which

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results in a chord spelled B-double-flat, D-flat, F-flat moving into a D-flat 6/4 chord, then to a D- flat 7th, and to a reassertion of the D-flat tonality in m. 48 with a D-flat major chord. This flat VI/ cadential 6/4 / dominant 7th / tonic progression both enriches the harmony and extends the cadential resolution.

(4) Duets/Texture

Echoing duets appear in the Agnus Dei movement in m. 36. The soprano and alto sound together and are echoed a measure later by the tenor and bass. The paired voices move sequentially up by step until m. 41, until they come together on the word “pacem” (peace).

Williams uses techniques in the vocal textures which call to mind similar devices used in masterworks by some very well-known composers. The duet section between mm. 36–40 calls to mind a section of W.A. Mozart’s Ave verum corpus, specifically mm. 30–35.78 In Mozart’s composition, the soprano and alto sing parallel thirds, and the tenor and bass sing an identical rhythmic motive one measure behind them. The voices combine in new harmonic ways with each measure, driving the momentum of the work forward. Williams may have taken inspiration from Mozart’s masterpiece in his cultivation of a similar device in this portion. The addition of the lengthy solo in the Agnus Dei plus the inclusion of the unison choral part singing the same solo melody immediately afterwards gives this movement more textural variety than any of the others. This technique is reminiscent of Gabriel Fauré’s setting of the Libera me text in his

Requiem. The solo, unison chorus, imitative duets, and four-part voices give more levels of vocal engagement to the Agnus Dei (see Musical Example 5.21).

78 W.A. Mozart, Ave verum corpus, K618 (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1880), accessed March 28, 2020, http://ks.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/5/51/IMSLP78492-PMLP14118- Mozart_Werke_Breitkopf_Serie_03_KV618.pdf.

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Musical Example 5.21. Williams Setting Similarities between Mozart Ave verum corpus, K. 618, and Williams Agnus Dei

Mozart: Ave verum corpus, K. 618

Williams: Agnus Dei

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(5) Harmonic Language and Suspensions

The use of the piano achieves pedal point moments which allow the harmony to develop in the upper voices. As was seen in the section on Extended Chords in the Agnus Dei, this tactic begins in the voices first and it begins almost immediately in the first three measures. The bass retains the C-sharp across the first three measures, only changing in m. 3 when the harmony shifts to the dominant. The opening measures of the movement are slow and considered, to be sung at approximately 60 to the quarter note and with significant messa di voce, allowing for a bit of expansion in the shifting harmonic setting. The sense of pedal becomes more prominent when the baritone soloist and the piano start in m. 14, as the slow-moving melodic line in 6/4 and the dotted whole notes in the left hand of the piano lend the sound an expansive quality. This pedal is particularly important when the harmony is shifting at every measure. For example, in mm. 20–26, the harmonic movement is B-flat minor 7th, E-flat minor 7th, D-flat major, G half- diminished 7th, E-flat major, D-flat major, A-flat 7th, ending in D-flat major.

Williams’ use of the piano in this movement is reminiscent of works from mid-nineteenth century. The constant eighth notes in the right hand of the piano are anchored in the harmonic roots the left hand establishes. In fact, there is a work by Frederik Chopin (1810–1849) from

1836 with a strikingly similar configuration (though the role of the hands is reversed). Chopin’s

Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 exhibits an accompanimental eighth note pattern in the left hand set against the melodic material in the right hand at m. 166. Williams’ piano part in m. 14 of his Agnus Dei accompanies the vocal solo line with a similar sequence of eighth notes in the right hand (see Musical Example 5.22).

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Musical Example 5.22. Accompaniment Similarities between Chopin Ballade in G Minor, Op. 23 and Williams Agnus Dei Chopin Ballade in G Minor, Op. 23

Williams Agnus Dei

The similarities in the accompaniment figures in Example 5.21 indicate another stylistic incorporation by Williams. The addition of a piano voice offered new possibilities, so he elected to insert Romantic era techniques into the movement in a Chopin-like fashion.

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In addition to the Romantic piano figuration, numerous suspensions are found in the

Agnus Dei and are a central musical device of the movement. Williams employs these devices in several ways throughout the section. Perhaps the most obvious is first found in the solo voice in m. 15. As can be seen in Musical Example 5.23, m. 14 begins with a D-flat major harmony which includes the third of the chord being sung by the vocal solo. In m. 15, the harmony switches to E-flat minor (with a 7th and a 9th), but the vocal solo lingers on the F for another dotted half note before resolving down to an E-flat pitch. This results in a 9–8 suspension in E- flat major. This harmonic feature comes up repeatedly when this melody occurs (mm. 15, 17, 19,

27, 29, 31).

Musical Example 5.23. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 14–15, Suspensions

The 9–8 suspensions also resurface later in the movement. During the duet portion discussed earlier (mm.36–40), he constructs the tenor-bass resolution to result in a 9–8 suspension relative to the chord at the downbeat of the measure in which the resolution occurs.

In m. 38, the piano sounds an open G-flat dyad against which the tenor-bass voices start on an A- flat before moving to a G-flat in the second half of the measure. The same thing occurs again

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later in the sequence at m. 40 with the piano sounding an open A-flat chord and the tenor-bass voices moving from a B-flat to an A-flat (see Musical Example 5.24).

Musical Example 5.24. Williams Agnus Dei, mm. 37–40, Suspensions

Williams also includes several other harmonic features that enrich the suspensions. In m.

16, he moves the bass of the piano into a D-flat dominant 7th chord in the second half of the measure. This motion puts greater emphasis on the G-flat chord in m. 17 while still maintaining the 9–8 suspension in the key of E-flat. He uses a similar tactic in mm. 37–38 with the D flat in the last half of m. 37 supporting the G-flat tonality of m. 38. Similarly, the E-flat to A-flat motion in the bass of the piano serves a similar purpose. Williams characteristically has multiple harmonic functions in play simultaneously. Further evidence of this is found when he employs a

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secondary dominant in m. 19 when shifting focus to the dominant of E-flat minor (the figure recurs in m. 31 during the choral repetition).

There is an unusual harmonic sequence following the imitative duet section of mm. 36–

41. Measure 42 begins with a G-flat 9th chord in first inversion, then moves to an A-flat 9th chord/ B-flat in m. 43. The chord at the downbeat of m. 44 is spelled B-natural, B-double-flat, D- flat, and F-flat. This would be more easily read as its enharmonic equivalent: an A major 9th chord, but Williams remains true to the predominance of flats (D-flat major key signature) and opts for this somewhat awkward spelling instead. These unusual harmonies hold together in part due to the constantly flowing ostinato in the right hand of the piano which acts as a unifying figure for the entire movement (the eighth notes in the right hand never stop until the penultimate and the final measures of the piece). After the B-double-flat chord, m. 45 offers an A-flat minor chord, followed by a reprise of the B-double-flat ninth chord (spelled enharmonically) on beat three, then ending with an octave B-double-flat in the left hand of the piano. This section strongly harkens back to Schnittke’s concept of adaptation as a severe example of “retelling an alien musical text in one’s own musical language.”79 The lush language of Williams’ piano writing is offset by chords in the vocals echoing the same harmony, but doing it on a series of dotted half notes. All the rhythmic motion is contained in the piano part–the vocal lines only offer harmonic highlights.

(6) Text

The unhurried and contemplative approach is in homage to the sacred nature of the text.

Each “Lamb of God” in the opening section (mm. 1–13) is a prayerful thought and treated as a

79 Schnittke, A Schnittke Reader, 87.

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micro-phrase in its own right. Williams makes significant use of messa di voce in order to give contour to the text of each phrase.

While none of the movements could be said to conform to liturgical standards, the Agnus

Dei perhaps comes closest. The Agnus Dei in the Roman Catholic Mass is typically repeated three times. On the third repetition, the final words change from “miserere nobis” (have mercy on us) to “dona nobis pacem” (give us peace). While Williams’ setting repeats the text more than three times, the movement is divided into three distinct sections. The first is mm. 1–13 wherein the choir intones “Agnus Dei miserere nobis” in a sequence of constantly shifting homophonic chords. The second begins with the baritone solo and extends into the choir’s echo and elaborations upon the same solo (mm. 14–35). The final portion commences with imitative duets

(mm. 36–55). This musical division mirrors the division of the liturgical text and thus approximates liturgical use–or at the very least, can be perceived as a nod to the sacred text’s origin.

Williams’ setting of the text evokes a sense of longing. The phrase scheme is structured in such a way that each of the two-bar phrases of the primary solo line typically contains most of its rhythmic activity in the first bar, then long note values in the second. This results in a sense of push-pull within each phrase which supports an interpretation of the text of both anxiety and repose. The plea for divine salvation is tempered by the recognition of man’s unworthiness and thus creates tension in the musical line.

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Chapter 6

Conclusion

Peter Williams displayed significant musical talent across a variety of genres. One of his great strengths as a composer was the ability to combine features of different genres into polystylistic combinations that pushed the envelope of what might be expected for a particular genre. His Missa Brevis offers numerous such stylistic concantentations, inserting an abundance of jazz idioms and a number of chant-inspired features into a modern setting of the Mass text.

While Williams’ other works sometimes hew more closely to discretely identified genre classifications, it is in works such as his Missa Brevis where his creativity is particularly noteworthy.

It is the hope of the author that this research will inspire other musicians to seek out the works of Peter Williams for incorporation into the modern repertoire. Williams’ music is not only well-structured, imaginative, and adventurous, but it is also remarkably easy to learn for musicians across a diverse range of musical aptitudes. While his works sometimes exhibit significant complexity upon close analysis, the singers’ lines are almost universally accessible and engaging. This unusual combination results in high-quality, interesting music being available for all skill levels. Additionally, Williams wrote a great deal of music for venues which regularly employ music in their activities, most notably churches. The inclusion of a significant body of well-composed, yet easy to perform, music provides musicians across the board with an excellent resource to fulfill the artistic needs of both themselves and their institutions.

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Appendices Appendix A: Peter Williams Timeline

Born Wednesday July 23, 1952 New York City, NY Died Tuesday July 19, 2011 Tucson, AZ 1964: Williams family moves to Tucson, AZ 1966: Canyon Del Oro High School 1970-71: University of Arizona 1970-1976/ one class spring semester 1990: Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ 1976-1982: California State University Long Beach 1078/79—1981: Member of the band Rapture 1977-1988: St. Luke’s in Long Beach, CA 1979: Participated in graduation ceremonies (degree not obtained until 1990) 1982-84: Gigging in California. Member of the band Stretch 1984-1988: Los Alamitos High School in CA 1986: Married Pam Gordon 1989: Moved back to Tucson, AZ 1989-2002: Trinity 4th Ave in Tucson, AZ 1990: Degree from CSULB posted after credit transfer from Pima and LB City College. June 1: Bachelor of Music degree/SCULB. Choral-Vocal Music 1990-1997: Mt. View High School and Marana High School in Arizona 1993: Divorced Pam Gordon 1998: Catalina Foothills High School (8/3/1998) 1997/98: Married Laura Lane 2002—2007: Christ Presbyterian in Tucson, AZ 2007: Moved back to California 2007—2011: First United Methodist Church of Pacific Grove, CA 2011: Death from acute alcohol poisoning in Tucson, AZ

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Appendix B: Dedications in Peter Williams’ Missa Brevis

Kyrie: “for Rhys Owen”—Rhys [ris] Owen Williams. Rhys is the son of Peter Williams and

Williams’ first wife, Pamela Gordon. He was born in February of 1987. When Rhys was born,

Williams wrote a collection of beginner piano pieces in anticipation of his son learning to play the instrument. He called this collection “Rhys’s Pieces.”

Gloria: “for Larry Torkelson and the University of South Dakota Chamber Singers” —Larry

Torkelson was the Director of Choral Activities at the University of South Dakota from 1971–

2001. Dr. Torkelson met Peter Williams in the late 70s when Torkelson’s colleague Frank Pooler from CSULB sent his students, Williams and Tina Halvorson, to work with Torkelson as adjudicators for a festival held at USD. Williams and Torkelson developed a friendship from this collaboration which lasted for many years, including a performance of Williams’ Missa Brevis by the USD ensemble under Torkelson’s direction at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2000.

Sanctus: “for Katelyn Paige” — Katelyn Paige Williams. Kate is the daughter of Peter Williams and Pam Gordon. She was born in April of 1988.

Benedictus: “for Pamela and Kris” —Pamela Gordon and Kris Umstattd. Pamela Gordon was

Williams’ first wife and the mother of his two children. Kris Umstattd was Williams’ stepson, a child of Pamela’s from a previous marriage.

Agnus Dei: “for my mother and father”— Peter Williams’ parents were David and Ruth

Williams.

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Appendix C: Peter Williams Catalogue

Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes 3 Shrinklets I. Robinson SATB U(npublished) Secular Pima Crusoe Pima- A Child is SATBB U Secular surprisingly Born secular text! Twin Elm Agnus Dei SATB 1990 Sacred Pima Publishing Trinity Presbyterian Agnus Dei Violin Part U Sacred 400 E. (Instrumental) U(niversity) Blvd Library of Fran Wachsman- Ah, Dearest Baritone Possibly Jesus (Vocal 80s U Sacred and piano written for Solo) Todd Wachsman around 1985 St. Andrew’s Ain't No SATB + U Sacred Presbyterian Stone Piano Church All Glory Laud and Instrumental Honor (Palm Trumpet 2 U Sacred part- Trinity Sunday; part in Bb Pres. Hymn #2) (Instrumental) All Men Draw SSA + Aberdeen Bob and 1985 Sacred Near Piano Music, Inc. Chris Olson Catalina Balulalow SSA U Sacred/ Christmas United Methodist Trinity Beh the leh Presbyterian SATB U Sacred heh mu 400 E. U. Blvd

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes Blessed Be Jenson Chuck and 2 Part + that Maid 1979 Publications, Sacred Fran Piano Mary Inc. (Wachsman) There is No Rose, Lord Carols of the SSA + Kensington 2007 Sacred/Christmas Jesus Once Heart Piano Choralworks was a Child, Balulalow Sacred response- Trinity Pres. Closer Unison U Sacred As in "used to close something" California State-Long Cloudburst SATB U Secular Beach (CSLB) Trinity Come , Thou Presbyterian Fount Flute Part U Sacred 400 E. U. (Instrumental) Blvd Come in and SSAATBB U Secular Pima Stay Awhile Secular/ Jazz Mt. View Donna SATB U Ballad H.S. Library of Don't Come Aberdeen SAATTBB 1976 Secular/ Latin Jazz Fran Followin' Me Music, Inc. Wachsman Don't Look SSAATTBB U Ballad Back + Piano Don't Look SATB U Secular CSLB Back Trinity Presbyterian SATB + Elegy U Secular 400 E. Piano University Blvd Sacred EMAN U Sacred Response Emily (Part of SATB U Secular CSLB Choral Set)

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes Trinity Presbyterian Extroit SATB U Sacred 400 E. U. Blvd Trinity Follow Me Presbyterian Oboe Part U Sacred (Instrumental) 400 E. U. Blvd For Christine Brekken- Four Songs Solo voice Olson's (Love Song) 1983 U Secular and piano senior honors (Vocal Solo) recital at CSLB Four Songs For Christine (Maggie and Brekken- Milly and Solo voice Olson's 1983 U Secular Molly and and piano senior honors May) (Vocal recital at Solo) CSLB For Christine Brekken- Four Songs Solo voice Olson's (Pity Me Not) 1983 U Secular and piano senior honors (Vocal Solo) recital at CSLB For Christine Brekken- Four Songs Solo voice Olson's (Sea Song) 1983 U Secular and piano senior honors (Vocal Solo) recital at CSLB From This Moment On SATB U Secular CSLB (Part of Choral Set) Give a Little U Sacred Something 1st Uni Met Glory, Glory SAB U Sacred Chrch Pacific Grove (CA)

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes Here, O My Fran SAATB 1994 U Sacred/Communion Lord Wachsman How Far is it SATBB U Sacred/Christmas Pima to Bethlehem First United Methodist Hymn to the Twin Elm SATB Sacred Church of Virgin, A Publishing Pacific Grove (CA) Food Bank I Am the SATB + Sunday U Sacred/ Introit Bread of Life Piano Introit- Trinity Pres. I Am the Sacred Light of the SATB U Sacred response- World Trinity Pres. I Go to Rio (Part of SATB U Secular CSLB Choral Set) Edits from I Saw Three Traditional Kensington SAATTBB U Ships Christmas Carol Press, almost published I Saw Three Ships (Pima SSAATTBB U Sacred/ Christmas Pima version) Pima II. Long Time SATB +med U Secular Copland/Arr. Ago solo Williams II. The Book SAB U Secular Pima of Lists I'm Gonna 3-part adult Trinity Sing when the choir and Presbyterian U Sacred Spirit Says children's 400 E. U. Sing choir Blvd In Bethlehem this Christmas SSAATBB U Sacred/Christmas Pima Morn SATB + In Just U Secular Piano

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes In the Bleak SSA + Aberedeen Bob and 1984 Sacred Mid-Winter Piano Music, Inc. Chris Olson Trinity Presbyterian In the Garden SATB U Sacred/Secular? 400 E. U. Blvd St. Andrew's In This Hour, SATB 2007 U Sacred/Introit Presbyterian O Lord Church St. Andrew's Introit I SATB U Sacred/Introit Presbyterian Church SATB and Introit II U Sacred From Kate Organ St. Andrew's Presbyterian Introit III SATB 2000 U Sacred/Introit Church Franklin/ Arr. POW It Don't Mean a Thing (Part SATB U Secular CSLB of Choral Set) It Isn't So Bad It Couldn't Get Better, But It Isn't So SATB U Secular CSLB Bad It Couldn't Get Worse It Never Entered My SATB U Secular CSLB Mind (Part of Choral Set) Judged by the Company One SATB U Secular Pima Keeps Trinity Presbyterian June Introit SATB U Sacred 400 E. U. Blvd

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes St. Andrew's Just a Closer SATB U Sacred/Introit Presbyterian Walk Church Pima College Lament SATTBB U Secular Singers Let's Voyage into the New SATB U Secular Pima American House Lord Jesus Catalina was Once a SSA U Sacred/Christmas United Child Methodist

Love For Sale SSAATTBB U Secular Pima

Text by Solo- mezzo Love Sail U Ballad Humbert (low voice) Wolfe From Kate Love Sail Mezzo and Williams- 2011 U Ballad 2011 Piano piano part written out Lover Man SATB U Secular CSLB (Medley) Lute-Book SSA + Aberedeen Bob and 1984 Sacred/Christmas Lullaby Piano Music, Inc. Chris Olson No text, Main Verse context, or Piano U (Instrumental) writing. From Kate. SATB Fiddle, Mary U Sacred Mandolin, and (piano?) SSATTB, S,A, B Twin Elm Multiple Missa Brevis 1993 Sacred Solos, + Publishing Dedications Piano My Beloved Song of SATB U Sacred Spake Solomon text

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes My Funny SSAATTBB U Secular Pima Valentine Never Let Me SATB U Secular CSLB Go No Funeral SAATBB U Secular Pima Gloom Trinity O Come Presbyterian Oboe part U Sacred (Instrumental) 400 E. U. Blvd Eileen Scott, Walton Music O Mistress mere SSAATTBB 1994 Corp, Hal Secular Mine deuxieme, Leonard Corp Pima SATB Oliver Ten/Bari U Secular Pima Cromwell Solo Once Upon a SAATTBB U Secular Pima Time Library of Operator SSA U Secular/Jazz Fran Wachsman Trinity Presbyterian Phoom, 400 E. U. Phoom, SATB U Sacred Blvd, Phoom “Traditional Catatonic Carol” Piano + Piano, Fr. Winds Horn, Flute, U (+Violin) Clarinet (Instrumental) SATB + Shel Poor Angus U Secular Piano Silverstein

Trinity Pres. Post-Easter SATB U Sacred 400 E. U. Introit Blvd

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes Praise the Carl Lord on this SATB 2001 U Sacred/Introit Wachsman Day

Pretty Bird SAATBB 1974 U Secular Pima

Remembrance SATB U Secular Pima (A Title) Send in the SATB U Secular CSLB Clowns SATB + Text by Shel Sick U Secular Piano Silverstein Aberdeen Silence SATB Secular Pima Music, Inc. Trinity Suite: R, P, K Presbyterian (only R) piano U 400 E. U. (Instrumental) Blvd St. Andrews Swing Down, SATB + U Spiritual Presbyterian Chariot Piano Church Trinity Presbyterian 400 E. U. Blvd/ McFerrin- The 23rd SATB U Sacred Transcribed Psalm by P. Williams. Performed at D. Williams' funeral. Pima. Text The Barn SSATB U Secular by M. G. Dance Gerns? The Dirtiest SATB + Text by Shel Man in the U Secular Piano Silverstein World

The Haunted SAATB U Secular Pima Ballroom

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Dedication/ Title Voicing Date? Publisher Type Notes Catalina There is No SSA U Sacred/Christmas United Rose Methodist SSATB, 2 St. Andrew's This Is the Solos, + 1997 U Sacred/Introit Presbyterian Day! Piano Church Till We Meet Library of Piano Again 1996 U Sacred Fran Reduction (Instrumental) Wachsman Till We Meet SATB + Franklin / 1996 U Sacred Again Solo Arr. POW Mt. View Walk the H.S. Arr. of SATB U Secular/ Pop Dinosaur Was Not Was song Trinity We Want to Presbyterian See Jesus Trumpet 1 U Sacred 400 E. Lifted High & 2 in Bb University (Instrumental) Blvd Worldwide Trinity Communion Presbyterian Introit (West SATB U Sacred 400 E. African University Hymn) Blvd Yours Truly, SATBB U Secular Pima Rosa

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