Gloria is a sacred choral composition by

Karl Jenkins Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins, , Honorary Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, HonFLSW (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus (song), Adiemus" (1995, from the Adi ...

, completed in 2010. It is an extended setting of the Gloria part of the

mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, on the text of the Gloria in three movements, interpolated with two movements on other texts, Psalm 150 in Hebrew and a song derived from biblical verses in English. Spoken passages from sacred text from four religious traditions are part of the composition. It was published by

Boosey & Hawkes Boosey & Hawkes is a British Music publisher (sheet music), music publisher, purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass instrument, brass, string instru ...

in 2010. Gloria is often performed together with the composer's

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

History

Jenkins composed the work in 2010 on a commission by Don Monro who founded the ''Concerts from Scratch'' and

The Really Big Chorus The Really Big Chorus (TRBC) is Britain's largest choral society, made up of singers from hundreds of different choirs all over the UK as well as thousands of individuals. It was founded by Don Monro, an Electrical Engineering lecturer (and clarinet ...

. The piece is scored for a solo voice, a mixed choir and a large symphony orchestra with extensive percussion. The text is the Gloria of the mass, extended by other sung and spoken texts. The premiere on 11 July 2010 was performed at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

by The Really Big Chorus and the

London Festival Orchestra The London Festival Orchestra (LFO) was an orchestra established in the 1950s. Originally it was the 'house orchestra' for Decca Records, initially directed by Peter Knight, but in 1980 it was incorporated as an independent orchestra, directed ...

, conducted by

Brian Kay Brian Christopher Kay (born 12 May 1944) is an English radio presenter, conductor and singer. He is well-known as the bass in the King's Singers during the group's formative years from 1968 to 1982, and as such is to be heard on many of their 1970 ...

. Gloria was published in 2010 by

. It takes about 34 minutes to perform.

Scoring and structure

Gloria is for a solo voice, a mixed choir and a large symphony orchestra with extensive, partly exotic

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

. The choir is four-part

SATB In music, SATB is a scoring of compositions for choirs or consorts of instruments consisting of four voice types: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Choral music Four-part harmony using soprano, alto, tenor and bass is a common scoring in classic ...

, but both women's and men's voices are frequently divided in three parts. Any solo voice can perform in movement IV. The orchestra consists of two flutes (doubling piccolo), two oboes (optional), two clarinets in B-flat (second doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons (second optionally doubling contrabassoon), four horns in F, two or three trumpets in B-flat, three 3 trombones, tuba (optional), timpani, percussion (three, 1: side drum, surdo, finger cymbals, cymbals, 2: triangle, cabasa, tambourine (or goblet drum etc.), hand drum (darbuca, congas, etc.), cymbals, suspended cymbal, 3: glockenspiel, xylophone, bass drum), and strings. The text of the Gloria in structured in three movements (I, II, V), with two added movements (III and IV) on interspersed texts, the Psalm 150 (in Hebrew or Latin) and a song in English which is based on biblical verses. Between movements, sacred texts from different religious traditions (

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

and

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

) are recited. The following table shows the movements and readings with their titles,

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

, translation,

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

marking and key, as provided in the vocal score.

Time signature A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...

s are not listed as they change frequently.

Music

Jenkins is known for "simple structures" which "are never sentimental", for "broad multicultural gestures", and "a particular take on the textures of older British band music". A review notes that he structured the Gloria in contrasting movements, some "big, brassy, quartal-sounding", others quiet "in which the choir circles around a core of three or four notes". The reviewer believes the insertions of short "readings of scripture from Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Islamic traditions" and "'ethnic percussion' vaguely associated with these faiths" as suggesting "a sincere ecumenism on the composer's part". Movement III is reminiscent of Jenkins' popular ''

Adiemus Adiemus may refer to: * ''Adiemus'' (albums), a series of albums of music composed by Karl Jenkins **'' Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary'', the first album of the series ** "Adiemus" (song), the title track of the first album * Adiemus (ensemble), t ...

'', "with its primeval-sounding harmonies, declamatory choral style and pounding drummed rhythms".

Recording

Gloria is featured on a CD, together with

, sung by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, conducted by the composer.

References

External links

* Charlotte Gardner
Karl Jenkins Gloria / Te Deum (London Symphony Orchestra; National Youth Choir of Great Britain; soprano: Hayley Westenra) Review

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

2010 {{authority control Compositions by Karl Jenkins Choral compositions 2010 compositions