James Whitbourn

Agnus Dei (from 'Missa Carolae')

James Whitbourn 's Agnus Dei From Missa Carolae. Missa Carolae was commissioned by Rochester Cathedral, the second oldest cathedral in England, to mark the 1400th anniversary of its foundation. It was first performed there on 24 December 2004 by the Rochester Cathedral Choirs, Andy Findon (Fife), the Locke Brass Consort, Edmund Aldhouse (Organ), Joby Burgess and Catherine Ring (Percussion), directed by Roger Sayer. The work is intended to invoke a dance-like spirit, which is true to the origin of the carol as a simple dance form. The choir parts should be very well-known, so that the singers can sing with the whole of their bodies and not just their voices. This version is a reduced scoring for SATB (unchanged) with Organ and optional Piccolo and also acts as the vocal score to the full version. In this scoring, the Piccolo adds to the effectiveness of the piece. In either scoring, the Piccolo may be replaced with a Flute, Fife, or even a more rustic Pipe, as was used at the first performance. The original scoring for SATB with Piccolo, Brass (3 Trumpets and 3 Trombones), Percussion (2 players) and Organ accompaniment is the preferred version. Full score and parts are available on hire from the publisher, or full score on sale (CH71621). The Piccolo part (CH79893-01) is common to both scorings and is available on sale or hire with the full version. The Organ accompaniment in this score is for performance of the version for SATB, Piccolo and Organ only. An A4 spiral-bound version of this score may be preferable for the organist (CH79893-02). The separate Organ part - available on hire - must be used for the version with instruments. An ad lib. part for the congregation (CH70961, pack of 50) is incorporated into the full scoring of Missa Carolae. Reference to the entries of the congregation is made in the vocal score for occasions when it is used in conjunction with the full instrumentation.