SOTN Commission Corner

A Sacred Music Renaissance:
New Music from Emerging Composers

By Josh Wang
Director of Music at the Church of Saint Mary, Lowertown Saint Paul

Last summer, the Princeton Theological Seminary hosted a concert which featured premieres of eight new sacred motets by composers from all around the country, including two Minnesotans. This was the culminating event of the Catholic Sacred Music Project’s Composition Institute, a week-long festival for emerging composers interested in sacred music to work under the tutelage of world-renowned Scottish composer, Sir James MacMillan.  Each composer was given a traditional Latin text from the Mass for Corpus Christi, a liturgical feast in the Catholic church that falls on the second Thursday after Pentecost and commemorates the institution of the Eucharist. James MacMillan’s music was also featured on the program alongside new works by Paul Jernberg, composer-in-residence and professor of music at Wyoming Catholic College.

In anticipation of the conducting workshop scheduled for the following week, I made my way to Princeton a bit early to attend this concert in person, mostly in support of two Twin Cities locals: Breck McGough, music director at St. Gabriel’s parish in Hopkins, and Nicholas Landrum, freelance composer and frequent lecturer and writer for the Minnesota Orchestra. Respectively, they set the traditional Offertory and Communion texts for Corpus Christi. Below are the premieres.

McGough, Sacerdotes Domini

Landrum, Hoc corpus 

Speaking as a Catholic music director, the beauty of both compositions, beyond their musical excellence, is that that have an intrinsic place in the liturgy. The texts come from the traditional Gregorian chants that make up the Propers of the Mass, the prayers that change weekly throughout the liturgical year, in contrast to the Ordinary of the Mass, the texts that are the same each week. Most famously, William Byrd, set the vast majority of these texts in two volumes of his Gradualia, as did Heinrich Isaac, (with the help of his student, Ludvig Senfl) in the large volume of chant-inspired works, Choralis Constantinus, commissioned by the cathedral in Konstanz, Germany. The famous Locus iste by Anton Bruckner and Duruflé’s well-known Ubi caritas are other examples of choral settings of proper chants. Previously mentioned composer, Paul Jernberg, has an immense output of very accessible and beautiful English settings of proper texts. Here is a small sample from Princeton last summer: Jernberg: Gradual from Mass for Holy Men and Women 

For most of the last millennia, the Western choral tradition has been significantly shaped by the patronage of the Church. Composers, like those mentioned above, often received commissions directly from religious or state institutions and that music was organically entered into the canon of sacred music. For around the last 150 years much of the music for liturgical use has been determined by independent publishers who work with an often very small roster of composers, and the practice of independent commissioning has become less the norm. I am trying to revive that tradition, looking to find new voices to write music to build the 21st century repertoire of sacred music.

In spring 2024, I asked Nicholas Landrum to write a piece that my small parish choir could learn in a few weeks toward the end of the choir season when rehearsal attendance started to wane in anticipation of summer. We premiered it on Trinity Sunday; here is a recent recording by local professional singers.

Landrum: Eternal Light 

Last March, my parish welcomed Sir James MacMillan for a Sunday Mass while he was in town conducting the MN Orchestra and VocalEssence. The choir sang a piece by MacMillan, of course, but I wanted to focus the day on living composers, so I asked Nich to write something in honor of MacMillan’s visit. The choir chanted the offertory proper for the day, Illumnia oculos meos, and Nich gave us a beautiful and accessible setting of the English translation of that text from Psalm 13, carrying on the great tradition of choral settings of Mass propers.  Here is the live premiere:

Landrum: Enlighten My Eyes

To clarify my previous statement: there are many excellent composers writing music for the big publishing houses, many of whom have in mind the varying forces available to church music directors. However, what I have discovered through independent commissions is that the resulting music has been the perfect blend of accessibility and craftsmanship which is more difficult to achieve on a broader scale.

To all choral directors working for churches: the world needs more beautiful sacred music to shape and inspire our culture. Find a composer and ask them to write something. Many emergent composers are willing to make it very financially accessible, especially if they get a good recording.

To Minnesotans: Breck and Nich are both available for commissions and would love to tailor something to your specific needs.

https://www.breckmcgough.com/

https://www.nicholaslandrum.com/

Here are the other six premieres of the other composers from last summer’s festival, and links to learn more about each of them.

Nicholas Lemme: Cibavit Eos – nicholaslemme.com

William Fritz: Oculi omnium – cyprianstudios.com

Sr. Peter Joseph Wardlaw, OP: Qui Manducat – Explore her music here.

Zachary Landress: Quotiescumque – https://www.zacharylandress.com/

Steven Rabanal: Alleluia Caro Mea – https://www.rabanalmusic.com/

Conner McCain: Portas Caeli – https://www.connermccain.com/

About Josh Wang
Director of Music at the Church of Saint Mary, Lowertown Saint Paul.

Minneapolis-based musician, Josh Wang is the Director of Sacred Music at the Church of Saint Mary in Lowertown Saint Paul, the Twin Cities’ (aspiring) oratory parish where he has grown the choir from a quartet of men to a fully mixed ensemble that sings a range of polyphony and Gregorian chant on a weekly basis. Since 2021 he has been providing liturgical music at Providence Academy in Plymouth, serving as the organist for school liturgies and directing the PA Schola Cantorum. He also assists with Middle and Upper School rehearsals, private vocal lessons, and directs the Academy Men in concerts. Josh is also the founding artistic director of the Twin Cities based professional ensemble, Lux Vivens, an ensemble dedicated to sacred music of living composers. Previously, he was the full-time Director of Music at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Golden Valley, where he established a youth choir with over 30 members and led them on a first-ever performance tour Cantores Festival in Chicago. Josh holds a Master’s in Sacred Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Notre Dame, where he was assistant conductor of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir, leading performances in the US and UK. He also has extensive experience as a pianist, including two seasons as a resident artist with the Toledo Opera Company. (Toledo, OH) He earned a Master’s in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University and a Bachelor’s in Piano Performance from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.