Gloria is a sacred choral composition by

Karl Jenkins Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song " Adiemus" and the ''Adiemus'' album series; '' Palladio''; ''The Armed Man''; and his ''Requiem''. J ...

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

mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, on the text of the Gloria in three movements, interpolated with two movements on other texts,

Psalm 150 Psalm 150 is the 150th and final psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Praise ye the . Praise God in his sanctuary". In Latin, it is known as "Laudate Dominum in sanctis eius". In Psalm 150, the psalmist ...

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 purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments. Formed in 1930 throu ...

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

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

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. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...

by The Really Big Chorus and the

London Festival Orchestra The London Festival Orchestra (LFO) was established in the 1950s as the 'house orchestra' for Decca Records. In 1980 it was incorporated as an independent performing orchestra under Ross Pople. At least in the world of pop music, the orchestra is b ...

, 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 197 ...

. 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 beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. The choir is four-part

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

, 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 Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

and

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

) 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 notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin and means "it beg ...

, translation,

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

marking and

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

, as provided in the vocal score.

Time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...

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'', "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 The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB) is the family of choirs for outstanding young singers, and those with outstanding potential, in the United Kingdom. It comprises a total of five choirs for around 750 young people between the ages ...

, 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 #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...