Category: Compositions

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O Sons and Daughters

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This is an arrangement of the Easter Hymn O Filii et Filiae for SATB choir, organ and brass quintet. It was originally written for the 25th anniversary of the episcopal ordination of Howard Hubbard as Bishop of the Diocese of Albany. The event was celebrated on the Second Sunday of Easter and needed a lengthy piece for the entrance procession. In addition to including all nine verses of the hymn there are interludes between each verse. This arrangement served as the basis for the later arrangement used at St. Patrick’s Cathedral for the Papal visit to New York City.

The score packet includes a full score, choral score, and parts for organ, horn, trumpet 1, trumpet 2, trombone 1, and trombone 2. Purchasers are granted permission to print or reprint scores as necessary for performance.

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Papal Resignation

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With the surprise announcement of Pope Benedict XVI’s retirement this month, this Friday’s Choral Mass will take on a special significance. While I hope everyone was planning on attending to hear the fabulous music (including some new compositions), in this time of transition, I hope more people will attend to give thanks for the leadership Pope Benedict XVI has provided and that a worthy successor may be found for the Chair of Peter.
I am thankful for the opportunities that I had to sing and compose music for the Papal visit to New York City. It was a very memorable occasion that, even though stressful at times, is something I’d be happy to do again for the new pope.

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Salvator Mundi

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One of the difficulties in using a historical musical setting of the Latin Mass in the Novus Ordo is the lack of Memorial Acclamation and Amen. With only two syllables, it’s usually pretty easy to do some text replacement and derive an Amen from material in other movements. It may even be possible to simply use the amen found at the end of the Gloria or Credo as a stand alone Eucharistic acclamation. The Memorial Acclamation, regardless of the text option chosen, proves a much tougher challenge.

For the Choral Mass on February 22, 2013, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe, Dr. William Picher gave me the task of creating something for him to use alongside Palestrina’s Missa Papae Marcelli. While I initially wrote something for the SATTBB voicing that Palestrina uses, I forgot that this was to be a Latin Mass and set the English response “Save Us, Savior of the World.” Mea culpa. As six contrapuntal voices seemed a bit of a stretch for me in the limited time I had to prepare the piece, when I started over again with the equivalent Latin text, I opted for the more traditional (and perhaps more useful) SATB voicing.

I hope to have a recording of live singers performing the piece after February 22. In the meantime, the music notation program Finale has provided this rendering:

1. Listen now     

Salvator mundi, salva nos, qui per crucem et resurrectionem tuam liberasti nos.
Lord, by your cross and resurrection you have set us free. You are the Savior of the world.

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Rehearsal Preparation

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For the upcoming CFAGO performance of The Crucifixion by John Stainer, there is a website offering midi files to download or listen to here. If you need a score, there are public domain versions available here. I am also in the process of setting the hymns “American style” for download here.

Listed below are .mp3 files for each voice part of my composition Ubi Caritas. Depending upon the browser, it may be necessary to control-click on the download link in order to save the file to disk.

  • Soprano –
    1. Download     
    2. Listen now     


  • Alto –
    3. Download     
    4. Listen now     


  • Tenor –
    5. Download     
    6. Listen now     


  • Bass –
    7. Download     
    8. Listen now     
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A Cappella Magic

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This recording by the Basilica Choir and William Picher includes my composition Salve Regina. The piece was written specifically for them, and I was delighted that they chose to include it on their recording.

The CD is available for sale for $15 plus shipping and handling. It is also available at iTunes for immediate download here. This is the complete track list:

  1. Haec Dies (William Byrd)
  2. O Bone Jesu (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)
  3. Verbum Caro Factus Est (Hans Leo Hassler)
  4. Alma Redemptoris Mater (Palestrina)
  5. Regina Caeli Laetare (Antonio Lotti)
  6. Riu, Riu, Chiu (Anon. Spanish)
  7. Exsultate Deo (Palestrina)
  8. I See His Blood Upon the Rose (Michael Bedford)
  9. At the Cross Her Station Keeping (13th cent., arr. Richard Proulx)
  10. Were You There? (Spiritual, arr. Harry T. Burleigh)
  11. Gabriel’s Message (Basque Carol, arr. Jonathan Rathbone)
  12. Ave Maria (Marshall Webb)
  13. Set Me As a Seal (René Clausen)
  14. Tota Pulchra Es (Maurice Duruflé)
  15. Hail Mary (William Picher)
  16. Hail Holy Queen (Salve Regina, arr. Derric Johnson)
  17. I Saw Three Ships (English Carol, arr. Marshall Webb)
  18. Salve Regina
  19. Deep River (Spiritual, arr. Norman Luboff)
  20. Ain’t-a that Good News (Spiritual, arr. William Dawson)
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Choral Mass

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Event Description:

Experience Palestrina’s sublime a cappella choral masterpiece, “Missa Papae Marcelli” in the context of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Also includes the premier of two new compositions in the style of Palestrina- a setting of Psalm 23 and Salvator Mundi– by Wm. Glenn Osborne who will serve as organist for the celebration. Bishop John Noonan will preside.
The Basilica Choir under the direction of William Picher.
All are welcome, no tickets required.

Event Date

Friday, 2/22/2013

Event Time

7:00pm

Event Venue

Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe
8300 Vineland Avenue
Orlando, Florida 32821
407-239-6600

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NaSoAlMo 2012 Update

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As November has ended, I thought I’d give an update on my attempt at NaSoAlMo 2012. While I managed to write plenty of music that would have fulfill the length requirement, getting it recorded or shaped into an album proved to be more difficult. That being said, I made good progress on completing my new psalter and I have ideas for at least four albums that I’d really like to do next year. I have recording sketches for several piano pieces for one disc, and ideas for several other pieces. I think my problem this year was a lack of focus on one project. I have too many good ideas! I even came up with a new idea for another Christmas disc today! While I didn’t complete an album for NaSoAlMo 2012, my plan is to produce three or four next year.

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NaSoAlMo 2012

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For years several years, my wife has participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Thanks to the DIY Musician podcast, I discovered that there is a musical equivalent: National Solo Album Month (NaSoAlMo). The goal of NaSoAlMo is to write and record a solo album of original compositions lasting at least 29 minutes during the month of November. While I’ve been kicking around a couple ideas for albums for a while, the challenge for me for NaSoAlMo is that it is a solo album and all the music must be written during that month. The other ideas I’ve been preparing require a chorus and/or other instrumentalists so will not fit the guidelines. Even so, I think I should be able to put together at least a half-hour of music and record it in one month. Check back for updates as the month progresses!

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Psalms, Psalms, and more Psalms

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While I was at the University of Notre Dame pursuing my Master’s degree, I served as organist at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Inspired by the stories of Johann Sebastian Bach writing a cantata every week, I took it as my own challenge to write a psalm setting every week while I was there. The choir and cantors there became my compositional laboratory, and I turned out probably 100 psalm settings during my two years there.

I dropped this practice when I went to France to study, but resumed it again when I became music director at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, NY. While I would have liked to reuse some of my settings from Indiana, unfortunately, most of the scores I did were minimal vocal only scores without notation for any keyboard part. Sometimes, I could figure out what I had intended to play at the keyboard, but other times, the music was effectively lost in time. In order to encourage congregational singing, many of my psalm settings written in Albany used phrases from hymn tunes to make the refrains readily accessible to the people.

Once I moved to Orlando, I had no need to compose weekly psalm settings. My catalog had also grown to include at least once setting for almost all of the three-year lectionary cycle, so when I was given the opportunity to use my own settings, I generally had something to pull out of the file cabinet ready to go. With the release of the Revised Grail Psalter and my understanding that this would be the new preferred translation for the Roman Catholic Church, I have decided once again to turn out weekly psalm settings using the new translation. No hymn tunes this time – only original music. (This collection has been published as the Audubon Park Psalter.)

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to consider using my psalm settings at your local church.