Originally written for the Diocesan Youth Choir formed to sing for the Chrism Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, NY in 2005, This setting of Delores Dufner’s text “A Year of God’s Favor” is scored for SAB choir, piano and optional flute, oboe and violoncello. The audio below was generated by the Finale music notation program.
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.
Listed below are some of the articles The Evangelist published while I was in Albany.
Written by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609), Vexilla Regis is one of the great chant hymns of the church. Appropriately sung at vespers from Passion Sunday until Holy Thursday, on the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross and even on Good Friday, the hymn was originally written to celebrate the arrival of a large relic of the True Cross in Poitiers, France.
In the French Classical tradition when singing hymns, the organ alternated verses with the choir. Having always enjoyed the sounds of the French Classical organs, when I had the opportunity to play a recital at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Albany, NY on Palm Sunday, I decided to write a suite for organ on this great hymn of the cross. The suite contains six movements and uses traditional tonal language and registrations of the period.
Vexilla Regis
Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to perform Faure’s Requiem on numerous occasions. While flipping through my photo album this afternoon, I came across the poster from the performance that we did in Albany six months after 9/11. It’s hard to believe that the concert was ten years ago this month.
One of my many pleasures during my tenure in Albany was working with the Festival Celebration Choir. Founded by my predecessor at the Cathedral, J. Robert Sheehan, the group was initially quite large. By the time I encountered the group, it had become a more moderate 60-80 voices. While under its second director, Deacon Neil Hook, I was offered several opportunities to accompany the choir for different concerts, including a presentation of the Mozart Requiem on June 6, 2004. The group even commissioned me to write a Te Deum for them. Eventually, Neil decided it was time for him to retire as the group’s conductor and passed the baton to me. Regrettably, only a year later, I had to pass the baton along again as my tenure in Albany came to a close and new opportunities awaited for me in Orlando.