Credo in unum Deum (Three Short Pieces based on Familiar Gregorian Melodies, No. 2)

The music of Everett Titcomb (1884-1968) occupies a unique niche in the catalogue of sacred organ and choral works by 20th-century Anglican composers in the United States. His compositional voice was clearly influenced by the Bostonian giants of his youth (Eugene Thayer, Dudley Buck, George Chadwick, Horatio Parker--who's mother once had Titcomb as a border) as well as his affinity for French music; yet at the same time his work is informed by his vast knowledge and understanding of plainchant and the polyphonic style of the 15th and 16th century Italians. An Anglo-Catholic who spent fifty years nearly to the day (1910-1960) as organist and choirmaster at Boston's Church of St. John the Evangelist in Bowdoin Street, his best organ works are based on plainchant tunes making them of more value to the Roman Catholic organist of the time than to the majority of Episcopalian ones and some of his best polyphony is in the form of Latin motets which while used at St. John's and other Anglo-Catholic parishes were perfectly at home sung at a Roman Mass.

Titcomb tends to be known for a handful of works--some of which are decidedly mediocre--which seem perennially popular with volunteer church choirs while his better work goes largely unplayed, unsung, and unheard.

"Credo in unum Deum" (I believe in one God) is based upon the Gregorian intonation for a familiar setting of the Creed. It was published in 1940 by The B. F. Wood Music Co., and is dedicated: "To Francis W. Snow, Mus. Doc.", (1891-1961), organist of Trinity Church in Boston. It is the 2nd of "Three Short Organ Pieces on Familiar Gregorian Melodies".

The score is attached below, as well as a photo of Titcomb and the organ that he played at St. John's Church, which sadly, has recently been closed.

It turns that out that I had uploaded this piece in 2013, when Carson Cooman sent me the score, but I had completely forgotten that I had done it. :-)

For Candlyn Fans, I have a WILD Epiphany work coming on Sunday!