Gradual (Mass for a Medieval Saint)

There isn't too much organ music "for" St. Luke, but at least we have a work for a saint - and a medieval one at that!

Malcolm Williamson, AO, CBE (21 November 1931 – 2 March 2003) was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.

"Mass of a Medieval Saint" was published the Edward B. Marks Corporation in 1973. It was commissioned Lee H. Bristol (1923-1979) who was a member of the Bristol-Meyers Company, and later president of Westmninster Choir College (1962-1969) in Princeton, New Jersey.

It contains the standard "movements" of a liturgical Mass: Introit, Gradual, Offertory, Communion & Sortie.

Bristol describes the work saying, "it is Malcom Williamson's first liturgical work for organ. In this five movement work the composer is trying musically to describe both the outward and inner spiritual life of a man like Peter Abelard. The first movement is modal and reflect the saint's ceremonial moments: the second reflects in warm flat keys more private contemplative moods. In "Gradual" one senses the soul reaching out toward the dove of the Holy Spirit."
In the Mass, the "Gradual" is a chant or hymn in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In the Tridentine Mass it is sung after the reading or chanting of the Epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the Tract. In the Mass of Paul VI the gradual corresponds to the Responsorial Psalm.

In Williamson's Mass, the "Gradual" is flowing, using all flute stops, but with rapidly changing pitches being added and subtracted. The changes are fussy, but I've done my best to follow the composer's wishes.

Attached below are photos of Malcolm Williamson and Lee H. Bristol, Jr.