Northern Spire

About You Are Peter:

You Are Peter (2014) was composed for Mass celebrating the 175th Anniversary of the Church of St. Peter in Saratoga Springs, NY, where I serve as Music Director, and was programmed as the Communion Hymn for that celebration.  Because of the festive nature of that celebration, I composed parts for brass trio to accompany this piece.  The piece is a setting of the appointed Communion Antiphon text for the feast day on which the Mass was celebrated, the Solemnity of Ss. Peter and Paul, celebrated annually on June 29th.  Indeed, the full choral setting begins with an adaptation of the chanted antiphon, "Tu es Petrus," (in Latin) from the Graduale Romanum, and then presents a bit of four-part choral counterpoint on this chant.  The piece then moves into a very singable Refrain in English for the entire Assembly, and continues with verse settings from Psalm 80 for the Cantor and Choir, returning to the Assembly Refrain after each verse.  As this is a festive setting, it also contains music for Brass Trio during the Refrain.

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While the opening choral music may be challenging or overly solemn for an average parish Mass, it may be omitted, and the piece may begin with the Refrain.  Indeed, the piece is intended to be flexible. It can be sung without Choir if none is present, with the Cantor singing the verses alone.  The accompaniment is written for either Organ or Piano, and the Refrain also has chord symbols for guitarists.  The Brass Trio parts are completely optional, as well.  The Refrain itself is very simple and written for unison singing, but an optional Descant is also provided.  

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Click on the title page image above to view a sample score.  The individual Brass parts are included on the last three pages of the full score, but are not included here.