Egil Hovland - Missa Verbi

Bergen Cathedral Choir​ performs Egil Hovland's "Missa Verbi", ("The Mass of the Word").

Missa Verbi was a commissioned piece for the National Church Song Festival in Fredrikstad in 1973. Previously, Hovland had written a Mass of Resurrection for Easter and All Saints' Mass. These are services intended for specific times in the church year: Missa Verbi is a service of the word without communion. It has a general liturgical character and is not connected to any form of church service, where instruments and choirs in a more advanced tonal language try to emphasize the text or theme, while the congregation participate in simpler forms. At this time, it was not easy to create stylistic works that were popular and also followed the musical development of the time. But this is where Hovland shows his strength as a composer when it comes to combining several styles.

Hovland's musical impact is proven by the fact that the different parts of this service were in a short time considered, and used as independent pieces of music. Two motets from the Missa Verbi were often sung at church concerts. The opening hymn "Open the Church's doors" in Psalm 73 was used to a great extent, despite the melody's 12-tone character. The Hymn of Faith and the Psalm of Praise have some of the impact of the English hymn, and the Gloria part was included as an alternative in the then new High Mass.

Denne gudstjenesten har med andre ord fått betydning for arbeidet med en ny høymesse og salmebok. Fokuset her var at kor og instrumentalister skulle gjennom denne gudstjenesteformen få mer meningsfylte liturgiske roller, og at gudstjenesten skulle få nye farger og dimensjoner. 

In other words, this service became important for the work on a new high mass and hymn book. The focus here was that choirs and instrumentalists should, through this form of service, get more meaningful liturgical roles, and that the service should take on new colors and dimensions.

(Harald Herresthal)

Liturg: Njål Klevberg.

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