James MacMillan’s Liturgical Music Involving the Singing Congregation

James MacMillan is one of the few internationally renowned composers who embraced the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council with its key concept of participatio actuosa and wrote music involving the congregation. With regard to these works, the following questions are discussed and answered: In what way did he compose for untrained singers so that they are able to sing his compositions? Which stylistic compromises did he accept and how are they artistically justifiable? How does his liturgical music involving the congregation relate to liturgical theological concepts? Liturgická hudba Jamese MacMillana zapojující zpívající kongregaci


Introduction
Any music composed after the Second Vatican Council and meant to be used in the framework of Roman Catholic liturgy needs to meet the Council's requirements in terms of participatio actuosa, the active participation of the entire assembly -one of the key terms of the Council. Composers of such music are therefore required to meet these concepts if they want to meet Roman Catholic official decisions, 1 and James MacMillan is no exception here. 2 The question 1 Cf. for example the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium n. 121: "Let them [i. e. composers] produce compositions which have the qualities proper to genuine sacred music, not confining themselves to works which can be sung only by large choirs, but providing also for the needs of small choirs and for the active participation of the entire assembly of the faithful". 2 It is important to understand that only after the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council the assembly was allowed and granted the right to celebrate liturgy. Prior to the Council's reform it was only the priest celebrating liturgy while the assembly silently watched him or engaged in devotional activities that might have included singing sacred but non-liturgical(!) songs which might or might not have had any connection to what the priest was doing. In any case, whatever the congregation did and sang had no relevance for the liturgical celebration. With the beginning of the 20 th century, liturgical movements and papal documents (Pius X, "Tra le sollecitudini," 1903; Pius XI, "Divini cultus sanctitatem," 1928 ) strove to give the congregation some part in the liturgy (firstly by joining in the singing of Gregorian chant), initially with a pastoral goal in mind. The Second Vatican Council took up the developing concept of participatio actuosa, made it to its key term and acknowledged that, "vi Baptismatis" (Sacrosanctum Concilium n. 14; engl.: "by reason of their baptism"), it is the entire assembly's "ius […] et officium" (Sacrosanctum Concilium n. 14; engl.: "right and duty") to celebrate liturgy (in contrast to only the priests celebrating liturgy by reason of their ordination People meeting as a liturgical congregation come from all professions and backgrounds and for the majority are untrained singers. Therefore any piece written with their active participation in mind will have to follow other rules than any piece written for (professionally) trained vocalists, as new sacred compositions outside (or even inside) the liturgy nowadays often are. Helpful in reducing the musical requirements for singing congregations are rather short, repeating or recurring motifs or phrases such as acclamations, responds, refrains and ostinatos and the elimination of some of the musical elements normally required simultaneously (the use of the speaking voice would eliminate the melodic aspect; aleatory elements may eliminate the aspect of fixed pitch or rhythm/timing). Quoting from melodies or songs already known to the congregation is another option to help facilitate the participation of the congregation in new liturgical music. All these techniques 8 reduce or eliminate the necessity to study the music prior to performance or to be able to sing at sight (both of which are often no options with liturgical assemblies).
Most interestingly, however, James MacMillan only occasionally relies on these techniques but more often uses newly composed melodies for lengthy 7 The cantor mostly acts as a support for the congregation part, his soloistic part in "Kyrie" and the intonation of the "Gloria" can also be sung by the priest. 8 The author's research shows that all these techniques are actually used by composers when writing liturgical music for congregations, see Manfred Novak, "'Providing for the Active Participation of the Entire amounts of text. 9 This choice entrusts a lot of previously unknown musical material to the congregation and can generally be rated as rather difficult for the members of the congregation, as they have to sing at sight a part new to them, if rehearsals beforehand are out of question. And so it is interesting to investigate what kind of support MacMillan offers the congregation so that they can participate in his music.

Aspects of composition technique
By making use of motivic connections up to exact repetition of selected passages not only does he create compositional coherence between the individual movements but also reduces the amount of melodic material that the congregation has to learn. If the same music is used again, even if possibly in another context, it will no longer seem entirely new, but will be at least subconsciously recognized at the later occurrence.
Music example 1b: James MacMillan, St Anne's Mass, "Agnus Dei," bb. 6-9 10 In St Anne's Mass "Kyrie" and "Agnus Dei" are connected motivically (example 1), through forms such as ABA or AA'B respectively, melodic passages repeat within one movement, and also the B-parts show motivic relationship to the A-parts. The "Sanctus" is written in AA'-form, with the A'-part being reused for the "Acclamations". 11 The "Gloria" of St Anne's Mass has been integrated into the mass only at a later point of time: It solely makes use of melodic elements of the "Sanctus", however, arranges them in a new way and, in contrast to the metrically composed "Sanctus", is composed in a rhythmically free form and notated with stemless notes (example 2).
Thus, for those congregation members who are already familiar with the St Anne's Mass, the "Gloria" is easy to learn. Those, who sing the expanded version including the "Gloria" for the first time, will profit from the common compositional material shared by "Gloria", "Sanctus" and "Acclamations".
MacMillan takes a similar approach in The Galloway Mass, however, he also makes use of other, and for the congregation simpler, ways of participation: The "Kyrie" is kept antiphonally, with the cantor singing the congregation's melody ahead of them. In the "Gloria" the congregation is involved with a refrain. At its initial occurrence, alike earlier in the "Kyrie", this refrain is introduced in unison. Additionally, in the "Kyrie" almost all of the material of the remaining movements gets already presented. 13 In Mass MacMillan again makes use of the antiphonal structure of the liturgical text in the movement "Sursum corda" in order to have the congregation repeat the previously sung melody (example 3).
Music example 3: James MacMillan, Mass, "Sursum Corda," bb. 1-2 14 13 The refrain of the "Gloria" and the "Agnus Dei" have been created inspired from the melody of the "Kyrie", the Amen of the "Gloria" repeats the music of the organ prelude of that movement, "Sanctus and Benedictus" take their melody from the "Gloria", "Acclamation" reuses music from parts of "Sanctus and Benedictus", and "Great Amen" makes use of the same music as the "Amen" at the end of the "Gloria". For formal and structural aspects of The Galloway Mass see Kingsbury, "Aesthetic Meaning". Kingsbury does not discuss the thematic-motivic relationship between "Kyrie" and the refrain of the "Gloria". 14 James MacMillan, Mass: For the acclamations in the Eucharistic Prayer (Memorial Acclamation and Amen) the congregation has to enter immediately after the intonation of the priest (example 4); their phrase, however, has long been familiar to them: It was used in the "Kyrie" three times as an acclamation, and was repeated in the Institution Narrative another four times; additionally, the head motif got quoted eight times in the "Gloria" and in the "Sanctus" was used as the fugato subject.
Music example 4: James MacMillan, Mass, "Memorial Acclamations," bb. 1-3 15 In Mass of Blessed John Henry Newman MacMillan again puts trust in longer newly composed passages for the congregation. Solely the "Kyrie" is planned antiphonally (example 5), the short motif is introduced by the cantor, and already in the organ prelude was used as a quasi ostinato -this being the only example of the congregation taking part in an ostinato in MacMillan's works known to the author.
"Gloria" and "Sanctus" both introduce new material, and with relation to their text structure include melodic repetitions within each individual movement. 17 The "Acclamations" consist entirely of music used earlier already, 18 the "Agnus Dei" starts from a diminution of the Kyrie acclamation (example 6). Advent Antiphons serve as an example for music in which the congregation actually need to learn and know their melody ahead of the celebration. However, even so there are four factors to ease their process of learning: Firstly, the melody is diatonic, preferably moving stepwise, and of a length that can still be overlooked well. Secondly, the antiphon has eight different textual underlays, 20 this being the reason that it can be used on four consecutive Sundays, and even twice per Sunday, which makes it possible that it can also be learnt by repetition. Thirdly, for each individual usage of the antiphon it is sung three times alternating with the solo verses, this being another possibility to learn by repetition. Finally, the congregation part is doubled in the organ part and can further be supported by the female voices of the choir and/or the cantor (example 7).

Music example 7: James MacMillan, Advent Antiphons, bb. 1-4 21
This last point of a double support is the case for almost all the congregation parts in MacMillan's liturgical music. 22 Additionally, working with quotations from his own or also foreign compositions -a technique that is frequently found in MacMillan's entire compositional oeuvre -can help a congregation, provided the quoted music is at least latently known to them, so that recognition and/or a certain level of familiarity can be achieved in this way. The Sanctus melody of St Anne's Mass, e.g., is taken from an earlier work by MacMillan, The Tryst (1984), 23  As has been shown, most importantly repetition and recurrence enable and ease participation for the congregation. 26 Thanks to two techniques MacMillan frequently also uses in his non-liturgical music, namely varying harmonization of melodically identical motifs or phrases 27 and thematic transformation 28 , the thematic repetitions do not end up monotonous. Thematic transformation can get executed with regard to pitch, here options such as transposition, substracting or adding of notes and transformation into another mode should be named, or with regard to rhythm, if the same melodic element is being set into a rhythmic proportion 29 or set to a differing rhythm, or also, if change between metric and free-rhythmic performance occurs. Naturally, any kind of combination of the mentioned techniques is possible.
Up to this point in his argument the author has discussed the part of the congregation and their ease of performance in a mostly isolated way. With regard to additional performers further practical questions of common music-making arise: How will the congregation find their entrance pitch, the right point of time for their entry and the right tempo?
Pitch and tempo are easy to pick for the congregation either from a preceding organ prelude or also from a preceding solo or choir part ending at their starting pitch or already anticipating an upcoming entrance motif. In singular cases, when the tempo would not get established beforehand, the cantor or choir sing an identical part and with regard to tempo need to "carry along" the members of the congregation (see music example 4).
To find the right time of entrance is oftentimes more difficult for a congregation. In case of antiphonal writing they can take up the breath impulse of the cantor (example 8).
Music example 8: James MacMillan, The Galloway Mass, "Kyrie," bb. 10-13 30 Should they, however, start after the organ they will only rarely receive a breath impulse due to the fact that MacMillan makes them enter into a stationary sound (see music example 7). Similarly, an entry of the congregation on the tonic which overlaps with the end of the organ prelude seems tricky to the author (example 9). by stationary tones, crescendi, 33 or harmonic progression goes for a tight weave and continuation of the organ part in the places of congregation entries. It seems that, different from the author's own experience in German-speaking areas, this is a sign of an accompaniment practice in which the congregation for their entry are dependent on the cantor or choir director and visual cues given by them to a higher degree.

Liturgy-theological positions
Quite noteworthy are also several liturgy-theological positions that are expressed in MacMillan's music. On one hand, conservative elements are found which strongly connect to the (pre-Council) tradition. Among them is the composition of ordinary cycles, as the combination of these movements into a musical cycle does not have any theological or ritual basis, 34 and equally the choice of texts of the missal for elements which have been open to replacement by other texts since the advent of the post-Council missals. 35 More striking, however, are elements of the liturgy reform of the Second Vatican Council which get featured in MacMillan's work contrasting with the pre-Council tradition of writing mass cycles: He composes a comparatively high amount of liturgical music for congregation (in contrast to the pre-Vatican II-cycles of the ordinarium missae executed by choirs without the congregation), and for this purpose always chooses the English mother tongue (in contrast to the pre-Vatican II-cycles of the ordinarium missae in Latin/Greek). 36 In his mass compositions he gives more musical weight to the Eucharistic Prayer by setting the acclamations to music (for the Memorial Acclamation and the concluding Amen), and in a liturgically sensible way always entrusts these to the congregation (in contrast to the pre-Vatican II-cycles of the ordinarium missae lacking such congregational acclamations). 37 He cares for practical aspects of integration of the music into the dramaturgical plan of the liturgy: Together with the acclamations of the 33 E.g. in the "Gloria" of The Galloway Mass. 34 Nowadays, aside of the connection to the musical (and liturgical) tradition, the main reason for the continuation of the practice of composing mass ordinary cycles seems to be the practical aspect: With regard to their text they can be used in any mass service. 35  Eucharistic Prayer he notates on which pitch the priest should start the liturgical recitative of the missal in order to be able to find a sensible musical transition from the recitation to the composed acclamations, and he would frequently set a short prelude at the start of the acclamations in order to ease the entry for the congregation. The "Acclamations" of St Anne's Mass additionally are provided in a printed transposition so that there is a choice of two different pitches for the liturgical recitative and the "Acclamations" available. Especially interesting -with regard to the liturgical integration -is Mass, as in this case MacMillan composes an entire Eucharistic Prayer, starting from the initial dialogue between priest and congregation and lasting till the Amen (in contrast to the pre-Vatican II-cycles of the ordinarium missae, none of which had an Eucharistic Prayer set to music). This allows him to treat priest, congregation, organist and choir according to their liturgical distribution of roles and according to their musical abilities, 38 to shape the Eucharistic Prayer as a musical unity and by that give it musical weight in the entire succession of the mass. To set the preface and the Eucharistic Prayer as a recitative allows for the usage of varying texts. Of specific interest is the compositional treatment of the Institution Narrative, where MacMillan through short organ solo parts provides time for wordless liturgical gestures (lifting of the offerings, genuflections, bells) and musically repaints them by writing either raising or descending lines.
Finally it should be mentioned that MacMillan has not composed any liturgical Credo ever, neither for congregation nor for choir, but did so for apparently practical reasons, as sung Credos have fallen out of use in the UK. 39

Stylistic aspects
For stylistic questions of MacMillan's compositions with congregational participation the author makes use of existing treatises by Stephen Kingsbury 40 and Timothy Rolls, 41 to a smaller extent also by Dominic Wells. 42 From these scholarly works facts for a list of stylistic features were gathered for which then was specifically searched in the liturgical works with congregational participation. Omnipresent elements of MacMillan's music, such as the use of various diatonic scales 43 have not been listed specifically.
compositional oeuvre. 65 Even if the parts for congregation show a melodic and rhythmical structure that is easier performable and the accompaniment is often made of triads or chords of four tones or organum and thus the complexity of the musical structure seems reduced, there are similar passages in other works by MacMillan, too. 66 This outcome is not unexpected for MacMillan, who very consciously relates to musical tradition and makes use of various styles on one hand, on the other, however, also unites very different stylistic elements into a highly personal musical idiom 67 .
Thus, MacMillan is one of the few composers who managed to do justice to the required participatio actuosa without giving up on their own artistic demand. 68 Frequently he indicated that, with regard to composition for congregation and liturgy, one had to leave one's compositional ego at the church porch. 69 However, the fact that he managed not to leave his artistic and technical abilities as a composer of international reputation at the church porch, too, gave us a number of compositions, simple at times, but elaborate, suggestive, and most appropriate to the new form and understanding of liturgy.