John Rutter (b. 1945)
Mass of the Children • Shadows • Wedding Canticle
Mass of the Children was written towards the end of 2002, and received its first
performance in February 2003 in Carnegie Hall, New York. The seed of the work probably
lay in the inspiring experience I had back in 1963 singing as a member of the
boys' choir in the first recording of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.
The effect of combining children's and adults' voices is unique, and I wanted
to write a work that would bring them together in a more joyful context than a
Requiem. I had never written a Mass, and it seemed to me a perfect opportunity
to interweave texts and music coming from the different perspectives of
children and adults. The Latin text of the Missa Brevis provided the framework,
but I added a number of English texts to it which are sung by the children or
the soloists. To open the work, I chose Bishop Thomas Ken's morning hymn for
the scho