History of John Kilpatrick's Gloria.

In 2008, the Sheffield Oratorio Chorus announced a competition for a new choral piece, with the winning piece to be performed at their Jubilee Concert in early 2009. The entries were to be judged by Andrew Carter, Vivien Pike, and Alan Eost, and were to be for a "fanfare" piece of 10-15 minutes, for SATB choir with brass (up to 8 players), percussion (up to 3), and organ or piano. I decided to write an entry - not for the money, I may say, but for the fun of it, and the possibility (however small) of getting a piece performed in my home town. Judging was to be anonymous, but for good measure I sent in my entry under the pseudonym Anthony Saintsman - an easy derivation from my own name (or would be if my origin had been Irish rather than Scottish). There was a choice of texts, but the only one that interested me was the Gloria, in Latin.

I stretched the specification just a little by including vibraphone in the percussion, and by expecting the organist to move to piano for one section (or someone else to play piano - an easy enough part, I think). My choice of brass was for 2 x Bb cornet, 1 x flugelhorn, and 3 trombones; percussion needed timpani, and otherwise only a snare drum and cymbal, and if possible an orchestral bass drum (though a drum kit would have done fine), and of course the vibraphone. The flugelhorn and vibraphone were to feature somewhat, so I bought a flugelhorn on eBay in order to get a good feel of the instrument: but I stopped short of buying a vibraphone for obvious reasons of cost and space. I aimed not to write for virtuoso players: rather I wanted the whole work playable by anyone of reasonable standard - it would be bad enough fielding that combination of instruments without too much expense.

The other pieces to be performed in the Jubilee concert were Rutter's Gloria, and a new work "Pro Chori" written for the occasion by Ron Law. 

I didn't count the hours taken to compose - nor the possibly equal number spent on layout and presentation - but the total was quite a lot. Presumably other entrants found the same. And I would not (nor they) have had any reason to expect to come out top, or anywhere near it, but we all might have expected, at the least, that one of the presented works would be performed according to the original plan and competition rules. But come the day for the winner to be announced... NOTHING. Then, some weeks later, an email saying that no prize had been awarded. What a bloody ridiculous waste of time! No explanation, no information whatever on how many entries there were, etc. This should be a lesson to all! DON'T ENTER COMPETITIONS.

Now the following is hearsay, and should be treated as such  (in Sheffield one gets to hear things - whether one believes them is one's own business). Of course, if the powers that be will not let it be known what is going on, then hearsay is their just reward.

First, it is said that Andrew Carter threw up his judging position after seeing the entries, and asked for another to take his place, and that the place was duly taken by Neil Taylor. Next, that the judges were all agreed that none of the pieces were up to the required standard (what standard?  none was defined), though some or all thought that one entry "was performable". Also I heard that there were not many entries (but that could mean anything). Then I heard that it had been said that "no entry would stand up well in comparison with Ron Law's piece". 

Now that last rumour - if fact - would be absurd. For goodness sake, they put John Rutter in the same concert as Ron Law! Have they no heart? Poor Rutter, being subjected to such a comparison! Indeed, it's the absurdest thing I've heard in years - are all pieces in a concert always to be of exactly equal merit? One must hope the rumour is false, or we might have unkind thoughts about the workings of someone's brain.

Another rumour that took root at one stage was that Ron Law somehow benefited by taking the place of the winner. That I know to be completely untrue - his performance was already planned, and he is a member of the chorus and couldn't have submitted an entry, and received no benefit other than the kudos of having the performance. Ron's contribution was 100% above board (and pretty good, too).

Now it is obvious that a set of competition judges cannot be forced to declare a winner if there is a small (or even large) number of entries and they are all rubbish. So I've had another good look at mine - and I just can't see it as being that bad! But that's obvious - I wouldn't have put it in if I'd thought otherwise. I've had a few things performed, and my experience is that the singers enjoy them (even when they're difficult) - and the audience, too. Well, I stand to be corrected. If anyone cares to look over my Gloria and email me to tell me it's useless, they are welcome - when all is said and done I prefer to remain in the real world!

Any more history? Not so far as I know - I don't think it's been performed anywhere, though anyone who cares is free to do so. I haven't said anything about the music, or the thinking that went behind it - but why bother? the result is what counts.

John Kilpatrick