Diabelli Project 163 - Benedictus for SATB

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

One of the fun things about doing these flash composition sketches is that sometimes I surprise myself. When I started the ten-minute timer, I had no idea what I would write. Then the opening phrase of the Benedictus popped into my head, and the rest just flowed.

I've already sketched an Agnus Dei and a Kyrie in this series. Are they all part of the same mass setting? Not sure. The tonal centers these three movements are in do fit together. So perhaps there's something there.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 159 - Agnus Dei for SATB

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

I'm not sure why, but this week I sketched out the beginning of another mass movement. I have been listening to a lot of Renaissance choral music lately.

This sketch begins a setting of the Agnus Dei. I ran out of time at about the point where things got interesting. Perhaps I should do two flash composition sessions a week. The second could pick up where the first left off. I might actually get a complete work out such a system -- written in ten-minute chunks.

A common theme with me seems to be starting with a unison and having the voices gradually peel off in different directions. Had this sketch continued, the voices would have continued to branch out independently.

Although this sets a part of the mass, I'm not sure it ties in with the Kyrie Eleison I posted earlier. Will there be more? I don't know -- although I think it's unlikely I'll be setting a Credo anytime soon. That is a lot of text to go through. And I only have ten minutes.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 150 - Kyrie Eleison for SATB

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

For the 150th installment of this series, I decided to be a little more ambitious. And so, for this week's flash composition, I set the opening of a Kyrie Elison. Traditionally, each line of the text is set three times: Kyrie eleison (3x); Christe eleison (3x); Kyrie eleison (3x).  As you can see, I managed to complete the triple iteration of the first phrase (not bad for 10 minutes of writing, I think).

What next? There are all kinds of possibilities. I could make this the opening movement of a complete mass. I could start each movement with the same motif. Or I could have each movement start with something different, yet related to the opening. Or perhaps the idea of the paired voices could be explored further.

I don't think I'm quite finished with this idea yet.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.