Mass of Perpetual Indulgence
M Joseph Willette in DMA Recital
Mass of Perpetual Indulgence for chamber orchestra, electronics, soprano solo, and drag performer was written to bridge the gap between queerness and spirituality, to sanctify queer people and celebrate our lives and communities. Amalgamating musical styles ranging from disco to opera, art song to EDM, this appropriation of the traditional Mass blurs the lines between the sacred and the profane. Libretto by Caroliena Cabada, featuring soloists Molly Wanless (soprano) and Frieda Fach Roxia (drag). Poster by Effi Darling.
Ensemble
Molly Wanless, soprano & Frieda Fach Roxia, drag
Andrea Mack, conductor
Bridget Hill and Rose Khorsandi, flute | Rae Barbee, clarinet | Skylar Feddersen, alto sax | Julia Steffensmeier, trumpet | Camille Bellinger, euphonium | Angel Rodriguez-Villalobos, trombone | August Gower, viola | Jennifer Lochhead, cello | Evan LeBouef, bass guitar | Nathan Bjoin, drum set | Gavin Gillespie, percussion and electronics
About the Composer
M Joseph Willette (b. 1997) is a composer and educator currently residing in the bustling city of Lincoln, Nebraska. Often drawing inspiration from queer spaces and culture, Joey (they/them) uses delicate timbres, rich sonorities, and driving beats to capture the idyllic intimacies and onerous tribulations of the human experience. Recent projects include collaboration with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City and No Divide KC on “Working Hard & Hardly Working”, an operetta exploring queer vulnerability (libretto by Luke “Skippy” Harbur).
Joey is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, studying with Dr. Greg Simon. They hold a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Troy University, and a Master’s degree in Music Composition from Wichita State University, where they studied with Dr. Traci Mendel and Dr. David MacDonald, respectively. Joey is an amateur photographer, and is fond of poetry, scented candles, and a #4 from Taco Bell with a Baja Blast (no ice). They are an alumni member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
About the Librettist
Caroliena Cabada is the author of True Stories (Unsolicited Press, 2024). Her poetry has been published or is forthcoming in ALOCASIA - a journal of queer plant-based writing, Rogue Agent, The Spotlong Review, and elsewhere. She is a PhD student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the English Department specializing in Creative Writing and Ethnic Studies.
About the Piece
Kyrie
The first movement, Kyrie, begins with an electronic fixed media piece that presents the initial text through increasingly distorted filters, before becoming clear and pure once more and trailing off. This is in direct and deliberate homage to Leonard Bernstein’s Mass which opens with prerecorded fixed media. The electroacoustic material is immediately followed by the first entrance of the ensemble, a steady buildup that increases in rhythmic complexity and dissonance as it works its way through the ensemble before erupting into a bright, powerful major chord at its climax. This climax presents the text “I have sinned, I have sinned, I have / committed myself too early / Surely I could pray my way / save time, make space / by throwing me into a river” against a joyful accompanimental harmony and texture. The accompaniment, including brassy fanfare and grandiose sweeping runs in a major pop progression, positions the text seemingly in antithesis to its begging, pleading nature. By juxtaposing the contrasting moods between the text and the musical accompaniment, the musical narrative then becomes one in which the vocalist is glad and joyful to be a sinner. The following text “bless the rage of the water, / make it holy spirit in a cocktail glass” confirms this lighthearted interpretation, and the movement gently winds down from here. The final text “Forgive me my thirst for forgive- / ness. I’m begging for a sip.” is spoken after the ensemble cuts off, creating an intensely intimate atmosphere before the beginning of the Gloria.
Gloria
Much of the Gloria movement is heavily influenced by disco music, and modeled after the music of artists such as Donna Summer and Sylvester. Featuring a funk bass line, an emphasis on the string section, and active interpolating woodwind lines that mimic synth figures, this movement features text that is particularly carnal in nature and emphasizes the worship and praise of the body. The libretto here, “Let me praise you in my way: / with my whole mouth watering / for the body and the wine / that reveals this heart of mine” intertwines religious and sexual imagery, perfectly suited for the pseudo-disco style of this movement. The disco material is suddenly interrupted by a still and calm section whose very lightly ornamented accompaniment and dramatic harmonic shifts are highly reminiscent of classical opera recitative moments. A drum set fill connects the recitative to an explosive presentation of the movement’s original disco groove and concludes with a sloppy stinger in a short coda on the final text of the movement “...Every ‘Please, God,’ is a promise / to achieve a higher bliss.” The structure of this movement was highly informed by the customs and traditions associated with drag performance, specifically the “dance-ballad-dance” format that many drag performers use to structure their performances in a drag show.
INTERLUDE
The Interlude is the only movement of the work to utilize a subset of the instrumentation. The subgroup involving flute, clarinet, saxophone, cello, and voice creates a much more delicate, intimate atmosphere. This movement reflects chamber music and art song, a dramatic change in style compared to the rest of the work. The vocalist in this movement is challenged in tessitura, from the higher, forward, bright pop-adjacent vocal affect, to a warmer, lower register that blends with the rich and warm ensemble.
Credo
The Credo movement represents electronic dance music and club music styles that promulgate rhythm, beat, and groove over vocal prowess or word play. The Credo movement of the traditional Mass typically involves lengthy text that proclaims a series of values or events that are considered canonical or central to the Catholic belief. The Credo movement of this work acknowledges this tradition, but ultimately opposes it, focusing instead on exploring dance grooves with brief spoken interludes. This movement opens with text that is some of the only material that does not come from the original libretto. This text, “Credo in Spiritum Sanctum, remissionem peccatorum, et vitam aeternam. Amen.” translates to “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting. Amen.” and comes from the Apostle’s Creed, one of the first texts used in Christian liturgical rites which a traditional Mass may use in the eponymous movement. A cherrypicked selection of the long and ancient creed, this text was chosen and used in this movement due to its close connection to the traditional Mass and philosophical relevance to the composition.
The lack of text in this movement as compared to the traditional movement then stems from text presented in the libretto. “Confess to me the whole truth this time— / I want preaching past the choir.” establishes the setting in which the performers are confessing, and later “To dance is to worship / a body in motion / from your hands to my tongue / I'm singing devotion” implies that the performers are confessing with their bodies through the performance of dance music. Therefore this movement uses dance music, as opposed to lengthy text, to proclaim the credo.
Sanctus
The Sanctus movement synthesizes glitch (or glitchcore) styles with traditional chamber oratorio styles. Staccato fanfare lines weave amongst one another, becoming very short and secco to imitate stuttering, glitching synths. The textures throughout this movement shift drastically, another homage to the dramatically changing electronic timbres found in hyperpop and other styles related to glitchcore. Fixed electronics enter at the very end of the movement, more stuttering chordal pads that further reference the glitchcore aesthetics.
Agnus Dei
The Agnus Dei also employs dramatic shifts in style in reference to electronic dance music styles. Opening with a lush, cinematic string accompaniment to a warm recitative, the movement quickly shifts to an edgy and driving texture in a harsh minor modality. This movement follows a loose pop music inspired verse and chorus structure, interrupted by yet another recitative, demonstrating a symbiosis of classical and contemporary styles, a coalescence of the sacred and the profane. The recitative, operating a sort of bridge in a pop music context, is a reorchestrated quote from the verse of the Gloria movement. The ending of the movement is a slow recessional drone that ends with the same text that closes the traditional Mass: “Go in peace.” This spoken text concludes this composition, ultimately marking the work as a ritual itself.
Credits:
Poster by Effi Darling. Libretto by Caroliena Cabada.