Rhapsody on Gregorian Motifs

The music of Everett Titcomb (1884-1968) occupies a unique niche in the catalogue of sacred organ and choral works by 20th-century Anglican composers in the United States. His compositional voice was clearly influenced by the Bostonian giants of his youth (Eugene Thayer, Dudley Buck, George Chadwick, Horatio Parker--who's mother once had Titcomb as a border) as well as his affinity for French music; yet at the same time his work is informed by his vast knowledge and understanding of plainchant and the polyphonic style of the 15th and 16th century Italians. An Anglo-Catholic who spent fifty years nearly to the day (1910-1960) as organist and choirmaster at Boston's Church of St. John the Evangelist in Bowdoin Street, his best organ works are based on plainchant tunes making them of more value to the Roman Catholic organist of the time than to the majority of Episcopalian ones and some of his best polyphony is in the form of Latin motets which while used at St. John's and other Anglo-Catholic parishes were perfectly at home sung at a Roman Mass.

As the works of Titcomb go, "Rhapsody on Gregorian Motifs" is one of the larger and more difficult works. It also shows him at his best, and while you'll need to be "creative," the results are grand and satisfying.

Published by H.W. Gray in 1957 as No. 820 in the "St. Cecilia Series". It is dedicated: "To George Faxon, FTCL", who was organist of Trinity Church, Boston for many years.

The work is based upon two Gregorian melodies: an "Alleluia" and a "Salve Regina". The work begins boldly with a unison statement of the alleluia, and we are off and on our way in a colorful and varied journey that uses both themes in many wonderful ways. The harmonies are particularly grand, and if you are a Titcomb-Fan, I think you will find this work to be exceptionally pleasing from the opening statement, right up to the glorious ending!

The score is attached below, & photos of Titcomb, the organ he played, & Trinity Church, Boston.