Ite, missa est, Deo gratias

Sebastian Forbes (born 22 May 1941) is a composer, conductor, founder of the Aeolian Singers and professor of music at the University of Surrey. After being trained as a singer by Martindale Sidwell, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music and then to Cambridge University, where he sang with the King's College chapel choir. He became a producer for the BBC until moving back to Cambridge in 1968. He has a long association with the University of Surrey, being made a professor in 1981 and then the Head of the Music Department for the next ten years. In 2006, he was made Professor Emeritus. He has composed a great variety of music including, two setings of the Evening Canticles for Christchurch, Oxford (1980-2008), Bristol Mass (1990), Hymn to St Etheldreda (1995), and Rawsthorne Reflections for organ (1998).

This work, "Ite, missa est, Deo gratias" ("The Mass is over, thanks be to God") appears in the OUP collection, "Easy Modern Organ Music, Book 2," and dates from 1971. It is a VERY distinctive piece, and while being "easy," it could be daunting for an "inexperienced" musician. It is written in "modules" (MY word), and consists of a group of "numbered ideas." Each "idea" consists of a different registration (color) and themes of a sort. Being a sort of "self-taughter" this was my first experience with "modern" music.

I've only played this piece twice - once in a recital MANY years ago, and once in a job audition where they wanted to hear a "contemporary" piece...

Personally, I like the effect that this piece makes. It sounds particularly good on this organ. However, for those who don't like this "modern stuff" they may think - "With Postludes like this, there may never be a Mass again!"