Maestoso (Three Short Pieces, No. 1)

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 despite their distinctly Anglican musical sensibility. Titcomb tends to be known for a handful of works--some of which are decidedly mediocre--which seem perennially popular with volunteer church choirs while his better work goes largely unplayed, unsung, and unheard mostly due to the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and the resulting reforms which trickled over into the Episcopal Church in the United States rendering Latin choral music and plainchant-based organ works less relevant to musicians and worshipers alike.

The "Three Short Pieces" were published by Flammer in 1961. They are dedicated to Sally Slade Warner (1932-2009).

As I'm running out of space, I will give musical notes in the first comment for each of the three pieces.

Attached below, is a photo of Titcomb, the organ he played, and 2 photos of St. John the Evangelist in Boston.

If you are interested in the scores, please send me a DM! :-)