Notes from the Composer:

“I composed A Simple Gloria for the 30th Anniversary of the University of St. Thomas Liturgical Choir, Saint Paul, Minnesota, to be sung at their annual Christmas concert.  Celebrating is a joyous affair, and I often think we celebrate with outbursts of music teeming with fanfare, heraldry, brilliance and boisterousness. There’s another kind of celebration, a quiet, assured and peaceful one; a kind of intimate celebration – an in-burst if you will.  It’s found in quiet Christmas carols like ‘Silent Night’ and ‘Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming.’ A Simple Gloria is a quiet Gloria. It should be sung with a hushed, serene and reverent quality, allowing a moment of silence at the end of the music for its peaceful effect to settle.”

And it was in a simple Gloria that quiet morn,
And it was in a simple Gloria the Child was born.

The angels sang a simple Gloria
That echoed gently through the stars.

The shepherds heard the simple Gloria
Gloria, Gloria, Gloria…

Gloria, Gloria, Gloria…