Kyrie

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

This is oldest text of the Communion Service. Even in the Latin version of the Mass, these words are in Greek (the first language of the New Testament): Kyrie eleison. In fact, the phrase can be traced even further back, found in several Psalms.
 
It’s pretty humbling to be saying these words first up every week in church. It really reminds you that you have no place speaking to God at all without his grace and forgiveness. It’s a prayer of confession.
 
The idea that this is a good way to begin a church service seems to come from one of Jesus’ parables, in which he contrasts the proud prayers of the Pharisees, trusting in their own righteousness, with the humble attitude of a repentant tax collector. “God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” the tax collector cries, standing at a distance and “unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven” (Luke 18:13).
 
A plea for mercy like this suggests music of sorrow and desolation, but in many Masses and Communion Services the tone is instead rather peaceful. This got me thinking, and eventually I decided to take a similar approach.
 
You see, I don’t think it’s just a request for mercy. I think it’s a reminder to ourselves that God is merciful. We don’t repeat the words every week because we doubt God’s mercy, but because we know it – and need it.
 
So the music should express God’s mercy, not just our humility.
 
There’s a lovely threefold structure to the prayer, emphasised by many composers (including me) with triplicate repetitions. I’ve gone even further, and phrased it into nine bars of 3/4 time…

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I love the effect of breaking the phrasing into 2, 3 and 4 bars (instead of just 3 x 3) – it slows down the prayer, and almost forces meditation on the words as you hear them.
 
The melody is basically just a chant between two notes a third apart – simplicity is key to expressing humility!
 
I was able to take this melody straight from my Piano Sonata, but had to find a way to work in the extra words from the BCP (Book of Common Prayer): “Lord have mercy upon us”…

But actually, these little interludes work nicely to draw out the prayer, fitting over the nine-bar phrases. So each line of the prayer gets its own space, as though we are praying to each member of the Trinity in turn.
 
I think I’ve found my key motif for the rest of the Communion Service as well… those organ chords built with fourths are simple and distinctive…