The Gloria

Gloria in excelsis Deo is one of the oldest Christian hymns still sung. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal describes the Gloria as ‘a very ancient and venerable hymn the text of which may not be replaced by any other text’. It is sung on Sundays and Feast days but is omitted on Sundays during Advent and Lent.

It may be intoned by the priest, a cantor or the choir and can be sung by the choir and people. However, the Gloria is one of the songs that belong to the whole assembly and therefore they should be able to take part in singing it.

Start here:

Whereas with the Eucharistic acclamations I suggested that the best place to start would be with the Missal chants, I would not recommend this for the Gloria. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly the Missal version is not particularly easy to sing, especially for a congregation. Secondly, for a song of praise, which is what the Gloria is, it’s a bit boring.

Instead, I would suggest that a good starting place is the Gloria from the Psallite Mass, ‘At the Table of the Lord‘. This is a chant setting though it is a modern piece. It consists of two melodic phrases. The first is used for the first and last sections while the second goes with the middle section of text. It is very easy for the assembly to pick up and join in. There are parts given so that it can also be sung in harmony or can be accompanied.

Taking it further:

Unless your hymn book was published after 2011 it will not contain settings using the revised texts. You will need to use another resource as we are no longer permitted to use the previous texts.

Read this post for some initial suggestions of settings of the Gloria that you might wish to use.

If you would like to sing the Gloria in Latin then I would suggest you might like to try Missa de Angelis. This can be found in the hymn books CFE #467 or Laudate #498

Where can I find further resources?

Decani Music published a book of settings called ‘Glory to God’ which is an excellent resource.

Sing the Mass – publication by the Irish Church Music Association.

Martin Foster at Bearmusic.info has several settings which are free to download and use.

Nick Baty at conceptmusiconline.com has some fairly easy settings.

Other, more contemporary, settings can be found at CJMmusic.com, Mike Anderson.net and Kate Keefe at musicformass.co.uk.

From the USA, the big publishers all have large selections.

GIA (make sure you get something that says ‘ revised setting’)
OCP
Liturgical Press

This is not an exhaustive list and other sources are available.

One thing to note:

It is not permitted to substitute other chants for those found in the Order of Mass, for example, at the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God).

GIRM 366

This applies to the Gloria as well. It is over ten years since the words of Mass changed and, while there was some initial leeway, allowing the singing of settings that did not use the revised text, this was ended in 2014.

What this means in practice is that only the actual texts are permitted to be used. You may not replace them with a paraphrase, eg the Anderson, “clapping” Gloria or the Salazar.