Gloria
The second main part of the Mass.
What it means
The Gloria is the second part of the Ordinary of the Mass and follows the Kyrie. It begins with the words “Gloria in excelsis Deo” — Glory to God in the highest — and is a hymn of praise whose text consists of several sections: praise, invocation of Christ, plea for mercy, and finally the closing part “Cum sancto spiritu.” In the liturgy the Gloria is omitted in certain seasons of the church year, for instance in Lent.
Musical use
Because of its length of text and the alternation of praise and plea, the Gloria is often divided into several movements in larger Mass settings: festive choral movements for the sections of praise, calm solos or more sparsely scored movements for the pleas, a large-scale closing movement, often a fugue on the word “Amen.” In terser settings it remains a single through-composed movement. The beginning is traditionally scored brightly and powerfully, often with trumpets and timpani, because the text is a call to praise. This division is no prescription but a habit from which composers may deliberately depart.
Performance practice
First get an overview of the sections of the text and their characters so that the shaping does not become uniform. Watch for distinct pronunciation in the fast passages of praise and plan your strength, because the movement is long and ends with a demanding close. Settle the balance with trumpets and timpani early so that the choir is not covered. In liturgical use the duration is to be considered and agreed with the leader of the service. Practise the fugue entries of the closing part separately.
Bear in mind that the sections of the text express very different attitudes — praise, invocation, plea — and that a setting traces these changes with tempo, scoring, and key: work out the articulation before you turn to details. Settle which parts are cast for soloists. Watch the pronunciation of the Latin formulas and fix the distribution of syllables. Plan your strength over the whole movement, because the demanding closing part stands at the end, and rehearse its fugue entries separately.