Alexander Peloquin


C. Alexander Peloquin was an American composer of liturgical music, pianist, teacher, cathedral organist and director of music ministries. Inspired by the Second Vatican Council reforms, he is known for composing the first Roman Catholic Mass sung in English.

Biography

Peloquin was born in Northbridge, Massachusetts, the son of Noe G. and Marie Louise Peloquin. Peloquin began his musical training at the age of eight, studying piano and organ. At the age of eleven, he performed classical piano on his own radio program for WTAG in Worcester, Massachusetts. Peloquin went on to study at the New England Conservatory where he earned a Boston Symphony Orchestra Scholarship to the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. At Tanglewood, Peloquin served as piano soloist for Leonard Bernstein and his orchestra. Also at that time, Peloquin had the privilege of knowing Aaron Copland. Peloquin was awarded honorary degrees by institutions including Brown University.
During World War II, Peloquin served in the Army where he achieved the rank of Lieutenant.
He served as bandmaster for the 314th Army Band and performed the music of George Gershwin for servicemen serving throughout Europe and North Africa. He also conducted music for Jewish, Catholic and Protestant services.
After the war Peloquin began a 13-year relationship with The Catholic Hour, which was syndicated first on NBC radio and then on CBS television. In 1950, Peloquin became the organist and Director of Music Ministries of the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul and remained until his retirement in 1991. As director he formed the Peloquin Chorale, an organization of singers who of performed and premiered Peloquin's compositions over the years in concerts, liturgies and recordings. In 1955, Peloquin became a faculty member and composer-in-residence at Boston College, a career that spanned 38 years. He was also the conductor of the college's Glee Club and immediately set out to broaden the repertoire of the choir by including women when the college became co-ed in 1970. The choir went on to become the University Chorale of Boston College. Both the Peloquin Chorale and the University Chorale of Boston College were instrumental in introducing his most innovative compositions to the world and often performed together during most of the premier performances of Peloquin's works.
Some prominent events in Peloquin's career include:
1964 – During National Liturgical Week in St. Louis, Missouri, Peloquin unveiled the first English High Mass ever sung in the United States. This event elevated Peloquin to national prominence as one of the few classically trained composers inspired by the reforms set out in the Second Vatican Council.
1968 – Peloquin collaborated with poet Thomas Merton on his composition Four Freedom Songs in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King and was first performed at Ebenezer Baptist Church, as a tribute to King just months after his death.
1979 – Peloquin conducted a choir of 300 for a Mass celebrated by Pope John Paul II in Chicago's Grant Park. This Mass was attended by 1.5 million people. During the Pope's visit in America at this time, Peloquin's music was performed at every Mass on the Pope's itinerary.
1980 – Dave Brubeck selected Peloquin and the Peloquin Chorale to premier his Mass To Hope! A Celebration, in celebration of his conversion to Catholicism.
Peloquin died February 27, 1997, at the Bethany Home in Providence, Rhode Island, from the effects of a stroke he suffered on February 12 of the same year.

Music

Peloquin wrote more than 150 scores. Most of his music is written for SATB choir and soloists as well as for women's voices, men's voices and involves a combination of piano, organ and orchestra. Peloquin also made a point of composing melodies with simple refrains to encourage participation of the congregation. "A lot of religious music today is boring," he once said, "and I don't think worship calls us to boredom." His music combines traditional music written for the church with elements of Gregorian chant, jazz-like rhythms and harmonies reminiscent of George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. Alex was also interested in incorporating syncopated rhythms into several of his compositions. An example of this can be found in his Lord of Life Mass commissioned by Terence Cardinal Cooke Archbishop of New York in 1980. Titled "People Matter" the composition is an arrangement based on a hymn by Dutch composer Fred Kaan. It is intended to be performed during Offertory and it begins with the syncopated rhythms of percussion and double bass where after two measures the altos are joined by trumpet "con sordino".
Many of his compositions were in response to commissions from churches, universities and religious orders throughout the United States and Canada. The texts used in these compositions were based upon the writings of a wide range of religious thinkers of all faiths, including Pope John Paul II.

Works

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