There's a new choral group in town with a name that might make a PR consultant despair. The group is EUOUAE, which, as anybody boning up for the musicology master's exam will know, is a medieval shorthand for “saeculorum amen,” the last Latin words in the common doxology. (“Glory to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”)
It's a fit name for a group that, for its first concert, is resurrecting a medieval Mass that you find in history books but rarely in performance. The Missa de Tournai (Tournai Mass) is one of the first-known musical compilations of the complete Mass Ordinary (the parts of the Christian Mass that stay the same at every service, like the Kyrie eleison or Creed.) Since complete Mass settings became the most important musical genre of the 15th and early 16th century, the Tournai Mass, from the 1300s, has some historical significance. (Guillaume de Machaut's Messe de Notre Dame is the earliest-known complete mass by one composer, and Machaut almost certainly knew the Tournai Mass).
For the average listener, none of this matters, but discovering cool, new music may. Even with the thriving early-music scene in the Bay Area, you won't get to hear much music that sounds like this. At first, it will sound strange but, like medieval chant, which still has potency for 21st-century listeners, the spiraling melodies and bare, bright harmonies will quickly entrance you. And if the folks at EUOUAE are as good at singing as they are at studying, they will be a welcome addition to the Bay Area choral fold. Watch for our review.