This article was written for the August edition of our parish magazine:
Church of England ordinations for priests and deacons are held at St Peter’s tide, the Sunday (and Saturday) nearest to St Peter’s Day on 29 June. St Peter was of course Jesus’ “rock” upon which the early church was founded, and he is generally regarded as being the first pope of the catholic church. Why is this relevant now? Well, whilst sitting in the choir stalls of St George’s church for Rev Christine’s first service of holy communion, listening to Rev Debby’s sermon, it struck me that this would have been the perfect anthem.
This is the third of a series of four motets written by Maurice Duruflé in 1960, based on motifs of Gregorian plainsong. The others are Tota Pulchra Es, Ubi Caritas (see previous editions of this magazine), and Tantum Ergo (Only Then).
The text of Tu Es Petrus is taken from Matthew 16:18:
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
| Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram aedificabo ecclesiam meam. | You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church |
I first sang this piece on a Sing for Pleasure conducting course in June 2025, and although only two pages long, it’s so challenging we never did it justice in the time available to us. It is scored for four voice parts, sopranos, altos, tenor, and bass. Whilst based on Gregorian plainchant, it is heavily influenced by renaissance polyphony, and the voice parts weave around each other, overlapping in constant contrapuntal movement. Adjacent bars are of different duration and meter, varying in length between 3, 4, 5 and 6 quavers. Without actually changing key signatures, liberal use of accidentals mean that it moves between D, F, C and G major, via some very tricky chromatic quaver runs. Too much technical information? Probably! But it’s a beautiful motet, and you can listen (and follow) Utah Chamber Artists singing it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59ppvRFMnO
St Margaret's Church Prestwich 