Thomas Wesley Douglas seems comfortable dealing with the religious and musical challenges that fill Leonard Bernstein's "Mass."
"I feel like I am quite a few steps ahead of everyone," Douglas says with a chuckle.
He could well be. The theatrical, dramatic look at the centerpiece of Catholic worship was written in 1971. This weekend, it will get what is believed to be its first whole performance.
Douglas and others in area music can't find a trace of it ever being presented here. They find that a remarkable absence.
"It is a serious work for a serious audience," says Henry O'Neill, who will portray the celebrant in the Mass. He lives in New York City and was a student of Douglas at Carnegie Mellon University.
The work was composed by Bernstein and Stephen Schwartz, also a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, who is well known as the librettist for "Godspell" and the creator of "Wicked."
"The piece is timeless," says Tom Octave, who is serving as Douglas's assistant conductor with the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. "It asks the question of whether faith comes from dogma or heart."
Octave, who is artist-lecturer in voice at St. Vincent College, also has assembled a chorus of "street people" for the performances with students from St. Vincent and Seton Hill University.
Elaine Goldsmith, associate conductor of the Children's Festival Chorus of Pittsburgh, says it is important to present a work that shows "it is not improper to ask questions."
The work raised quite a few of those when it was presented in the early '70s. It deals with religious issues in a way that sometimes strays from the faith its service represents.
The music can be harsh before falling back to the gentility of the children's voices, which offer passages in Latin.
It uses Jewish words in Catholic settings but also offers the beautiful "A Simple Song."
It uses dances, Hebrew prayer and narration, as well as rock and jazz forms. For the latter, Douglas has brought in bassist Paul Thompson, pianist Max Leake, and guitarists John Maione and John Marcinizyn.
Even that aspect of the work can be different from the usual. Maione talks about how his parts are "not written very guitaristically. They are more like parts for a violin of cello."
It all fits together, Octave comments.
"It has great ecumenism," he says. "Despite all the differences, it just says we are all praying to God."
Douglas recalls Bernstein (1918-90) called the work the "summation of his musical accomplishments," and points out the significance of that statement. Bernstein was a dynamic musical figure of the 20th century, well known for his role as the director of the New York Philharmonic. The creator of Young People's Concerts and the composer of works from "West Side Story" to the "Chichester Psalms."
Douglas thinks the "Mass" will force singers from the Bach Choir as well as all the others to "rise to the occasion. This music is not just 3/4 and 4/4. It is truly its own."
Because of its non-dogmatic look at faith, Goldsmith says she explained the work to her her young singers. The choir's 40 performers are are singing only in Latin, but she says they needed to know what is going on elsewhere in the work.
She also told the parents of the 10- to 14-year-olds what the work was about, and has had no negative reaction.
Octave believes the work sometimes is viewed more harshly than it deserves.
"Bernstein is not trying to be pushy or antagonistic," he says. "He is just saying, 'Let us all think for a moment.'"
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