Werner Jaegerhuber's Messe sur les airs vodouesques: The Inculturation of Vodou in a Catholic Mass

Robert Grenier and Claude Dauphin

Werner Jaegerhuber's Messe sur les airs vodouesques is an exceptional creation due to the unprecedented integration of Haitian Vodou melodies in a Catholic mass. The composition of the Messe was begun in 1947 and completed in 1953. Its relatively long period of gestation suggests that the composer undertook the task on his own initiative. Progress on this work became known to Jaegerhuber's close friend and artistic collaborator, Louis Maximilien who was an influential member of a committee responsible for organizing the festivities for the 150th anniversary of Haiti's independence, held on January 1, 1954. Maximilien, in the name of the committee, commissioned Jaegerhuber to complete the mass for the ceremonies accompanying the inauguration of the new cathedral in Les Gonaïves, the city where independence was proclaimed in 1804. The committee responsible for the festivities, aided by its members who were representatives of the bishopric of Port-au-Prince and the Order of Spiritan Fathers, approached the bishop of Les Gonaïves, Monseigneur Robert, who, without full knowledge as to the nature of this composition, reluctantly accepted the concept of an artistic mass put before him. Jaegerhuber committed his skill to produce this Mass on Vodou Melodies, considering it an entirely appropriate work for this commemoration.