Father Liebler composed the music of the Mass of Saint Isaac Jogues based on American Indian Melodies.

We use for the Eucharistic sacrifice a form of music which is definitely in the Indian mode. The Kyrie Eleison is based upon a Hopi Indian melody, but it adapts itself to the Greek words in a wonderful fashion. You see how beautiful that goes? We didn’t have to make any change in the melody at all. Gloria in Excelsis was not so easy, but we’ll give you just a little taste of that. A great many Indian melodies begin on a high pitch and end on a low pitch. The rest of the Gloria just repeats that melody with slight variations in order to fit the words. The Sanctus is an Omaha Indian melody. And the Agnus Dei, I’ll just give you one-third of that because the rest of it is pretty much a repeat.—Father Liebler, Tape 45

"Gloria in Excelsis, St. Isaac Jogues Mass" from A River in the Desert
(a 30-minute documentary produced using the archival film and audio from the collection)
160 x 120 version (4.6 MB)
320 x 240 version (10.2 MB)