Monthly Archives: June 2010

Music for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, 11 July 2010

Music for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)

Prelude: Improvisation
Missa Fons bonitatis (Vatican Gradual, Mass II)
Gregorian Mass of the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost: Omnes gentes
Hymn at the Offertory: Inviolata (plainsong, mode vi)
Hymn at the Communion: Panis Angelicus (plainsong, mode iv)
Postlude: Improvisation

We welcome Mr. Richard Dobbins as the guest conductor
and Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Fifteenth Sunday of the Year
(Missale Romanum of 1970, 11:30 a.m.)

Hymn at the Procession: Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (Lasst uns Erfreuen)
Mass Ordinary: Missa de Angelis (Vatican Gradual, Mass VIII)
Hymn at the Offertory: Jesus Shall Reign (Duke Street)
Hymn at the Communion: Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All (Sweet Sacrament)
Marian antiphon: Salve Regina (plainsong, mode v)

We welcome Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, 4 July 2010

Music for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)

Prelude: Improvisation
Missa Cunctipotens Genitor Deus (Vatican Gradual, Mass IV)
Gregorian Mass of the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost: Dominus fortitudo plebis
Hymn at the Offertory: Ad regias Agni dapes (plainsong, mode viii)
Hymn at the Communion: Christum Regem (plainsong, mode iv)
Postlude: Improvisation

We welcome Mr. Richard Dobbins as the guest conductor
and Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Fourteenth Sunday of the Year
(Missale Romanum of 1970, 11:30 a.m.)

Hymn at the Procession: Word of God, Come Down on Earth (Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier)
Mass Ordinary: Missa de Angelis (Vatican Gradual, Mass VIII)
Hymn at the Offertory: Christ Is the World’s Light (Christe Sanctorum)
Hymn at the Communion: Jesus, Lover of My Soul (Aberystwyth)
Marian antiphon: Salve Regina (plainsong, mode v)

We welcome Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, 27 June 2010

Music for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)

Prelude: Improvisation
Missa Orbis factor (Vatican Gradual, Mass XI)
Gregorian Mass of the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost: Exaudi Domine...adjutor
Hymn at the Offertory: Salve, latus Salvatoris (plainsong, mode i)
Hymn at the Communion: Adoro te devote (plainsong, mode v)
Postlude: Improvisation

We welcome Mr. Richard Dobbins as the guest conductor
and Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Thirteenth Sunday of the Year
(Missale Romanum of 1970, 11:30 a.m.)

Hymn at the Procession: All People That On Earth Do Dwell (Old Hundredth)
Mass Ordinary: Missa de Angelis (Vatican Gradual, Mass VIII)
Hymn at the Offertory: Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (St. Denio)
Hymn at the Communion: Jesus, where’er Thy people meet (St. Sepulchre)
Marian antiphon: Salve Regina (plainsong, mode v)

We welcome Mr. William Riccio as the guest organist for this Mass.

Music for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 20 June 2010

Music for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)

Prelude: We nur den lieben gott lässt waltern (BWV 647) (J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Mass for Three Voices (William Byrd, 1540-1623)
Gregorian Mass of the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost: Dominus illuminatio mea
Hymn at the Offertory: Quicumque certum quaeritis (plainsong, mode iv)
Hymn at the Communion: Anima Christi (plainsong, mode i)
Postlude: Fantasia & Fugue in A minor (Bach)

Music for the Twelfth Sunday of the Year
(Missale Romanum of 1970, 11:30 a.m.)

Hymn at the Procession: Praise to the Lord (Lobe den Herren)
Mass Ordinary: Missa de Angelis (VIII)
Alleluia: In te Domine speravi (plainsong, mode iii)
Hymn at the Offertory: Take Up Your Cross (O Jesu, mi dulcissime)
Communion: Qui vult venire (plainsong, mode i)
Hymn at the Communion: Thou art the Christ, O Lord (Croft’s 136th)
Marian antiphon: Salve Regina (plainsong, mode v)

Music for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, 13 June 2010

Music for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus [external solemnity] (Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)
Prelude: Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele (Johannes Brahms, 1833-1897)
Missa Vulnerasti cor meum (Cristóbal de Morales, c.1500-1553)
Gregorian Mass of the Sacred Heart: Cogitationes
Hymn at the Offertory: En ut superba criminum (plainsong, mode iii)
Improvisation at the Communion
Postlude: Ricercare III (Girolamo Cavazzoni, c.1525-c.1577)

Music for the Eleventh Sunday of the Year
(Missale Romanum of 1970, 11:30 a.m.)

Hymn at the Procession: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (In Babilone)
Missa de Angelis (Vatican Gradual, Mass VIII)
Alleluia: Domine, in virtute tua (plainsong, mode vi)
Hymn at the Offertory: O God, Our Help in Ages Past (St. Anne)
Communion: Unam petii (plainsong, mode vii)
Hymn at the Communion: O for a Closer Walk with God (Caithness)
Marian antiphon: Salve Regina (plainsong, mode v)
Organ music as above

Music for Corpus Christi, 6 June 2010

Music for the Feast of Corpus Christi (external solemnity)
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 9:30 a.m.)
Prelude: Méditation [Ubi Caritas, Jesu Dulcis Memoria] (Jean Langlais, 1907-1991)
At the aspersion: Asperges me (plainsong, mode vii) [tutti] Introit: Cibavit eos (plainsong, mode ii) [Schola men] Kyrie: Missa Lauda Sion (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, c.1525-1594) [Schola] Gloria: Missa de Angelis [tutti] Gradual: Oculi omnium (plainsong, mode vii) [Schola men] Alleluia: Caro mea (plainsong, mode vii) [Schola & Choir] Sequence: Lauda Sion (plainsong, mode vii) [tutti, alternating bass & treble] Credo III [tutti] Offertory: Sacerdotes Domini (plainsong, mode iv) [Schola men] Motet at the Offertory: Sacerdotes Domini (William Byrd, 1540-1623) [Schola] Sanctus: Missa Lauda Sion (Palestrina) [Schola] Agnus Dei: Missa Lauda Sion (Palestrina) [Schola] Communion: Quotiescumque (plainsong, mode vii) [see sheet] [Schola & Choir] Motet at the Communion: Ave Verum Corpus (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791) [Schola & Choir] Motet at the Communion: Panis Angelicus (Camille Saint-Saëns, 1835-1921) [Schola & Choir] At the Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament: O Salutaris (Hereford) [Schola & Choir] Hymn at the Procession: Pange lingua, with versets of Nicolas de Grigny (1672-1703) [tutti] Hymns at the Procession:
1. Pange lingua gloriosi (plainsong, mode iii)
2. Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All (Sweet Sacrament)
3. Godhead Here In Hiding (Adoro Te Devote)
4. Soul of My Saviour (Anima Christi)
5. O Jesus, We Adore Thee (Fulda melody)
6. Verbum supernum (plainsong, mode viii)
Hymn at Final Benediction: Tantum ergo (French melody) [Students’ Schola] Antiphon at Benediction: Adoremus in aeternum (plainsong, mode i) [Schola men] Postlude: Dialogue sur les Grands Jeux (Troisième Livre) (Louis Marchand, 1669-1732)

~ The St. Mary's Schola Cantorum ~
~ The St. Mary's Choir ~
~ The St. Mary's Students' Schola ~

Pastor’s column on sacred music

From the bulletin for 6 June 2010
Part III of Great Theologians of the Liturgy in the Last 200 Years

Pope Benedict XVI will prove to be one of the great theologians of the liturgy of our age. Soon after my ordination in 1999 I found the lack of reverence and uniformity in the liturgy at the parish level very troubling, and it was Cardinal Ratzinger’s penetrating insights on the liturgy from his books The Ratzinger Report, Feast of Faith, Salt of the Earth, and The Spirit of the Liturgy, helpful in understanding what authentic liturgy is all about.

For example, the wide variety of music we hear in churches makes one question: What is the proper music for the sacred liturgy? Is there such a thing as sacred music? Passages like this one from The Spirit of the Liturgy explain why not all music is fit for the liturgy:

“The writings of Plato and Aristotle on music show that the Greek world in their time was faced with a choice between two kinds of worship, two different images of God and man. Now what his choice came down to concretely was a choice between two fundamental types of music. On the one hand, there is the music that Plato ascribes, in line with mythology to Apollo, the god of light and reason. This is the music that draws senses into spirit and so brings man to wholeness. It does not abolish the senses, but inserts them into the unity of this creature that is man. It elevates the spirit precisely by wedding it to the senses, and it elevates the senses precisely by uniting them with the spirit. Thus this kind of music is an expression of man’s special place in the general structure of being.

“But then there is the music that Plato ascribes to Marsyas, which we might describe, in terms of cultic history, as “Dionysian”. It drags man into the intoxication of the senses, crushes rationality, and subjects the spirit to senses...the Apollonian/Dionysian alternative runs through the whole history of religion and confronts us again today. Not every kind of music can have a place in Christian worship. It has standards, and that standard is the Logos. If we want to know whom we are dealing with, the Holy Spirit or the unholy spirit, we have to remember that it is the Holy Spirit who moves us to say, “Jesus is Lord” (1 Cor 12:3). The Holy Spirit leads us to the Logos, and he leads us to the music that serves the Logos as a sign of the sursum corda, the lifting up of the human heart. Does it integrate man by drawing him to what is above, or does it cause his disintegration into formless intoxication of mere sensuality?

Music which excites the passions fails to help man to lift his mind and heart up to God in prayer, and instead drags him down to his more base desires. In her wisdom Mother Church has handed down to us Gregorian chant and polyphony as the music which most effectively cultivates contemplation during the Mass. We should trust her. For example in the Ordinary Form of the Mass the Church teaches:

“All other things being equal, Gregorian chant holds pride of place because it is proper to the Roman Liturgy. Other types of sacred music, in particular polyphony, are in no way excluded, provided that they correspond to the spirit of the liturgical action and that they foster the participation of all the faithful.
“Since faithful from different countries come together ever more frequently, it is fitting that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, set to the simpler melodies” (General Introduction to the Roman Missal, 41).

Here we see that in the Ordinary Form of the Mass the Church encourages the faithful to learn to sing the simple Latin melodies. At the same time the Church also allows hymns in the vernacular. However in the Extraordinary Form Mass, only hymns in the mother tongue of the Church, Latin, are permitted.

Finally, over my years at St. Mary Church I have often been questioned why we I make the decisions I do about our sacred music program. I have tried to teach and explain it, but I just came across a short video which succinctly explains it better than I can. See this link (which can also be found on the Sacred Music Page of the parish website) for a wonderful explanation of sacred music:

http://musicfortheliturgy.org/video/sacred_vs_secular.htm

Sincerely in Christ,

Fr. Greg J. Markey
Pastor

Music for Mass & Lecture by Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, 2 June 2010

Music for Weekday of the First Sunday after Pentecost
Wendesday, 2 June 2010
(Missale Romanum of 1962, 7:00 p.m.)

Prelude: Improvisation
Missa Rex splendens (Vatican Gradual, Mass VII)
Gregorian Mass of the First Sunday after Pentecost: Domine, in tua misericordia
Hymn at the Offertory: Trinitas, summo solio coruscans (plainsong, mode i)
Hymn at the Communion: Jesu dulcis memoria (plainsong, mode i)
Postlude: Præludium in F# minor (BuxWV 146) (Dietrich Buxtehude, c.1637-1707)

Immediately after Mass, Fr. Uwe Michael Lang will give a lecture in the Parish Hall on the forthcoming translation of the Ordinary Form of the Mass, cosponsored by St. Mary's and the Society of St. Hugh of Cluny.