Easter V (B • 2024) & Lookahead
Greetings all—
Here are our practice sources for this coming Sunday. I will also be including a “lookahead” section at the bottom for anyone who wants to keep ahead of the music we are working on.
Entrance Antiphon Hymn: O Sing a New Song To the Lord to OLD HUNDREDTH
Introit: “O Sing a New Song to the Lord.” (Source & Summit)
Psalm: 22 “I will praise You, Lord, in the assembly of Your people.” (Playlist)
Gospel Acclamation: Eastertide Alleluia
Offertory Hymn: O Love! How Deep, How Broad, How High! to AGINCOURT HYMN (a.k.a. DEO GRATIAS)
Offertory Antiphon: “Cry out with joy to God, all the earth…” (Source & Summit)
Communion Antiphon: “I am the true vine, and you are the branches…” (Source & Summit)
Communion Motet: Cantate Domino by Pitoni (same text as the introit!)
Communion Hymn: Lord, Enthroned in Heav’nly Splendor to LAUDA ANIMA
Recessional Hymn: O Glorious Saint Michæl to ELLACOMBE
LOOK AHEAD
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LOOK AHEAD 〰️
Easter IV (B • 2024)
Greetings all—
Here’s our rundown for the weekend:
[St. Michæl the Archangel Prayer]
Entrance Antiphon Hymn: The Strife is O’er (VICTORY) with V2-4 being a trope of the entrance antiphon.
Entrance Antiphon “The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord…”
Psalm 118: “The stone rejected by the builders…”
Eastertide Alleluia
Offertory Hymn: The Lamb’s High Banquet We Await (JERUSALEM)
Offertory Antiphon “O God, my God, at dawn I seek You…”
Communion Antiphon “I am the Good Shepherd…”
Communion Motet: Regina Cæli by Lotti
Communion “Hymn”: Anima Christi by Frisina
Recessional Hymn: Awake, Arise, Lift Up Thy Voice (RICHMOND)
Permanent Diaconal Ordinations (2024)
Greetings All—
I know this is late in coming, but here are practice track resources for tomorrow. Let’s warmup at 8:45. It will be a whirlwind warmup, but that should be sufficient. Here’s the bullet point rundown:
Processional Hymn: [Magnificat] My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord to AGINCOURT (see below for MP3 demo)
Confiteor + Kyrie from Missa De Angelis (with jubilus)
Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd…” BILINGUAL (“El Señor es mi pastor…”)
NB: the demo featured below is totally in english. However at Mass, we will sing the refrains after verses 2&4 in spanish. Good news is, the music is nearly identical.
Litany of Supplication (Saints)
Antiphon for the Handing On of the Book of the Gospels: “Blessed are they…” arr. JJR
Antiphon chanted during the ‘Fraternal Kiss’ : “Whoever serves Me, says the Lord…” #212 from Ordination of a Bishop, Priest, or Deacon.
Offertory Hymn: Lord, Pour Thy Spirit from on High! To VENI CREATOR
Sanctus & Agnus Dei: Missa XVIII (simple gregorian, in LATIN)
Mysterium Fidei: ICEL / Missal version, in Latin.
Communion Antiphon: “The Son of Man did not come to be served…” arr. JJR.
Communion Hymn: Laudate Dominum (English hymn with Latin refrain) by JJR
Recessional Hymn: Ye Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim, to Parry’s LAUDATE DOMINUM.
The refrain will be sung in SPANISH two times: after verses 2 & 4. The easy rule is this: if I cantor the verse in spanish, then sing the refrain in the same language.
ANTIPHONS:
Our Offertory hymn will be in english, but sung to this melody.
Palm Sunday 2024
Hi Friends—
Here’s my (very late) ordo for you. I’m just going to list everything as links; this is faster and it’s easier to read, I think. Just click on whatever you need.
All Glory, Laud, and Honor (here’s our specific arrangement)
[no entrance antiphon]
NB: Kyrie comes immediately after All Glory, Laud, and Honor (it feels funny to transition this way)
Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have You abandoned me?!”
Offertory Motet: My heart expected reproach and misery… (don’t forget, we are on version 2.0 of this motet, and there are minor tweaks to the version featured in this older practice video)
Communion:
JJR chants antiphon.
Communion Hymn: Stricken, Smitten & Afflicted to the tune of God of Mercy and Compassion
Post-Communion Meditation: O Sacred Head (Passion Chorale NB: there are links to each voice part in the video description if you want to hear your part)
Recessional Hymn: The Head that Once Was Crowned by Thorns (Detroit)
Good Friday 2024
[Entrance is silent]
Psalm 31: Father into Your hands, I commend my spirit.
Make sure you’re really comfortable with this one because I would like to sing it a cappella!Lenten Gospel Acclamation (again, a cappella, the theme of this whole liturgy)
Veneration of the Cross:
JJR sings Fr. Weber #647
The Reproaches (simple setting, JJR after the Lalemant Propers); JJR & MT alternate verses in Part II.
Crux Fidelis / Faithful Cross (Picardy)
Communion:
Communion Motet: Mulier, Mulier, ecce filius Tuus (JJR, MT, EE)
[Depart in silence]
Lent V (B • 2024)
Below are the practice resources for Lent V.
Again, I apologize for not being able to hold rehearsal this past Wednesday, but I was simply too ill. I have no doubt that you all are as eager to rehearse holy week as I am. Mercifully, I’m back up and running, and we will just have to do what we can do! God asks no more of us.
This week will indeed feel a little bit odd since we didn’t rehearse at all, so I would like to make some minor modifications. For instance, this week, I would like the psalm verses to simply be cantored, and the choir will join in unison with the people on the refrain. We will forego attempting any motet or anything of that sort.
Our hymnody is worth mentioning, since it is rather interesting: the processional hymn is the same melody as we learned two weeks ago (Llanglofan). (I’m sure you all kept the sheet that said “Keep for Lent V” and don’t need another! 🙃) This tune will be a regular fixture in rotation throughout the year. (If you haven’t noticed, there are many hymn tunes that I love, and you will learn many of them this year!).
The offertory hymn is a classic lenten favorite, When I Survey The Wondrous Cross, to the tune you all know. I have parts printed in case you know them and would like to sing them. We will take it nice and slowly and just savor it.
Communion is where things take a particularly interesting turn, with a melody that I rather imagine you have heard before, if not necessarily sung. We are singing a delightful baroque text Yonder, Amazing Sight I See! which describes the Passion, but paired to Ralph Vaughan William’s famous tune, The Truth From Above which is often heard during Advent. Here again, ever the fan of unusual pairings, this is a melody that I would like the congregation to learn well, because it is fabulously beautiful and pensive, especially once we get the chance to really dig into the harmonies. Because this is new, and a bit atypical as far as hymns go, I’ve made a full, 5 verse melody-only recording, and only ask that you sing melody with the congregation.
Finally, our recessional hymn is one that is probably unknown to you, but sounds oh-so-familiar because it has elements that are very similar to other well-known tunes. It is an ear worm and easy to sing, and there is an organ-only demo of that below as well.
As for Holy Week, we will just do what we can do. I’m going to post as much as I can so you can look ahead as much as you can. Dig deep! This is for Jesus. There may be a little flying by the seat of our pants and some things we only get to do a quick run through or two, but such is the nature of the beast at this stage. You all know the drill.
Worth particular mention is the Chrism Mass; I realize that because it is at 2pm on a Tuesday, some of you may not be able to make it. I obviously hope that many of you can make it, but I completely understand if you cannot. If you ARE coming, please visit the special webpage I have set up for that to view all the resources. You do not have to fill out the form, but at least text me to let me know if you’ll be there. Also, please consider emailing that link to your friends. I emailed over 40 parishes in the diocese last week to invite singers to participate, but many parishes did not have contact information for their music ministers (if they even have music directors, alas), and I’m sensing that there are people who still haven’t received the message. This might also be an excellent opportunity for some of the former choir members to join us for a one-off event even if they cannot commit full-time at present—and we all know an invite from a friend is the strongest chance we have of getting them.
Tenebræ will largely follow the model established by Dr. Fielding in years past, minus the motes which we are currently unable to sing. Mr. Davis will join us to sing the Lamentations of Jeremiah once again, and we (the choir) will carry the bulk of the psalm chanting for the rest of it. I plan for more of a revamp of that service next year. In the meantime, I would really love it if we could dig deep and learn the Lotti Miserere. We attempted it at rehearsal last week, but it still needs a lot of work. If we could pull it off via some home practicing, then we could use it at Tenebræ and also on Good Friday.
I will have dedicated web pages for each of the Holy Week services posted as soon as possible so it is easier to keep track of all of these things.
Now, without further ado:
This is a fun example of how medieval chant can be repurposed 1:1 for the modern Mass!
Looking Ahead
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Looking Ahead :
Here are some things to look at that we will begin digesting at our next rehearsal. We are going to have A LOT of music to learn!
First up: Holy Thursday Foot Washing Antiphons (Playlist)