Holy Family

27 December 2009

Entrance	Gaudete
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Christmas Gloria (Paul Gibson)
Psalm 83	They are happy (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Coventry Carol ()
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Peace Child (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Unto us is born a Son ( )

The 2nd edition of the Lectionary - which we have had in UK since early 80's - added for a number of feasts readings for 3 year cycle. Holy Family is one example, Baptism of the Lord another. Due to lack of communication I had prepared to use the year C readings, prepared the Mass leaflet, and even made sure Lectionary was on right page. But the reader began with Ecclesiasticus The Lord honours the father…. The Gospel for year C is not optional - so the psalm fitted with that at least. We also had a whimsical, for want of a better word, Pastoral Letter - which apart from a broad swipe at the 'readings' which could have been any year and a particular reference to Colossians. Better improve methods of communication before the Baptism of the Lord.

This morning we were unaccompanied but everything worked well without accompaniment. In general I find this a Sunday where the season Christmas has greater prominence than the texts of the day in choosing music. I would rather sing Christmas repertoire in its proper season - to me well chosen texts about the finding in the temple would dampen the occasion. Gaudete was a recent addition to the schedule. It was partly there because I had suggested for a liturgy elsewhere and it was suggested that people would not know it. Well they know it in Strawberry Hill and it suited being sung unaccompanied in 3 part refrain and unison verses. In a similar way the Coventry Carol sounded well in the acoustic.

Peace Child is a carol by Bernadette Farrell and text by Shirley Erena Murray. If we had had accompaniment we might have used the arrangement in Go Before Us but instead used the simpler 4 part arrangement in Sounding Glory. This is a useful resource which gathers new hymn texts and settings from OCP's recent publications. Actually seeing Peace Child in the simpler arrangement made we aware of the beauty of the melody - something which I had missed before.

Christmas: Mass during the Day

25 December 2009

Entrance	Once in royal David's city
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Christmas (Paul Gibson)
Psalm 97	All the ends of the earth (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Carol at Bethlehem Cave (Spanish arr. Christopher Walker)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Sing we the Virgin Mary (Niles arr. mtgf)
	Away in a manger
Final	O little town of Bethlehem

The core singers and organists return to sing on Christmas Morning — it usually seems as though we have hardly left the chapel but it is good to provide a 'full set' of music for those who come in the morning.

Christopher Walker's Carol at Bethlehem Cave is based on a Spanish Villancico and is delightful. Sing we the Virgin Mary shares similar origins to I wonder as I wander. First published as an anonymous Applachian folk carol which scholars thought to be survivors of medieval texts they are now considered to be the work of John Jacob Niles. The question of authenticity is not a bar to the charm of the piece. The arrangement is simple - the accompaniment has what I think of as a 'Biedermeier' quality and the four parts are built up one by one: S, SA, SAT, SATB over the four verses.

Christmas: Mass during the Night

24–25 December 2009

Preparation
Carol	Once in Royal David's City
Reading
Choir	No wind at the window (Irish Traditional arr. Bell)
Carol	While shepherds watched
Reading
Choir	Cantique de Jean Racine (Fauré)
Carol	O little town of Bethlehem
Choir	In splendoribus sanctorum (James MacMillan)
Mass
Entrance	O come all ye faithful
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Christmas Gloria (Paul Gibson)
Psalm 95	Today a Saviour has been born (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	What shall we give (Catalan arr. Stephen Dean)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Night of Silence (Daniel Kantor) Silent Night
Final	Hark the Herald Angels sing ( )

We celebrate at Midnight - with carols before at 11.30pm. I think we are in the minority celebrating at this time in the local area and this is one is one reason why we are always full. Often of people who are not recognisable regular Sunday attenders. Another factor is that the chapel looks fine with candle flickering along the galleries and on the sanctuary.

We had a good small group of singers this year and a couple of violins. In years past I have done Midnight Mass as just cantor and organ - that is quite tiring.

The carols beforehand is intended as a particularly structured service - just a sequence of carols with a couple of pieces for choir and readings. The observant will see that 2 of the pieces had already been sung at the Advent Carol Service. It is the second year that we have sung James MacMillan's In splendoribus Sanctorum. It is one of his Strathclyde Motets. The rest of the series is written for Strathclyde University Chamber Choir and are for an 8 part choir. This one is for his parish choir and is 2-3 parts with the basses straying rarely from a pedal F. It is a setting of the Communion chant for the Mass - with chant melody sung, for most of the piece, in organum (parallel 5ths) by women and tenors. Each phrase is interrupted by a trumpet (or organ) fanfare which overlaps with the singers. I am still unsure about the piece. It's simplicity of construction maybe 'Brittenish' genius. One thing is certain is that we sang it better last year. This was, I think, mostly a question of logistics. Last year we sang from the gallery with the organ fanfaring; this year from the front with the piano. Part of my uncertainty is logistical. For the piece to work I think the voices need to be disembodied - not seen - and also, the fanfares I think need to come from a different part of the space so that the acoustic (and the congregation) blend the piece together. I also wonder how the piece works at its intended point - accompanying Communion within Midnight Mass - that I can't imagine. The idea of singers being disembodied voices has also been a cause of reflection. I am uncomfortable with the idea — though I can imagine its appeal to some. It is the opposite extreme to the over personalised liturgical minister and I think as misguided.

The choice of music for the Mass seems to be settling into tradition with changes seeming to be made every few years. For those unfamiliar the Paul Gibson Christmas Gloria is ine of the more successful attempts to marry the Gloria in Excelsis refrain of 'Angels we have heard' with the Gloria text. It success, to me, is that it uses the proper text of the Gloria adapting the music accordingly and that the appearance of the first refrain after the cantor sings the first verse of text seems surprise and delight the congregation.

At this Mass and the following morning the Eucharistic Prayer is sung using Marty Haugen's Mass of Creation setting - adapting the Preface tone to one of the Christmas prefaces. Singing the prayer adds to the solemnity of the occasion — it allows the Eucharistic Prayer to takes its places as the centre and summit amid all the carols etc.

Fourth Sunday of Advent

20 December 2009

Entrance	Longing, Trusting (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Kyrie Orbis Factor
Psalm 79	God of Hosts (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Ave Maris Stella (Monteverdi arr. Washington)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	No wind at the window (John Bell)
Final	O come, O come Emmanuel

Psalm 79 mirrors the first reading and both are fulfilled in the Gospel. We are all called to believe that God's promises will be fulfilled, for Mary that promise is fulfilled through her response to God. I am often struck how different composers respond to and express the psalm text in a variety of ways. There are settings which are more gentle and pleading. This setting, which is a kind of chaconne with a walking bass, is more urgent and demanding.

As previously suggested we sang a version of Henry Washington's arrangement of the Monteverdi's Ave Maris Stella today. Washington's arrangement alternates the plainsong with a 4 part reduction of Monteverdi's settings. Our version uses the chant for first and last verse and alternates Monteverdi's choral setting with 2 solo verses.

A quick calculation was necessary to make sure that we at least sang the correct O Antiphon for 20 December — O clavis, O Key of David. I think there can be a tension between the Sunday and Weekday liturgy or more precisely between those for whom the primary continuity is to week to week rather day to day. This, I think, can be seen in Advent and Christmas period. The O antiphons are not found in the Sunday Lectionary, and they are recent additions to the Weekday Lectionary; their proper home is in the Office, the celebration of Evening Prayer. They would seem to make best sense where they are prayed daily and cumulatively. Within a Sunday context it would seem to make as much sense to say that they should not be sung at Sunday Mass as it does to say they should not be sung on a Sunday before 17 December. However one can be too much of a purist or a rigorist. I think one needs to separate the hymn from the liturgical antiphons and recognise that the hymn has a value, even a symbolic value, in its own right. It is for many, I guess, the primary Advent hymn - it would be strange not to have sung it. One possible sign that the hymn is a different text to the antiphons seems to me implicit in that the first of hymn seems always to have been Emmanuel i.e. the last antiphon.

Third Sunday of Advent

13 December 2009

Entrance	Longing, Trusting (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Kyrie Orbis Factor
Isaiah 12	Sing and shout for joy (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	O Come Divine Messiah (French 17th C.)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Song of God among us (Huijbers)
Final	The Voice of God

Gaudete Sunday. I am never sure about these mid-season 'reprieves'. It does not seem to sit well with a renewed understanding of Sunday as Dies Domine— the day of the Lord and that Advent is not primarily a penitential season. I would prefer to see the Sunday in the context of the other Sundays rather than as a 'week off''. Yes, the first and second readings together with the canticle are about joy and happiness but one does not want to presage the joy of Christmas.
Joy and happiness did appear in the setting of the canticle which mixed 7/8 and 4/4 bars, in O Come, divine Messiah one of the jauntiest of Advent hymns and in the Song of God among us — 'now be carefree, full of joy'. The Huijbers is a piece I find immensely satisfying; the conjunction of simple melody in quavers against the three other voices moving in crotchets carries the piece forward.

Advent Carol Service

10 December 2009

Opening	Come, O God, of all the earth (Marty Haugen)
Reading	1 Cor 13:4–x, y–13
Responding in Faith
Song	No wind at the window (John Bell)
Reflection
Response	Gift of God (Marty Haugen)
Living in Hope
Reading	Philippians 1:3-6. 8-11
Psalm 24	To you, O Lord (Marty Haugen)
Reflection
Choir	Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré)
Acting in Love
Reading	1 John 4:7-10
Song	Love one another (mtgf)
Gospel	Luke 1:39-44
Song	I say 'yes', my Lord (Donna Pena)
Intercessions	Response: Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Presentation of Carol Singing Cheques
Concluding Prayer
Final Song	Joy to the world

Our Carol Service is an Advent Carol Service though I do have some sympathy with idea that this might be the only proclamation of Christmas that some people might hear. In practical terms this is about as late we hold it as the students will soon have disappeared and I have always wondered about the time given to practising a Christmas repertoire which we would not use.

For the last few years we have included the presentation of the cheques to local charities with monies raised by the student's carol singing. This becomes a factor in the planning. Preparing this year's service the conversation started from what we say yes to - what we are positive about - to the idea of faith, hope and love. This gave the service a structure though I am not sure the idea is pursued forensically.

One intended characteristic of this year's service which I think came over is that it was meant to be a joyful celebration. This is in contrast to other years which have been more reflective

A textual note for those interested. Love one another which I wrote for the 150th anniversary of College uses verse from John's Gospel for the verses and was first used in the Easter season. For this celebration I adapted some texts from the first letter of St John.

Immaculate Conception

8 December 2009

Entrance	The Angel Gabriel
Penitential Rite
Gloria	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Psalm 97	Sing to the Lord a new song (Haas/Haugen)
Gospel Acclamation	Gospel Greeting (Bernadette Farrell)
Preparation of Gifts	No wind at the window (Bell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
	Ave Maris Stella
Final	I say 'yes', my Lord (Donna Pena)

The College is dedicated to St Mary and the Immaculate Conception is the College Feast Day with a Mass followed by a meal. This year the celebration was in the evening for the first time, after the end of lectures. The chapel, however, was still full. The Mass is an occasion when the Choir and the Music Group join together. Though the choice of music usually leans towards the repertoire of the music group those who are familiar with these pages will recognise that there is also a shared repertoire.

A challenge of the Immaculate Conception which I am not sure that we have ever successfully responded to is the feast itself. The Annunciation Gospel steers one towards that as an image and hence the choice of opening hymn and No wind at the window. It also influenced the final hymn which took the image of Mary's fiat — let it be done or I say 'yes'. We adapted the words, which I have always presumed work better (mean something) in Spanish so that they had an Advent flavour.

Ave Maris Stella is the College hymn. Sung in Latin to the uninspiring 19th century tune it always feels imposed rather than integral. I sure it was sung lustily by the student teachers of the 1950s but give me chant or Monteverdi any day! (and watch this space)

Second Sunday of Advent

6 December 2009

Entrance	Longing, trusting (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Kyrie Orbis Factor
Psalm 125	What marvels the Lord worked for us (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury Alleluia (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Winding Ways (Bill Tamblyn)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Behold the Lamb (Iona)
Communion	Rorate Caeli (chant)
Final	Blest be the Lord (Benedictus) (Alstott/Farrell )

Longing, trusting serves as an Entrance Song over the four weeks of Advent. The refrain or antiphon remains constant and the text of the verse changes to reflect the themes of the Liturgy of the Word. As the themes of the Sundays of Advent are consistent over the three years of Lectionary Cycle there are only 4 sets of verses rather than 12 (though there are also a set of verses drawn from Psalm 24). Apart from providing a unifying element to the season it does also make the business of choosing easier!

We sang Rorate Caeli with a Latin refrain and the verses in English. Luke Connaughton's translation shows that if you want to retain the shape of the Latin melodies the translation cannot be too exact. For example, the opening words of the English refrain Come, Saviour, come have no equivalent in the Latin.

The Benedictus is surprisingly absent from the Sunday Lectionary. It is a powerful Advent text and, I think, should be on people's lips and so we ended with Owen Alstott's versification of the text 'to guide our feet into the path of peace'.