5th Sunday of Lent

25 March 2012

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 50	A pure heart (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	Unless a grain (Bob Hurd)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Ave verum Corpus (Byrd)
Final	Lift high the Cross

Lift high the Cross was new to us. I was surprised that none of the other musicians had come across — what sheltered lives they must have lived — it as a strong melody which is easily picked up. And the words were lifted from the Gospel and there was also a sense of moving forward to the end of Lent.

In my experiment with the revised Grail Psalter I gave up with Psalm 50. The setting is melodic but has a flexibility but it could not cope with 2 additional lines in most verses.

4th Sunday of Lent

18 March 2012

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 136	O let my tongue (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	God so loved the world (Stainer)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	When I am lifted up (Bob Hurd)
Final	God is love, his the care

The history of salvation that some speak of being offered at the Easter Vigil is in someways more clearly offered in the first readings of Year B. This is the story of a relationship between God and his people in a covenant. One of the effects of this is that the dynamic of the Liturgy of the Word is more progressive than more usual circular motion. The Gospel is not another view of the first reading but a development or a response. So, finally we have got the point where 'God so loved the world'. I am not sure if it age but i recognise that once I thought of as Victorian sentiment is well-crafted writing. Perhaps today because we sang it one to a part and unaccompanied.

The Bob Hurd Communion song, which has been a series over the weeks, picked up the other strong image in the gospel of Christ being lifted up. The final hymn in addition to adding a note of rejoicing did draw together the history of salvation.

3rd Sunday of Lent

11 March 2012

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 18	You, Lord, have the message (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	Locus iste (Bruckner)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	We proclaim Christ (Bob Hurd)
Final	Praise the Lord, ye heaven adore him

There are places where I find the revised Grail Psalter clunky or worse prosaic. I can see that it is, presumably, suggesting that the meaning of the original is different but 'quantities of gold' is a bit more of a mouthful than 'purest of gold' and the punctuation of 'they are, all of them, just' is quite hard to sing.
I was pleased with Locus iste as a motet for the dedication of a Church there is a danger that it is infrequently sung but linking 'this place' with the temple 'made by God' made sense to me at least. It is one of those pieces where he writes the acoustic into the music. The final hymn picked up the idea of the Law.
It was good to sing the Eucharistic Acclamations unaccompanied.

2nd Sunday of Lent

4 March 2012

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 115	I will walk in the presence of the Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	O light of life (Tallis)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Transfigure us, O Lord (Bob Hurd)
Final	Christ is the world's light

It is strange how different the first reading sounds from when it is heard at the Easter Vigil. Today the psalm suggests it about being with God and offering sacrifice.

O light of life is an English version of O nat a lux with a translation of the text and two additional verses from the same text. It is also SATB rather than SATTB - for the most part I though this was skilfully done apart from missing the first false relation between C/C# and some parallel octaves in the SA parts.

The last hymn was new for us and the first time we had sung Christe Sanctorum which is a great tune. The text picked the passion and so moved us forward on the road to Jerusalem.

1st Sunday of Lent

26 February 2012

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 24	Your ways, O Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	Miserere (Lotti)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion	Out into the wilderness (Bob Hurd)
Final	Guide me, O thou great Redeemer ( )

Lent always marks a complete change of music and the return of the familiar. Missa Ubi Caritas is another revised setting. Because of its chant character the changes seem mostly to slip in easily. We had not used the Lamb of God before. This is now the second ordinary we are singing complete. I am not sure whether this is about ease or quality. For the record we also began to use the Apostles' Creed today.

The opening chant is not new, I think it is now 4 years old, however I decided to change the verses. Before they had been a chorale-like with a different set of verses for each week reflecting the scriptures. Now a more lyrical melody and psalm verses. My thought is one psalm per year - to reflect the broad theme of the Lectionary: Initiation, Covenant, Repentance. We shall see how plan B works.

If I had thought beforehand I might have added some verses from Psalm 50 after the Miserere to lengthen it - it was a good idea too late. We are using the revised Grail Psalter for the responsorial psalms this Lent. Adapting pre-existing settings rather than starting anew. 1 week in and starting anew might be easier. What seems to be a hallmark of the version is that it adds in lines or extra accented clauses which break the regular rhythm. Today's setting was 'Gelineau-esque' but it was struggle to get all the words in at some points. A matter for Lenten reflection.

Ash Wednesday

22 February 2012

Entrance	Return to God (Marty Haugen)
Psalm 50	Have mercy on us (Dean/Gelineau)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Blessing and Distribution of Ashes	Bless the Lord my soul (Taizé)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 5 (mtgf)
Communion	As the deer longs (Bob Hurd)
Final	Guide me, O thou great Redeemer

It was just cantor and organ and one of those occasions when you cannot be certain of what people will know. This made the choice of items with a refrain and cantor verses at the beginning and at Communion. Similarly the Lamb of God was responsorial and the Eucharistic Acclamations are what we have used for non- Sunday Masses so far. I am not sure how many of the students knew the Taizé chant and wonder if this moment has passed.