Immaculate Conception

8 December 2011

Entrance	The Angel Gabriel ()
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Psalm 97	Sing a new song (John Bell)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Adam lay bounden (Boris Ord)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Mass of Remembrance (Marty Haugen)
Communion	No wind at the window (Irish/Bell/Haugen)

The Immaculate Conception is our titular Solemnity - our Feast Day. In recent years the Mass has moved to early evening followed by a meal and then retiring to the SU bar. It usually falls in the same week as the Carol Service and so the musical economist manages his music carefully. Again musicians are drawn from Sunday musicians and the College Choir and so music is chosen which in some cases suits all and in others allows one group to take a lead. The keen eyed will notice similarities with the Carol Service, Remembrance Sunday (when the College Choir sang at Mass) and last year's celebration - preparation is organic business.

The only item wholly new to us was the psalm. I took the rare decision to have a choral psalm. John Bell's setting is unaccompanied and joyful with an Alleluia refrain for the congregation.

Carol Service

5 December 2011

Part 1 - Prepare a way for the Lord

Entrance	Litany of the Word (Bernadette Farrell)
Opening Responses
Reading	Isaiah 40:1–5 The prophet Isaiah tells the people of Israel to prepare a way for the Lord
Song	My soul in stillness waits (Marty Haugen)
Reading	Mark 1: 1-8 St Mark writes of John the Baptist who prepares a way for the Lord
Prayer
Hymn	O come, O come Emmanuel

Part 2 - Behold the virgin will conceive

Reading	Isaiah 7: 10-14 The prophet Isaiah tells of the coming of Emmanuel — God is with us
Carol	Adam lay ybounden (Boris Ord)
Reading	Luke 1: 26-38 St Luke tells of the Incarnation of Jesus
Carol	No wind at the window (Irish/Bell/Haugen)
Prayer
Carol	O little town of Bethlehem

Part 3 - Today is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord

Reading	Luke 2:1-14 St Luke tells of the birth of Jesus
Song	O holy night (Adolphe Adam)
Reading	Luke 2:15-20 St Luke tells of Mary who treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Song	Night of Silence (Daniel Kantor)
Carol	Silent Night
Prayer

Part 4 - The Word was made flesh and lived among us

Reading	1 John 1:1–4 St John reflects on the Incarnation
Motet	Cantique de Jean Racine (Gabriel Fauré)
Reflection
Intercessions	Holden Evening Prayer Marty Haugen
Lord's Prayer & Blessing
Carol	O come all ye faithful

This year we tried something different. Firstly I wanted to establish a pattern or structure that we could use each year. Secondly we included Christmas. This came from two things: a suspicion that for some this maybe the only time they hear the Christmas story proclaimed; secondly observing the delight some (non church going) students took in singing carols. The structure was in four parts and in my original notes it went: Expectation, Mary, Birth, Consequences. I wonder if sometimes there is a naive fallacy at work - pretending that the birth did not happen whereas we know that God's promises have been and so will be fulfilled.

Musically, it needed to include items sung by the College Choir, the Music Group and all. I hope there was enough contrast. The 3rd section was probably a little too saccharine for my taste but I suspect it was the highlight for many. We began with a candle light procession with the Litany of the Word slowly building up.

For the prayers and final blessing we used texts from the new translation and for the scripture readings we used the English Standard Version which is being considered as the base translation of the Lectionary. On the whole it proclaimed well it was only a couple of phrases in the Annunciation that seemed awkward - but may be that was just unfamiliar.

The evening was finished off by mulled wine and mince pies in the cafe and a rendition of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer.

Second Sunday of Advent

4 December 2011

Entrance	Longing, trusting (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Kyrie Orbis Factor
Psalm 84	Let us see, O Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Rorate Caeli (chant)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Advent (mtgf)
Communion	Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Come, thou long expected Jesus

Being unaccompanied does shape the musical choices. Longing, trusting came back and the congregation seemed to remember it and it sound fine with accompaniment. I was considering a setting of the Benedictus for the end but was less sure that this would be sung with confidence - it may appear next week. Rorate caeli, of course works well unaccompanied as pure melody. Bread of Life sounds effective enough with the refrain in harmony and the verses sung by cantor.

First Sunday of Advent

27 November 2011

Entrance	Litany of the Word (Bernadette Farrell)
Psalm 79	God of hosts (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	In the day of the Lord (M D Ridge)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Advent (mtgf)
Communion	There is a longing (Anne Quigley)
Final	Hark a herald voice

And so we begin once more. The Litany of the Word made a simple beginning - the challenge of its simplicity is making sure that it goes somewhere. A contrast was In the day of the Lord by M D Ridge. I always enjoy its infectious rhythms — the parousia is going to have some bounce!

The psalm setting is quite old now - this is a relative term, we looked at some Palestrina and Monteverdi in rehearsal, at least 99, if not 96, yet I can remember writing it on an Andalucian terrace in October sunshine while looking ahead at the coming weeks. I am not sure that it has any 'Spanish flavour'; it does a slight march-like quality with a walking ground-bass. I remember reviewing a psalm collection which had a very different setting of the same psalm - lyrical and bringing out a different quality in the words, gentle pleading rather than a stronger plea. It is one of the gifts that composers bring to the liturgy is different insights into the same text.

Christ the King

20 November 2011

Entrance	Rejoice the Lord is king
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Psalm 22	The Lord is my shepherd (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Shepherd me, O God (Marty Haugen)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	Jesus, you are the bread (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Hail Redeemer

Well it might have been our last use of the 1973 translation but I suspect like a many places as soon as the Missal arrived it was put in to use and therefore I think people may not have noticed the shift. We began withe Gloria and Eucharistic Acclamations in July, used the Order of Mass from September and now the liturgical texts are all from the new translation. Even for the Order of Mass, however, there are texts to be discovered. We have only used the third form of the Penitential Act so far, the Apostles' Creed will wait until Lent, and we will begin to use the third Memorial Acclamation from next week.

We used Rejoice the Lord is King /em> a number of weeks ago - at which point the musicians all suggested that they did not know it. So it was worth repeating it again.

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Remembrance Sunday

13 November 2011

Entrance	Eternal Rest (mtgf)
Gloria	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Psalm 127	o blessed are those (Paul Inwood)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Funeral Ikos (John Tavener)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Agnus Dei XVIII (Chant)
Communion	God remembers (Marty Huagen)
	Good and faithful Servant (Andrew Everson)
Final	Lord of all hopefulness

Today we were joined by members of the College Choir which gave us a fuller sound and the opportunity to do a piece such as John Tavener's Funeral Ikos. In preparing today's liturgy there was a balance between the Sunday scriptures, Remembrance and the musical resources. Today is a day when we recall the 65 students who died in the First World War and the 75 in the Second World War. It is also when we remember those, students, staff and local community, who have died in the last year.

I have long thought that though it is possible readings from the Masses for the Dead at one Mass today that the eschatological themes of the Lectionary in these last Sundays of the Year work well so that they are appropriate. I noticed this morning that though you could pigeon hole each piece under a particular category (Remembrance or 33rd Sunday) in the context of the liturgy they spoke more broadly.

An aspect I enjoyed about this morning, and I think worked, was the variety of the music: Plainchant, Orthodox, Gospel, traditional hymn and contemporary liturgical. It worked, I think, because the liturgy provided the space and context. By this I don't mean that the liturgy is necessarily big enough that you can 'bung anything at it' but that if the choices draw their origins from the liturgy, the liturgy deepens the meaning of the chosen pieces. So the choices are about entering mystery and therefore about helping others to enter - participation. I wonder if liturgy is stronger if there are different styles. That one style might be bland and therefore the difference might be about engagement. More importantly it is about the mystery we celebrate is exhaustible in the ways we can approach and begin to understand it.

32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

6 November 2011

Entrance	Awake, awake fling off the night
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	Mass of the Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Psalm 62	For you my soul (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	How far is the night? (Huijbers)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 6 (mtgf)
Communion	As the deer longs (Bob Hurd)
Final	Love divine

Today's Gospel says Advent is close — in some ways it has already begun. We had 3 Baptisms today so I was pleased how the themes of the liturgy also spoke of baptism. The opening hymn we have not sung for at least 10 years, I think, not with our current hymnbook at least. I like both text and tune - but in the scheme of things there was time to learn the melody so we sang it to WInchester New instead - it fitted quite well and added a further baptismal resonance - the only slight problem was that in wishing to make the hymn inclusive 'men renewed' had become 'people renewed' adding an extra syllable - 'folk' or 'ones' - depending on your level of demotic? As the deer longs both picked up the idea of thirsting for God and had water imagery.

I am fond of 'How far is the night?' a simple idea, well executed - would have even better if we had 6 parts.

Today we began a new Gloria. It is intended that it will be a common setting which we will use on the College Feast Day. It is new to use — but it is a rewritten setting, however, the joins are not obvious to us.

It was interesting today that we had the baptismal parties at the front of Church many of whom may not have been wholly au fait with the new translation and one might have expected this to have 'upset' the local congregation who were further back — but the responses came back good and clear.