Musica pro Domina

Friday, July 25, 2014

Gloria VI

We are currently singing Mass VI at our Missa Cantata, and it is, in my opinion, an exceptionally singable mass setting. The Gloria is particularly memorable, and the use of identical cadences creates a lovely echo effect.

After we have learned Mass VI very well, it would be a worthy goal to learn to sing the strophes antiphonally between choir and congregation. This is the admirable practice of French traditional Catholics, and nothing is more thrilling than hearing the call-and-response effect between choir and congregation at the church of Ste.-Eugene-Ste.-Cecile when they sing the Ordinary of the Mass.

A recording is available at the liturgia.com website here.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Some of the altar servers chillin' after Mass on Sunday.

Nice review about our TLM

I happened to come across this favorable commentary, Praying like it's 1962, about our Sunday Latin Mass celebration at St. John's Chapel Cemetery. It was written by Ryan James Girdusky, a member of the congregation and featured on the local online news site operated by the Juniper Park Civic Association.

Thank you so much, Ryan, for the nice words!

Mass VI, Rex Genitor

Deus, Rex Genitor (O God, our Father, Lord and King!)

We will be singing Mass VI from the Kyriale, the Missa Rex Genitor, for the next couple of weeks. Practice videos and mp3's are available here from Corpus Christi Watershed:

Kyrie

Gloria

Sanctus

Agnus Dei

Monday, February 24, 2014

Even more Candlemas Pictures

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Angelis Suis by John Joseph Fux

This lovely piece is taken from the Gradual of the First Sunday of Lent. Score may be found here.

Angelis suis Deus mandavit de te: ut custodiant te in omnibus viis tuis.

In manibus portabunt te, ne unquam offendas ad lapidem pedem tuum.

God shall give His angels charge over thee: to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee in their hands:
lest thou should ever strike thy feet against a stone.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

My favorite chant schola

. . . is the original Schola Bellarmina under the direction of Fr. Bernard Lorber. I listen to their recordings of the Sunday propers from the Graduale Romanum every week in preparation for the coming Sunday, I have been using their 7-volume set of L'Annee Liturgique as my primary resource for the propers for three years running and never fail to find fresh insights.

I never tire of their light, serene interpretation, buoyed as it is by an ingeniously subtle modal organ accompaniment.

Treasure-trove of hymns

The priest in charge of our Latin Mass loaned this (unfortunately out-of-print) Anglican hymnal to me when I began accompanying the choir, and I've spent many hours poring through it in search of the most liturgically appropriate hymn for every Sunday of the year. Every hymn has a full SATB accompaniment, and several have lovely descants as well. Multiple indexes in the back of the hymnal make my weekly hymn-finding adventures fairly painless. Not all are suitable for the EF Latin Mass, of course, but the stately old classics are all here, as well as some delightful newer ones.

About Us

Musica pro Domina (Music for the Lady) is a project of a member of St. John's Cemetery Chapel Schola, devoted to the study and performance of the Church's treasury of sacred music. Our mixed volunteer schola is dedicated to singing the full Propers of the Graduale Romanum every Sunday, as well as to learning new polyphonic motets. Another essential goal is encouraging our congregation to learn and sing as many of the Mass settings in the Kyriale as possible. Finally, we want to introduce our congregation to "the brightest and best" (cf. Fr. George Rutler) hymns of Christian hymnody.