Musica pro Domina: October 2013

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Deo gratias!

We're so grateful for our altar boys at St. John's Cemetery Chapel who so earnestly and devoutly assist Father at our Sunday morning Missa Cantata.

It's one of the highlights of my Sunday morning to see them after Mass rushing out of the sacristy to play football in the sun among the old tombstones. I can't help but think that the dear departed welcome their laughter and youthful high spirits as well.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Franciscus pauper et humilis

The Alleluia verse for today's celebration of the feast of St. Francis.

Mother Francis Mary in her book, A Right to be Merry, describes singing the Transitus from which these words are taken.

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"It is most important that when the faithful assist at the sacred ceremonies . . . they should not be merely detached and silent spectators, but, filled with a deep sense of the beauty of the liturgy, they should sing alternately with the clergy or the choir, as is prescribed.

If this is done, then it will no longer happen that the people either make no answer at all to the public prayers---whether in the liturgy or in the vernacular---or at best utter the responses in a low and subdued manner."

Pope Pius XI, Divini cultus, 1928

These lovely and simple 3-voice motets have become the go-to pieces for our schola when we don't have much time to prepare
something new or don't have four voices available (usually when our tenor is at a college track meet). We have learned five of the twelve and the choir is always happy to see these fresh and graceful numbers on the program. A truly satisfying blend of Renaissance and contemporary musical styles. Available from Corpus Christi Watershed with accompanying CD and access to online practice videos.

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.