Thursday, March 29, 2012

Why Gregorian Chant at Mass?

Kathy answered this question last November at St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral's "Answering Tough Questions" series.  You can download her talk here.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Easter Sunday

Introit: Resurrexi
 



Kevin Allen's Missa Cunctipotens Genitor Deus: links here.


Victimae Paschali Laudes (Sequence)
 



Vidi Aquam



Offertory: Terra tremuit



Communion: Pascha nostrum (not including verses)


Regina Coeli was previously posted here.

Holy Thursday: Ubi Caritas


Holy Thursday Propers

These mp3 files can be downloaded onto your computer.


Nos Autem (Introit)
Christus Factus Est (Gradual)
Dextera Domini (Offertory Proper)

Monday, March 19, 2012

English Chant Mass, Richard Rice: Gloria


ENGLISH CHANT MASS • Richard Rice • GLORIA from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

*Insert car screeching sound here*

From Kathy:
I just found out that Father Francisco wants a different Gloria for Easter. . . . I will have hard copies for you Tuesday night. He wants it sung alternately with tenor/bass and everyone. That means tenor/bass starts at "And on earth peace to people of good will." Everyone sings "We praise you, we bless you, etc." as far as the next double bar. Then it is everyone at "Lord God, heavenly King..." and so forth. It alternates between tenor/bass and everyone at each double bar. Father sent [a] link to [a] video you can watch to catch the gist of this. I can't get to them because of my slow connection but most of you can. At the very least, please try to go over the music before rehearsal. Please don't send me any e-mails complaining about this! If I had known about it sooner, I would have put it on the schedule and I would have allotted rehearsal time already. This really puts us in a bind with only three rehearsals left and so much to cover. So please, please be on time. Every minute we have is precious.
I've posted the link above.

P.S.  This Tuesday's rehearsal will be in the usual location after all.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Friday, March 2, 2012

Jolly Josquin

From Victor Borge's My Favorite Comedies In Music.  He writes about Josquin des Pres, whose works we occasionally sing:

Gradually, most of the best composers drifted to the various courts of Europe, so problems naturally arose between the monarchs (who expected complete obedience) and the musicians (who were proud of their cultural independence). In the early 1500s, the great Josquin des Pres had several times been promised a raise by his boss, Louis XII of France. Louis kept forgetting about it, though, and when his patience gave out, Josquin wrote a new motet to be sung before the king, using a section of the 119th Psalm: "Oh, Think Upon the Word You Have Given Thy Servant." He cleverly devised the music so that the phrase was repeated again and over again, to the point that, according to one chronicle of the period, "the king would have been exceptionally hard of hearing not to notice the hint thus conveyed to him." Anyway, he did notice, he smiled, and came through with the raise. Whereupon, Josquin wrote another motet on a different phrase from the same Psalm: "Thou Hast Dealt Graciously With Thy Servant."

2012 SLC Colloquium

Chant Cafe has the latest on the June 25 - July 1 colloquium in Salt Lake City.  Would that we could all go; the instructor list is a Who's Who of Sacred Music (but how'd they leave off Kathy?).  And we could conceivably drive there, although flying's much shorter.