6th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	This joyful Eastertide
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 65 (Bill Tamblyn)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Be still and know I am with you (Anne Conway)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	Unless a grain of wheat (Bernadette Farrell)
Postcommunion	If ye love me (Thomas Tallis, c.1505-1585)
Recessional	Come down, O love divine

 

Another week for readings rich in key phrases prompting musical choices. The Gospel reading alone gave us I will not leave you orphans and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father, leading to the songs Be still and know I am with you and Unless a grain of wheat. The first reading from Acts told of the Apostles praying for the descent of the Holy Spirit, and in our final hymn, to Vaughan Williams's very fine tune, we made the same prayer our own.

Plus, of course, Tallis's simple masterpiece, reflecting the opening lines of the Gospel reading, and today’s Communion antiphon.

5th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	Christ is made the sure foundation
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 32 (Alan Rees)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	The stone which the builders rejected (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	I am the vine (John Bell) & Ps 80 (Laurence Bévenot)
Postcommunion	Alleluia, Christus Surrexit (Felice Anerio, 1560-1614)
Recessional	Battle is o’er

 

Today’s readings offered a number of key phrases that might have triggered musical selections. In the second reading (from 1 Peter) the reference to a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation suggested Christopher Walker’s Out of darkness, and the mention of living stones could have given us Bernadette Farrell’s Christ be our light. Instead we had two songs taking up the image of Christ the cornerstone, in another song by Farrell, and our opening hymn.

It was less easy to find anything suitable echoing the Gospel line I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. What did I miss?

New Music for the Mass - Salford Cathedral, 25th June 2011

New Music for the Mass: a day for parish music directors, organists, singers and other musicians

You are invited to a day at the Cathedral Centre, Salford, on Saturday 25th June (10.30 am – 4.00 pm) to look at music for the new translation of the Missal.

Martin Barry (Director of Music at Salford Cathedral) and Fr Peter Jones (parish priest, composer and chair of the Archdiocese of Birmingham Church Liturgy and Music Committee) will present a day of new music for the Mass, introducing musical settings written for the new translation of the Missal, including a close look at the forthcoming collection Glory to God from Decani Music, edited by Alan Smith and Peter Jones.

The admission charge is £10, which includes a buffet lunch and tea, coffee, etc., during the day. Please pay on the day upon arrival. Cheques should be made payable to ‘Salford Cathedral’.

For catering purposes and the production of resources please ensure that you book for the day by e-mailing Martin Barry. You can also e-mail Martin if you have any questions about the day.

If you do not have access to e-mail then you can ring Cathedral House on 0161 834 0333 in order to book for the day. Please give your full name and contact details.

We look forward to seeing you there!

4th Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	All people that on earth do dwell
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Because the Lord is my shepherd (Christopher Walker)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Now the green blade riseth
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	You are the shepherd (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Flocks in pastures green abiding (J.S. Bach)
Recessional	The King of love my shepherd is

 

The many references to the shepherd and his sheep in today’s readings, propers and presidential prayers give today its customary title of Good Shepherd Sunday, and six of our pieces reflected the same themes.

3rd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	The day of resurrection
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 15 (Robert Sherlaw Johnson)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	On the journey to Emmaus (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Spring Sanctus (mcb)
Agnus Dei	Mass of Hope (Stephen Dean)
Communion	At your word our hearts are burning (Psallite)
Postcommunion	Awake thou wintry earth (Thomas Blackburn, 1916-1977 & J.S. Bach, 1685-1750)
Recessional	Alleluia sing to Jesus

 

We took our first steps with the new Missal texts, in the form of my revised Spring Sanctus. For the Sanctus, it seems to me, it makes sense to begin with a reworked version of something already familiar to the singing assembly. The change – of the words “God of power and might” to “God of hosts” is small enough that the melody can be left intact for most of the piece, and people seemed happy to cope with the change in words and tune in the first line. The Memorial Acclamations represent a more sweeping change, but here too our assembly seemed happy to tackle the new challenge.

Our postcommunion piece had a spring feel as well: the fifth movement of Bach’s cantata Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott, BWV 129 with words by the English poet Thomas Blackburn, beginning

Awake, thou wintry earth, fling off, fling off thy sadness.
Ye vernal flowers, laugh forth, laugh forth, your ancient gladness.
A new and lovely tale throughout the land is sped,
it floats o’er hill and dale to tell that death is dead.

Holy Hour for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II

 

Exposition	O Salutaris Hostia (tune: Melcombe)
Evening Prayer: Hymn	At the Lamb’s high feast
Psalms	Ps 109, Ps 113, Canticle from Revelation 19 (all from Parish Sunday Vespers)
Magnificat	My soul is filled with joy
Benediction	Tantum Ergo (chant)
Reposition	Adoremus in aeternum (chant)
Marian Hymn	Holy light on earth’s horizon

 

Bishop Brain led a service of Exposition, Evening Prayer and Benediction, interspersed with elements of the Divine Mercy Devotion (the chaplet and litany). We kept the music simple, with familiar hymns and Latin chant items, and a Magnificat sung to the melody Wild Mountain Thyme. A cantor led the psalms for Evening Prayer, singing alternatim with the congregation (fortified by a few members of the choir). For a small gathering, we made a polished sound, I thought.

2nd Sunday of Easter (Year A, 2011)

 

Entrance	Crown him with many crowns
Gloria	Mass for John Carroll (Michael Joncas)
Psalm	Ps 117 (Eugene Monaghan)
Gospel Acclamation	Easter Gospel Acclamation (Brian Luckner)
Preparation of the Gifts	Regina Caeli (Samuel Webbe, 1740-1816)
Sanctus, Acclamation A, Amen	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd) [UC 66]
Agnus Dei	Lamb of God II (mcb)
Communion	Godhead here in hiding (chant) & Confitemini Domino (Taizé)
Postcommunion	Surrexit Christus Dominus (Michael Praetorius, 1571-1621)
Recessional	Lord enthroned in heavenly splendour

 

The Beatification of Pope John Paul II today deprived us of our customary weekend off after the exertions of Holy Week and Easter, and instead we joined the Bishop in a festive Mass in celebration of the event.

Samuel Webbe is described (in a late 19th century collection edited by Wilhelm Lutz Meyer of Southwark Cathedral) as “the father of modern Catholic music in England”. Wikipedia is a bit more restrained on the subject of his collected works: “If not of a very high order, they are at least devotional.” His Regina Caeli, with its lyrical melodic line punctuated by effervescent Alleluias, was just right for a sunny Spring morning.

Doubting Thomas plays a starring role in today’s Gospel reading, and so we sang the words of Adoro Te devote, in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s translation, interspersed with Jacques Berthier’s Confitemini Domino. The fourth verse runs:

I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,
But can plainly call thee Lord and God as he;
This faith each day deeper be my holding of;
Daily make me harder hope and dearer love.