Requiem Mass for the centenary of the outbreak of World War I

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

Sunday, 27 July 2014

 
Entrance (i) Requiem Aeternam (chant)
(ii) Be thou my vision
Kyrie Mass XVIII (at Masses of the Dead)
Gloria none
Psalm Ps 118 (Simon Reynolds)
Gospel Acclamation Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts The kingdom of God
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Mass XVIII and Missal tones
Agnus Dei Missa pro defunctis
Communion Forget not what God has done (Marty Haugen)
Postcommunion (i) Lux Aeterna (chant)
(ii) Justorum Animae (R R Terry, 1865-1938)
Recessional Abide with me
 

The choir – this time a skeleton crew of regular members, with no reinforcements – once again achieved remarkable results in challenging circumstances. The occasion was sprung on us, ironically for a WWI commemoration, at the eleventh hour, so with only a brief rehearsal before Mass we brushed up the plainchant Requiem, including Introit and Communio. Richard Terry’s melodramatic Edwardian miniature, which presumably dates from around a hundred years ago (I can’t find a reliable record of the publication date), and the opening and closing hymns also fed into the themes of death and war.

As well as this we had music appropriate to the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Communion antiphon for the day was from Ps 102(103):

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and never forget all his benefits.

We sang Marty Haugen’s setting of the same psalm, and rounded off three Sundays on which the Gospel reading touched on the Kingdom, with a hymn on the same subject.

That’s all for now from the choir — we’re on our annual break for the next five Sundays. Back in September.

16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2014)

Sunday, 20 July 2014

 
Entrance O God, thy people gather
Kyrie Kyrie from Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Gloria Mass of the Redeemer
Psalm O Lord, you are good (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts All that is hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Mass of the Redeemer
Agnus Dei Mass of the Redeemer
Communion Here I stand (John Bell)
Postcommunion O Quam Gloriosum (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
Recessional O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
 

Ordination to the Priesthood of Alfred Rebello and Laurence Gambella

Friday, 18 July 2014

 
Entrance Lord, You Give The Great Commission
Kyrie Missa de Angelis
Gloria Missa de Angelis
Psalm I will sing forever of your love (mcb)
Gospel Acclamation Easter Alleluia (chant)
Litany of the Saints chant
Illustrative Rites Veni Creator Spiritus (chant)
Kiss of Peace (i) O Quam Gloriosum (T.L. de Victoria, 1548-1611)
(ii) Ubi Caritas (Maurice Duruflé, 1902-1986)
Preparation of the Gifts Greater love hath no man (John Ireland, 1879-1962)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Missa de Angelis & English Missal tone
Agnus Dei Missa de Angelis
Communion (i) Whoever eats my flesh (John Ainslie)
(ii) O Sacrum Convivium (Olivier Messiaen, 1908-1992)
(iii) Sweet Sacrament Divine
Postcommunion Of the Father’s love begotten
Recessional Hail Queen of Heaven
 

A big event at this time of year, once our student members have departed for the summer, always calls for additional forces to augment the choir. I don’t know whose idea it was to have the Mass of Ordination at 7 pm on a Friday evening, but between you and me it wasn’t an inspired decision. We had about forty minutes to rehearse a rather overloaded musical programme with a semi-scratch choir, the cathedral (where the building works in Cathedral House oblige us to rehearse before a service) rapidly filling with a noisy congregation. Needless to say, I was a picture of effortless serenity. 😊

We did thoroughly well, anyway, especially in a dramatic rendition of Ireland’s Greater Love. The treble solo, as well as the responsorial psalm, were sung beautifully by Jack Topping of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. Also worthy of mention was the Communion chant, from John Ainslie’s new collection of English proper chants, a resource we are certain to make more use of in future.

Congratulations to the new priests, and also to the choir members, both regulars and guests, for such a fine musical performance on the most cursory preparation.

15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2014)

Sunday, 13 July 2014

 
Entrance Thou whose almighty word
Kyrie Kyrie from Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Gloria Mass of the Redeemer
Psalm Ps 64 (Stuart Beer)
Gospel Acclamation Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts Eye has not seen (Marty Haugen)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Mass of the Redeemer
Agnus Dei Mass of the Redeemer
Communion Seed scattered and sown (Dan Feiten)
Postcommunion Tantum Ergo (Duruflé)
Recessional Love Divine
 

On this Sunday eighteen years ago we sang for a live televised Mass on ITV. The Psalm setting and the Gospel acclamation then were the same as today’s, and we sang another of Duruflé’s Gregorian motets, namely Ubi Caritas. On the theme of sown seed we had Bernadatte Farrell’s Unless a grain of wheat, rather than Dan Feiten’s more cheerful and musically lightweight offering (which nonetheless incorporates the rich theology of the Didache).

It’s a long time now since ITV carried regular live broadcasts of religious services, or indeed any kind of televised worship. We had a spell of about five years when we featured regularly in the same broadcaster’s My Favourite Hymns, culminating in my trad jazz arrangement of Just a closer walk with thee one Christmas morning. But it’s about ten years since this programme too had its budget axed. It was fun while it lasted.

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A, 2014)

Sunday, 6 July 2014

 
Entrance I heard the voice of Jesus say
Kyrie Kyrie from Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Gloria Mass of the Redeemer
Psalm Ps 144 (Hall)
Gospel Acclamation Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts Come down, O love divine
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Mass of the Redeemer
Agnus Dei Mass of the Redeemer
Communion Come to me (Martin Barry & Diane Murden)
Postcommunion For the beauty of the earth (John Rutter)
Recessional Sing of the Lord’s Goodness (Ernest Sands)
 

We welcomed our new Dean Fr Michael Jones with a reprise of Rutter’s For the beauty, which (he remembered) we sang in 2005 at his final Mass as curate at the Cathedral before he left to take up his first parish. Nice to have him back.

Saints Peter and Paul (2014)

Sunday, 29 June 2014


The choir had a rare weekend off (outside the month of August, we get three in the year), as the Cathedral community celebrated First Holy Community for children of the parish, with the music led as usual by the parish primary school.

The Body and Blood of Christ (Year A, 2014)

Sunday, 22 June 2014

 
Entrance Sweet Sacrament Divine
Kyrie Penitential Act from Mass of the Redeemer (mcb)
Gloria Mass of the Redeemer
Psalm Ps 147 (Colin Mawby)
Gospel Acclamation Advent Gospel Acclamation (Andrew Wright) with chanted verse
Preparation of the Gifts Oculi Omnium (Charles Wood, 1866-1926)
Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen Mass of the Redeemer
Agnus Dei Mass of the Redeemer
Communion Take and Eat (Michael Joncas)
Postcommunion Ave Verum Corpus (Edward Elgar, 1857-1934)
Recessional Soul of my Saviour
 

The Gradual for Corpus Christi begins with the words

The eyes of all look towards you in hope, O Lord;
and you give them their food in due season.

We sang Charles Wood’s simple prayerful setting of the same text. This and our Communion song (a third outing this year for Take and Eat) allowed a depiction of the Blessed Sacrament not solely as an object of adoration, but also as heavenly food.

Today was our last Mass with Canon Tony McBride, Cathedral Dean for the past eleven years. Throughout this time he has been a pillar of support for music in the Cathedral, not only in personal encouragement and financial underpinning for our activities, but in his own willingness to sing the liturgy, the way all priests should. Truly a hard act to follow: we wish him well in his new parish.