Sorry - 'heaven and earth are full, are full of...' is not the text given for the Sanctus. Falls at the first post for me. I understand that this would be against the instructions of the Church, who ask that we sing exactly the text of the liturgy. Though I did read through the music, in general, if I came across this I wouldn't have bothered, because no matter how stunningly good the music was, I would never be using it due to the text.
Thanks for sharing your work, it is very brave and not an easy thing to do.

This reminds of Caroll Thomas Andrews' Christmas Carol Mass, published here.

Personally I think that quoting memorable parts of christmas hymns and particularly chants etc. would be great, but not to the point of adapting melodies. It is a tad cheesy IMO.

I am afraid that my compositional skills are awful. I tried a Kyrie on "As the Deer". It was OK-ish, but would never use it anywhere.

Here is a post on the subject: http://cantatedeo.blogspot.co.za/2006/11/parody-masses.html

And an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNHwhnAkCBk and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXYGAcwlpFc

TBH, the Christmas season is so short, and so few people at my parish read music well, that I wouldn't consider using a Christmas-carol setting, regardless of its quality. By the time people have learned it, the season's already done. YMMV, of course.

(The music is written sideways.)

PERFECT!

Some responses, the broadest first:

1) Learning curve matters here, as TimTheEnchanter points out, and that was very, very much at the core of my approach. My field testing has been limited so far, but early attempts suggest that people not trained in singing in any way can sing along with the two Kyries, the "Ding Dong Merrily" Sanctus, and the Angus Dei — the first time, without reading any printed music — because
a) they already know the melodies,
b) they already know the texts,
c) the settings are the results of trying over a hundred different combinations of melody and texts, and
d) I worked very hard on the details of the text-setting.

2) TimTheEnchanter, I suspect that the above news would help alleviate some of your concern, at least partly, in addition to the fact that they might be okay to use in Advent, too, per my earlier comment.

3) "G", Priestboi: Point # 1 is the reason I chose not to break from the original melodies, which would have made the task much easier. You may call the approach "gimmicky" and "cheesy", but I see it as "respectful of beloved melodies" and "accessible." I remember singing the Gibson Christmas Gloria years ago, and I think it's a great setting in many ways, but every year members of the choir and the congregation alike complained about the way it veered from "Angels we have heard on high". I don't expect to change your minds, but I do want to make you aware that there was a rationale for faithful adaptation.

4) Priestboi, I saw that post you linked to. Reread his second to last paragraph. I have solved the problem of repetition exactly as he proposes — with different melodies for each of the sections instead of the overkill associated with using the same original musical material over and over.

5) ClemensRomanus, the setting you mentioned is the same "Andrews" I listed in my original post. I own the Pew edition, but the non-Pew versions of the Andrews setting seem to be out of print. They also use the old translation. Not to mention, it is quite difficult to learn.

6) matthewj, I meant "Epiphany" and I've edited it.

7) bonniebede, do you want to give it another go, per Adam Wood's response? The only place I did more than just repeat a word or two was in the first Kyrie, but the rest follow the rules faithfully!

By the way, huzzah for programming Epiphany as part of Xmasstide - I hate the way even Churches act as if Christmas starts on Black Friday, and ends at New Years, throwing out trees and carols before the wise men get their camels parked.

(Save the Liturgy, Save the World)

(The music is written sideways.)

PERFECT!

Perhaps that layout should be considered for (proposed) hymnal.

You are quite wrong. Short repetitions for musical effect are both allowed and have been common for centuries.

Thank you for the correction, it is a point which seems to come up over and over again. Could you point me in the direction of the appropriate instruction / permission or whatever?

@bonniebede, the topic of repetitions in musical settings was taken up in 1958:

It is strictly forbidden to change in any way the sung text, to alter or omit words, or to introduce inappropriate repetitions. This applies also to compositions of sacred polyphony, and modern sacred music: each word should be clearly, and distinctly audible.
De musica sacra, para. 21a.

So figure out what's appropriate and inappropriate, and you're all set! :-)

Come to think of it, 'Cranham' might be closer in sentiment to the "Holy":

I find both the examples by proulx a tad cheesy even though he is a fairly good composer. Let me be clear: I love the idea of parodies, but I feel they are not effective unless used in a polyphonic situation, or rather, I have not heard anything to the contrary.

Anyone in the forums have good examples?

Anything to the contrary?

The number of Mass settings that span every style and period which have repetition, including many written recently in English and which have been specifically approved for liturgical use.

Also, I'm pretty sure there are more recent guidelines than 1958, but I can't remember where to look at the moment.

But lets just all remember,
"...and one earth, peace on earth, peace to people..."

A few more follow-ups:

1) Matthewj and Ben Yanke, can you be more explicit? I am still not seeing it, but I'd like to.

2) The topic of parodies is interesting. That might make a good spin-off thread at some point.

3) M. Jackson Osbourne, your use of labels such as "charm", "cute little ditty", "pull at heart strings", and "maudlin" presume intentions that I did not have, and which you could not have rightly assumed without checking first. I'll take responsibility for not yet including dynamic markings and accompaniment, which makes it harder to interpret my intentions, but I very much sought to to support the prayer texts with appropriate choices of melody, and your post doesn't even seem to acknowledge that this might have been a possibility.

I'll speak only to the Sanctus for now. The priest reminds us every time we sing the Sanctus, that it is an "unending hymn of praise." There are many musical, "ecclesiastical" ways of expressing praise; a bright, resounding melody sung with power is one possible way to express of praise to the God of "Hosts", to acknowledge his "glory" and to paint the word "Hosanna" via a 3-repetition sequence of runs that attempt to paint the "unendingness". Not to mention, the line after the ones you refer to in Isaiah 6 tell us that the one crying the words "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts" made the doorframes shake! My choice of melody and use of the tempo marking "spirit and power" are well-justified and I am in the good company of scores of composers across the centuries.

I will add that, even if you had a valid disagreement with my choices, you could have articulated your opinion without the back-handed compliments and the other condescending bits you interspersed. At first I laughed at it, but when a friend pointed out that it may have caused other readers either to misread my intentions or to avoid posting in fear of you doing the same to them, I felt I should call this out.

4) Chonak, I, too, explored Cranham as a melody for the Sanctus, so I appreciate your attempt, but I felt it was not a good match, and I'd like to explain why. The intention of "In the bleak midwinter" is to contrast everything in the Sanctus with the modest environment of Christ's birth, and you can see that contrast over and over in the lyrics, which I've listed below, for reference. That's why I ended up using Cranham for the Agnus Dei, actually. Both that song and the Agnus Dei are about the humblness of humanity receiving Christ (the song about his birth and the Angus Dei in anticipation of receiving the Eucharist). Does that make sense? :-)

In the bleak mid-winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When He comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him, whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk,
And a mangerful of hay;
Enough for Him, whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.

Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air -
But only His mother
In her maiden bliss
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.

What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man
I would do my part;
Yet what I can, I give Him -
Give my heart.

If you are going to write a congregational mass setting, please keep the vocal range a 9th from middle C. I've been given music which had nearly 2 full octaves of vocal range from G. The average congregation only has about an octave plus one or two notes in their vocal range.

I'm not sure how I feel about the English Mass setting using adapted Christmas Carol melodies like that. You would then have to avoid those particular carols at a Christmas Mass just to ensure that you don't bore people.

My policy is to use a common well-known mass setting with a jubilant registration so that the Easter-and-Christmas church goers at least know it.

'...and I am in the good company of scores of composers across the centuries.'

And so you are. One of them, whom I named, was M-A Charpentier. And so, maybe not 'scores', but quite a few indeed (though Taverner and des Prez are not among them). It is nice that you mention the door posts rattling and all that. I, too, really relate to that, and I think that, for instance, Mozart captured this facet in the sanctus to his requiem, which, it seems at least to me, does this with much more profundity than 'ding dong merrily' affords. I really did not mean to cast dispersions upon your imaginative work. It's just that I do not prefer parody masses because, they... well... I shant say more because it might be taken as unkind offence, offence which I did not intend. If it's any consolation, I should rather sing your parody than those too-often-encountered ones on plainchant hymn tunes, which are, all of them, vacuous, aesthetically meritless. There is an inherent and loathsome patronising condescension in this sort of thing which is quite inexcusable.

Yes, chonak, that's a balanced summary of what's on my mind: the melodies carry something with them, like it or not, and I want to account for that at least a little bit.

For that reason, I think that I may end up scrapping the "Go Tell it" version of the Kyrie, which is too "fun" to sing. I'm working on a replacement.

'...scrappng the "Go Tell it" version...'

Good idea!

the only way that would happen would be to teach it to them and sing it at least four sundays in advance.

And then there's the fact that half the people in the church (on Christmas) weren't there for the previous four Sundays... Sorry to say it, but the numbers don't lie in this case.

purple text

<font color="purple">purple text<code>

It took me a bit to figure that out and remember it (part of that being taking codecademy.com's html/CSS course.

Roborgelmeister: For the record, George Woodward, took the melody for Ding, Dong, and wrote words to fit it. Then, his collaborator, Charles Wood, harmonized the melody. Woodward was rather famous for his Carols in the Cambridge Carol Book series, which was overtaken by the Oxford Book of Carols.

Thanks for sharing that.

Incidentally, the words "Hosanna in the highest" (in Latin, though) are already the ending line of the refrain of "Ding, Dong Merrily on High"! I didn't have to reach too hard on that one! LOL

Denn, not to negate your good intentions with this project-- I have to honestly say that the cheesiness factor is too high to make this a good idea. IMHO, it's simply awkward.

Enjoyed the music, and I have to say that it is really awesome and the soothing sensation of healing the inner world of a person. I first went through the music from eduhelphub.com site, and found the serenity of music world.