Oh, I know too well the words that fit that tune. </shudder

Thank you for the suggestions and other interesting comments. I sing with a very tasteful guitar accompaniment provided by my husband so some of these hymns may not be successfully adapted to guitar. Some of you may think "tasteful guitar accompaniment" is an oxymoron, but I assure you we strive very hard to use the guitar to support the voice and we NEVER go ching-a ching-a- ching-a.

I truly believe we as Catholics (Byzantine, but we are in communion with Rome) put up with entirely too much. There are some great pastors out there, but don't subsidize the fools in that office. Let them hang themselves. When the money dries up, it will get the bishop's attention.

As a volunteer musician,it is sometimes difficult to be taken for granted by your pastor, but small town parishes are like that.

You are not as alone as you may think. We are in a small town (rural southern) parish and were volunteer musicians until the pastor "fired" us (myself and three teenagers) in favor of a music director who would play "contemporary" music which we were unwilling to do. We "got away with" antiphons and some Latin for a while, but were cut off at the knees when someone willing to cater to the (perceived) LifeTeen crowd showed up.

So, again, do the best you can do always remembering Whom it is you need to please in the end.

Admittedly, culturally speaking, singing 'O come...Emmanuel' during Advent is as joyful and necessary as singing
'O come, all ye faithful' at Christmas,
'Jesus Christ is ris'n today' at Easter,
'The head that once was crowned with thorns' at Ascension',
etc.,
etc.,
at least once, but not more than twice.
Don't we all know that there are much, much worse things that some of us 'have to' sing?
Rejoice and be glad that, for once or twice or so through the year there comes along something sui generis good that 'the people' love to sing!
Who among us would want to be such a curmudgeon that he or she would not want to sing any of the above?
_________________________________________

So you have to play-sing them at multiple masses.
This is hardly worse than playing the same ordinary at multiple masses for months on end.
Your challenge is to think it and play or sing it freshly every time, putting your all into it as if each time was the first, because it is for God and his people.

I'd suggest reserving it to the 4th Sunday of Advent,

Actually this raises a interesting point for this year.

How many people do you expect will show up for the Mass of the 4th Sunday of Advent? Granted it will be better for those who have a Saturday evening vigil. But in a parish without, I expect that it will be the pastor and a small handful of people who will be travelling to family later in the day. We are seriously considering having no music at all - because the musicians who are available will be pretty fully committed later in the day.

Sure it's exhausting...

Indeed it is!
As are all major feasts and solemnities, whether they are 'back to back' with other observances or not.
That's part of the joy of them.
They require the last ounce of one's efforts and none would wish them to require an ounce less.

We had a choir director who was also a music teacher. After she decided being choir director was too much, they hired a man who had young children. The first choir director volunteered to play the earliest Mass on Christmas morning so the replacement choir director could be with his children. That's a classy, Christian lady!

Sometimes I think that there is a tendency to allow the perfect ideal to become the enemy of general good. Yes, Veni Veni is derived from the "O" antiphons from vespers of Dec. 17 - Dec 24... but that hardly precludes the use of the piece until the 17th, anymore than it would preclude it from being used at Mass at all, given that it is derived from the Divine Office.

There are very few pieces of music that I use every single year - perhaps none except certain Mass ordinaries. I list all repertoire according to category - Mass ordinaries and lustrals (including polyphonic settings) in one list; open / close music in another list; polyphony in a third list. I then derive a schedule of use for each list that is broken across a 3-4 year cycle.

I derive my music schedule to use items from each list in the given year of the cycle. My lists give me a target of how many times to use different pieces. Polyphony - especially "high-end" pieces / Masses which involve more effort to learn have a higher targeted use than things that are easier like Open / Close pieces... but I try to use even the most basic pieces a minimum of 2x in a season.

For Veni Veni, there are seasons where it isn't scheduled at all - seasons where I feature other pieces during Advent. In other seasons, we may use it across 3 of the Sundays.

Perhaps not "perfect", but good.

If we applied the most restrictive thought process to chant ordinaries, many of us would find little opportunity for using other options other than Mass XI for nearly 60% of Sundays (assuming only doing chant Masses for a given year).

For a variety of reasons, one of my goals for my group is to use the full Kyriale every 3-4 years, including the Ad Libitum chants. This is very useful pedagogically for the choir... it exposes them to a much more diverse range of chant Masses, it enriches their ability to read chant fluently over time and develops their appreciation of chant. Of course we use polyphonic settings - both simple and "high-end" as well... a way of continually growing musically.

I think there is more value to be gained from repetitive use and broader scheduling in the context of the season than there is from stressing a "perfect" music schedule for each individual feast / Sunday Mass. Other directors may have different goals - and that is absolutely fine. Presumably directors are the best judge of their parish and unique circumstances.

Yes, I am very fortunate in that regard... I have a degree of autonomy that perhaps isn't a universal (or even general) experience... but isn't that really the point?

Other directors may have different goals - and that is absolutely fine. Presumably directors are the best judge of their parish and unique circumstances.

If you have a GIA hymnal or onelicense account, a prudent approach to take would be to use Richard Proulx's arrangement of the Mass to the Veni Emmanuel tune, "Missa Emmanuel." That would get those who see the melody as essential to all of Advent some of what they want without ticking off those who know the history.

I stumbled on to this forum as a result of my love for OCOCE. I got my answer and have learned so much from those who frequent this forum. Thanks!

@RPBurke

Here's the story I heard about the Proulx Missa Emmanuel setting:

Proulx was at Holy Name Cathedral at the time and regularly used "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" during Advent. One of the priests didn't like this particular choice, so he forbade Proulx from scheduling it.

Proulx then wrote the Missa Emmanuel and used that for all four Sundays ... and apparently Proulx got away with this!