THE CHRIST MASS..... AT......
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    It's now 1.30am and here I sit sipping Benedictine and munching chocolates and home-made toffee whilst relating what was done for the Christ Mass at 11.00pm at

    THE CATHEDRAL OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM     -
    Houston

    (All three readings sung)

    Prelude of Carols -

    'This is the Truth Sent from Above - - - R. Vaughan Williams
    Hymn - 'While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night - - - Winchester Old
    'O Holy Night' - - - Adolphe-Charles Adam*
    Hymn - 'O Little Town of Bethlehem' - - - Forest Green
    "Candlelight Carol' - - - John Rutter
    Hymn - 'Once in Royal David's City' - - - Irby, descant, David Willcocks

    Solemn Pontifical Mass -

    At the Procession -
    Hymn - "O Come, All Ye Faithful' - - - Adeste fideles, descant, David Willcocks

    The Introit - Dominus dixit - - - Mode II (Palmer-Burgess)

    Kyrie - Missa Sancta Maria Magdalena - - - Healey Willan
    Gloria - Missa Sancta Maria Magdalena - - - Healey Willan

    Psalm XCVI - Cantate Domino - - - Chant, Henry George Ley
    Alleluya and Verse - Dominus dixit ad me - - - Tone VI (Anglican Use Gradual)
    For the Sequence - 'Angels We Have Heard on High' - - - Gloria

    The Nicene Creed - - - Recto tono
    The Prayers of the Faithful - - - Byzantine Chant

    At the Offertory -
    The Antiphon - Laetentur caeli - - - Mode IV (P-B)
    Anthem - Hodie, Christus Natus Est - - - Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

    Sanctus - Missa Sancta Maria Magdalena - - - Healey Willan
    The Our Father - - - Mode VII
    Agnus Dei - Missa Sancta Maria Magdalena - - - Healey Willan

    At the Communion -
    The Antiphon - In Splendoribus - - - Mode VI (P-B)
    Anthem - 'Lo, How a Rose E're Blooming' - - - Michael Praetorius
    Anthem - O Magnum Mysterium - - - Tomas Luis de Victoria
    Carol - 'What Child Is This, that Laid to Rest?' - - - Greensleeves
    Carol - 'Silent Night, Holy Night' - - - Stille Nacht

    The Last Gospel** -

    At the Dismissal - Hymn - 'Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come' - - - Antioch*
    Organ Voluntary - Fantasia on Antioch - - - Improvisation


    *Apologies for this
    **In the Ordinariate we say the Last Gospel throughout Christmastide (up to Presentation)

    _____________________________________________________

    Now, to give our choirmaster a rest after all-day choir masses, I shall go to play the 10.00am sung mass in the morning.

    Thanked by 4CHGiffen CharlesW Incardination Carol
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    4:45 AM. Just got back from my very old stomping grounds - on a whim, I decided what I needed this Christmas was to "go native" and attend Midnight Mass at the local SSPX chapel. A few observations:

    - This chapel likes to treat the Midnight Mass like it's a Rorate mass. And reading Palestrina by candlelight isn't exactly easy.
    -Red vestments for the altar boys are a first. And not usually expected at a Society chapel.
    - Speaking of: Palestrina. Missa Brevis. Directed by a fifteen-year-old. And this is a choir that, a few months before, was still struggling with rounds. And frankly, the lad did a very commendable job of directing it, even if the tempo was fairly erratic. It was certainly one of the fastest-paced renditions of the mass I've sung before.
    -Everything otherwise was haphazard as usual - carols being rearranged and dropped, only to be sung later; tinkering on the organ between the DM and his father, debating the pitch of the propers for minutes on end - and I can't help but feel nostalgic for all this craziness.
    -Found out that my very good friend, the former choir director and sole tenor besides myself, is moving with his wife to Kansas next year. Which is very bittersweet. But it was good to catch up with him.
    -Having one of the seven-year-old kids of the string quartet run up to me at the Gaudeamus party afterwards to show off his present: a vinyl of Claude Bolling's Suite for Cello and Jazz Piano - well, that summed up for me right there what Christmas really should be about.

    So, I'm at home now, admiring snow, getting ready to wake up in two hours and go sing with the other teenage organist I know. "And a little child shall lead them" - out of humbuggery, as well as choir-wise.
    Thanked by 4Paul F. Ford M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen CharlesW
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    ...at home now, admiring snow...

    Stimson -
    Did you say 'snow'?
    If you wish to continue calling me by the version of my name as pronounced by a long-ago German friend, you absolutely must go out and throw a snow ball for me!
    (Actually, this is a relatively nice Christmas here, down in the low forties - nice for Houston, that is.)

    Best regards -
    'Chickson'
    Thanked by 1StimsonInRehab
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    Chicky Chick,

    My Danish seminarian friend, who is rooming with me for a few weeks, just came in and pelted me in my living room with a snow ball. Of course, you know, this means War.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    Holy Ghost Catholic Church, Knoxville, TN

    Home at last!

    No snow, but it is now 28 degrees and the wind is blowing. Finished with my 5 masses and ready to rest with some Oolong and chocolate. Don't drink alcohol - never did - so Oolong is my beverage of choice. I have cancelled rehearsal for the next week so we can all wind down a bit.

    The masses were nice - rather traditional carols and the usual Christmas stuff. There was a 25-minute choral concert last night before Midnight Mass.

    In the Bleak Midwinter - Holst last night, Darke version today
    Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus - Koepke
    I Wonder As I Wander - Niles
    Comfort, Comfort - Arr. John Ferguson
    Of the Father's Love Begotten - Divinum Mysterium - Wohlgemuth
    Lovely Child, Holy Child - David N. Johnson
    Ave Maria - Caccini/Vavilov

    Entrance: O Come, All Ye Faithful - Arr. David Willcocks
    ICEL chant Mass
    Congregational Carols, Offertory - O Little Town of Bethlehem and Silent Night
    Recessional Hymn: Joy to the World
    Postlude: Grand Jeu - Deuxieme Livre - Marchand

    Played some of my favorite pieces:
    Noel: Une Vierge Pucelle - Nicolas Le Begue
    Vom Himmel Hoch...Max Reger
    Noel Angevin - Cesar Franck

    Nice when it is all over.

    Thanked by 2Incardination CHGiffen
  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 314

    Midnight Mass at 10:30pm (carols at 10:00)
    Air de trompette (Telemann)
    Ding dong! merrily on high (wood)
    Tu scendi dalle stelle (Manganelli)
    In the bleak midwinter (holst)
    Gesù Bambino (Yon)
    Kalenda (solemn tone in English)

    At mass:
    Dominus dixit ad me
    O come all Ye faithful
    Kyrie: Mass of the Angels (cantica nova)
    Gloria: Heritage Mass
    Psalm/Alleluia: WLP w 4 part verses
    Offertory: Let the Heavens be Glad (Roff)
    Offertory: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
    Sanctus/Agnus: Missa De Angelis
    ICEL “we proclaim your death”
    4 part Amen with trumpet lifted from Vatican video
    Communion: in splendoribus sanctorum
    Communion: Silent Night
    Communion: Alma Redemptoris (Palestrina)
    Closing procession: Hark the herald angels sing
    Postlude: Joy to the World with trumpet (Rutter)
    Thanked by 3CharlesW Incardination CHGiffen
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,801
    St. David of Wales, Richmond CA

    11:30 PM Carols:
    Creator of the Stars of Night
    Riu riu chiu (1556)
    Of the Father's Love begotten
    Today the Virgin (Tavener)
    Lo how a Rose
    Gloria (Missa Dixit Maria) (Hassler)
    Verbum caro factum est, porque todos os nacéis (1556)
    As by my Flock

    Midnight Mass:
    Proclamation of Christmas
    O Come all ye Faithful
    Missa XVII (with Gloria de Angelis)
    Guimont Resp. Ps.
    mode vi Alleluia with circle of Lassus fauxbordon verse
    We heard the Sound that Night (Ann Callaway; the composer playing after premiering the work in Walnut Creek earlier in the evening)
    In Splendoribus (American Gradual)
    O little Town of Bethlehem & Silent...oops, Fr. is ready for post-comm. already
    Hark the Herald

    11:00 AM
    Angels we have heard
    ""
    ""
    ""
    Today the Virgin (Tavener)
    Viderunt omnes (Am. Gr.)
    Verbum caro factum est, porque todos os nacéis (1556)
    It came upon a Midnight clear
    Joy to the World
    Thanked by 5CharlesW CHGiffen PaxTecum M. Jackson Osborn eft94530
  • Carol
    Posts: 856
    Glad to hear you got your "bottle of" Benedictine, MJO. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
    Thanked by 4M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen Incardination CharlesW
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    St. Sebastian, Akron OH, 1:00 (EF)
    Gregorian Propers: Mass of Christmas Day
    Hymn: Adeste fideles
    Mass of the Shepherds (Pietro Yon)
    Credo 1
    Offertory: Gaudete, Christus est natus
    Communion: Dies est laetitiae (Andernach, 1608)

    Full strength at 7 plus organist.
    Thanked by 3Incardination CharlesW CHGiffen
  • Jen
    Posts: 28
    St. Adalbert Church, Berea OH Midnight Mass

    Lessons & Carols (11pm)
    Creator of the Stars of Night (chant)
    Savior of the Nations
    O Come, O Come Emmanuel
    Lo How a Rose
    Dixit Maria
    Night of Silence/Silent Night
    Of the Father's Love Begotten (Rutter)
    It Came Upon A Midnight Clear (recessional for priest and deacon)
    Lullaby Sweet Jesu (Lulajze Jezuniu) (Michael Perza)
    Away in a Manger
    Angels We Have Heard on High

    For any of you struggling with talking over your pre-Mass concert, I highly recommend using a Lessons & Carols type format. We used to have a fairly loud roar over the music before Midnight Mass. Now with the priest present and readers going to the ambo between songs - things are kept much more reverently quiet before Mass. Plus the readings provide a nice rest for the choir voices.
    ----
    Introit: Dominus Dixit followed by SEP version
    Entrance Hymn: O Come All Ye Faithful
    Kyrie: Missa O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)
    Gloria: Mass of Saint Francis Cabrini (Keil)
    Psalm & Gospel Acclamation: Respond & Acclaim
    Offertory: SEP chant (Laetentur caeli) followed by O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria)
    Ordinary: Mass of St. F.Cabrini
    Communion: Communion Antiphon (earlier translation) set to Noel Nouvelet (attached)
    Communion: Puer Natus in Bethlehem
    Recessional: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
    Christmas at Midnight Communion Antiphon - Jen Arr.pdf
    27K
    Thanked by 5Incardination CHGiffen CharlesW Carol PaxTecum
  • WittManWilsonWittManWilson
    Posts: 76
    St. Joseph Church, Dayton, Ohio

    Prelude:
    Come Now, O Prince of Peace (Ososo)
    Good Christian Friends, Rejoice
    L'Angelus, Gounod
    What Sweeter Music, Rutter
    Hark the Herald Angels Sing
    Sussex Carol for flute and organ
    Silent Night
    O Holy Night

    Lumen Christi Missal propers
    Processional: O Come, All Ye Faithful
    Gloria for Christmastime
    Lumen Christi psalm
    Festive Alleluia (Mozart)
    Offertory: Of the Father's Love Begotten
    Community Mass
    Comm: 1. What Child Is This
    2. Unto Us a Child is Born, Waddell
    3. Away in a Manger
    Recessional: Joy to the World
    Postlude: Vivaldi's Gloria in Excelsis
    Thanked by 3CharlesW Incardination CHGiffen
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,100
    *bump*

    two years ago, Jeffrey Quick reported singing "Dies Est Laetitiae" (Andernach, 1608)
    Jeffrey, would you share, what tempo did you use?

    Long ago, our last CD had us singing it at maybe 105 bpm, which to me sounded very light and joyful.
    When I introduced it this year, I found that my current singers want to do it at about 85... and it really changes the mood.

    Of course, would love to hear from anyone else who has used this piece. Thanks!
  • Jeffrey Quick
    Posts: 2,086
    I don't use a metronome for this sort of thing, and it was 2 years ago. But I'm definitely in the "light and joyful" camp.
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,100
    JQ - I don’t either, needed to illustrate.
    Thanks for yr reply!
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