Updates, Bragging, and Thanks
  • I posted about a month ago asking for rep advice for a men's choir of Knights of Columbus I was conducting. I worked with 10 men, most of whom don't read music and had never sung in a choir. Well, we managed to pull off a decent amount of music for their exemplification Mass this morning, and here's what we did:

    Preludes: a simple 3-part setting of Tantum Ergo from the St. Pius X hymnal on the organ, Palestrina's Jesu Rex Admirabilis, also on the organ, and the Magnificat from Dandrieu's third organ suite, all played by me (that's about the extent of my abilities), and two movements from the Telemann Solo Violin Fantasias, played by our organist who is actually a professor of violin.
    Introit: SEP, chanted
    Processional: Alleluia, Sing to Jesus for organ and trumpet arr. yours truly
    Kyrie & Gloria: Missa de Angelis chanted in Latin with organ accompaniment (and I even got Fr. to intone the incipit for the Gloria!)
    Psalm and Acclamation: Chabanel and Simon Lemoyne from CC Watershed
    Offertory: O Esca Viatorum (H. Isaac), alternating Latin and English verses
    Sanctus & Agnus Dei: M de A
    Fr. chanted the preface (!!!) and we did the ICEL responses for the Memorial Acclamation and Doxology. The Our Father was ICEL as well.
    Communion Antiphon: SEP, chanted
    Communion Hymn: Panis Angelicus (Lambillotte)
    Communion Meditation: Pange Lingua, chanted a cappella
    I also convinced the deacon, who normally doesn't sing, to chant the Ite Missa Est (in English, but we'll work on it...)!
    Recessional: Holy God, We Praise Thy Name for organ and trumpet arr. by me
    Postlude: Dandrieu Magnificat from suite II, played by me, albeit poorly.

    What I'm most happy about was the amount of chant I was able to teach these guys and how well they took to it. For context, this is an OCP parish (they use the Breaking Bread hymnal) and normally the music is contemporary in the vein of P&W at the 10:45 slot. Although ours isn't the most-attended Mass time, their main 9am Mass isn't much better in terms of still being stuck with the Haugen and Friends repertoire. The pastor is very supportive and was pleased that we were doing this. Unfortunately I'm leaving the area for about a year, so we'll see what happens, but hopefully we planted a seed. I'm actually meeting with the priest in the coming weeks to talk sacred music, so it's encouraging that he's receptive to the efforts. The organist will be sticking around for the time being too, so hopefully the musical culture can change. We also might be taking the choir on the road and singing a Mass at a local convent!

    For all your organ people out there, the main organ dates to (I think) 1861, and is in fabulous condition for its age. More on that to come, there's a file around somewhere with the history of that organ so I'll probably do another post if anyone is interested.

    I couldn't have done any of this without the help of this forum, so a huge thank you to all of you. You've also gotten me into French Baroque organ music, so there's that, too. If you read this far, prayers for this parish are appreciated!