I’ll be honest: there are two musical trends that bother me: the first is making Veni Emmanuel the entrance hymn on Advent I, and the second is singing it every sing Sunday of Advent. Both of these things seem to be very common, and I simply don’t understand the appeal. Veni Emmanuel is a trope of one of the “O antiphons” which are not chanted until the very end of Advent, which is why I save it until Advent IV, so it roughly coincides with when it would otherwise occur naturally in the liturgy of the hours. The other thing that saddens me about these trends (and I promise I don’t mean to pick on you; as I said, you’re hardly alone in these trends, and I understand there are pressures from others around you at the parish) is that singing O Come, O Come every week also prevents you from being able to sing other wonderful Advent hymns for at least 3 weeks. There are LOTS of good Advent hymns, so singing the same hymn over and over again makes little sense to me, especially when that’s one of a handful of hymns that people will also be hearing outside of church on the radio, etc.

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For our part, we are doing “entrance antiphon hymns” from antiphon renewal every week, followed immediately by one of Fr. Weber’s anglicized versions of the actual proper itself (we also sing the communion antiphons every week) while the altar is being incensed . Our alleluia is one of my own which is derived from the Rorate Cæli Desuper chant https://youtu.be/sF3uz0ypv-0 (on Gaudete Sunday we will temporarily switch to this one which is a trope of Genevan 42 / Comfort, Comfort Ye: https://youtu.be/prc1irTIo1g ) and then every Sunday we will be singing Missa XVII which is the mass proper to Advent on Sundays. (Mass VIII is for weekdays; this we will do at ‘all school masses’ during the week.). We have a series of motets in Latin scheduled for the Advent season, with each one corresponding to either a proper or one of the day’s readings. We end every mass with the Alma Redemptoris Mater which is the Marian Antiphon proper to this season. Soft [preludes and] postludes will book-end the Mass; we want to keep the season penitential, so while I will play, it will be restrained to allow for a contrast with the Christmas Season itself (and Gaudete Sunday).

Chris,

It’s certainly not glamorous, but that’s the state of the parish at the present. The clergy themselves call themselves the “clergy team,” and I just go along with it. The liturgy/worship committee was started two MDs ago. It has its pros and cons, but overall, it’s been beneficial to the parish. I can see how it wouldn’t work everywhere.

I will say that there have been a lot of strides made in my time there, but as a committee member and non-MD, I can only make so much change. We are in a better spot than when I started 10 years ago, though. I wish I could do more, but alas, here we are.

If Veni Emmanuel is sung every week of Advent, I'm wondering if the homily repeats as well. Not that that would be a problem necessarily.

Things more or less as usual with my tiny group. We use the organ to play parts that were originally for voices (no independent accompaniments) or to accompany congregational singing, and that's it. Mostly doing old pieces. We'll be doing a composite 2-voice mass by Lotti: Kyrie (and Gloria) for TB bc, and Sanctus-Agnus originally TB unaccompanied, which I added continuo to. Probably this weekend, unless a certain key member can't make it. We were working on the Michael Haydn HM551 Missa pro Quadragesima, but I decided today that we weren't going to learn it in time. It looked like something totally in our wheelhouse: Note-against-note chant harmonization, with a continuo where we could leave parts out if necessary. But the S is just a little higher than the ladies are used to, the other parts are pretty angular (*I* have to work), and it's kind of elusive musically. We did a boildown of a Palestrina Conditor alme (not the one on YouTube) Sunday which could have gone better.

As it turned out...

Proper: Full Gregorian

Ordinary for Sundays: Mass XVII, Credo I

Ordinary for Immaculate Conception: Hassler, Missa Secunda, Credo III, Et incarnatus est, J. Flaherty

Ordinary for Rorate Caeli Mass: Lassus, Missa ad imitationem moduli "Tous les regretz" a 6

Marian Antiphon (post-Mass): Alma Redemptoris

Motets: Dufay, Conditor Alme; Thompson, Rorate Caeli; Palestrina, Alma Redemptoris; Connolly, Ecce Virgo; Grieg, Ave Maris; Arcadelt, Ave Maria; Rheinberger, Marienhymne; Veni Redemptor Gentium, plainchant; Rathgeber, Offertoria for Advent II & III;

Hymns: Hark! A Thrilling Voice; Lo, He Comes; The God Whom Earth and Sea and Sky; Immaculate Mary; The Angel Gabriel; Ye Who Own the Faith of Jesus (ST PETERSBURG, w/o pickup); Comfort, Comfort Ye; O Come Divine Messiah; O Come, O Come, Emmanuel;

I also think it a bit silly to schedule it as the first hymn of Advent I.

Then I, sir am a bit silly. I understand the notion of waiting until Advent IV. But even the small remnant of Catholics who know what the O Antiphons are, do not connect Veni Emmanuel to them as a paraphrase, and it makes no more sense to keep the best of all Advent hymns in reserve that it does to only sing Holy God We Praise Thy Name in the Office or on New Year's Eve.

What am I missing?

Chris:
Yes, there's some hyperbole there. And stiff competition from Fr. Luther's crew. But in terms of doing what a hymn is supposed to do... Perhaps I should say "best loved".

Perhaps Catholics SHOULD know what the O Antiphons are. My peeps do, because I've been doing then for the Offertory of Advent IV since 2014. But they're also TLM. which means they're self-selecting for fondness of tradition. Step into Our Lady of Low Ceilings and ask around, and you'll get different results. That may not necessarily be from lack of exposure. Maybe the O Antiphons aren't "all that".