OK...I should probably know this, but I don't. Are there rules about when to use the various settings of the ordinary? For example, if one were singing for Christ the King, is it as acceptable to use Mass VIII as it is Mass IX, or is there a list that details which setting goes with which feast? This would be for the Extraordinary Form. Please forgive my ignorance! Thanks!
The answer is: there are some Masses that have become traditional, but technically speaking any of the selections of any of the Ordinaries can be used at any time during the Liturgical Year.
The Liber Usualis (PDF available on the home page of musicasacra.com) designates the various Mass settings as being for various types of days: Sundays, "doubles", "semidoubles", "feasts of the Blessed Virgin", etc.
But it also says (p. 78) that it's OK to use chants from one Mass setting with chants from another, except for the ferial Mass settings (XVI and XVIII).
Also, there are the "ad libitum" chants that start on p. 79.
Jeff touched on this with the 'traditional' thing--it IS 'traditional' to use Mass XVII/XVIII during Advent and Lent (except for Gaudete and Laetare Sundays).
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