Anglican Music fo the Eucharist
  • Francis1984
    Posts: 21
    I am sure I am not the only Catholic who could not get a financially acceptable position in a Catholc Church, and I know from reading these discussions that there are many people who know about Anglican Mass/Eucharist music.

    So, can anyone please suggest to me a 1928 traditional setting of the Eucharist, which I can put into regular use? Something which the average congrgation member can maybe hum along to, but not too easy for them to join in loudly!

    I am the organist/choirmaster of a small Anglican church in San Antonio, Texas, with an SATB choir of 15 good singers and mostly good music readers.

    At the moment we regularly sing

    Missa Sancta Maria Magdalena : Healey Willan
    Communion Service in F : Sumsion
    Missa Parochialis : Oldroyd
    Wood in the Phyrigian Mode

    Any help will be much appreciated.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Something which the average congrgation member can maybe hum along to, but not too easy for them to join in loudly!

    I'm curious about this requirement...
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,414
    You are already singing the one (Willan) which every Episcopalian is born knowing. You might add to that the Fourth Communion Service (in The Hymnal 1940), commonly known as the Missa Marialis, which, except for Gloria, is the Cum Jubilo mass. You might also try to find copies of St Dunstan's Kyriale, which has most of the plainchant masses set to English by Canon Winfred Douglas. These were not so long ago very well known high-church repertory sung by entire congregations - which puts the lie to the old shiboleth that congregations cannot, nor were meant to, sing the Gregorian ordinaries.
    (And, of course, one wouldn't want them to 'join in loudly!' This would never do.)
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    Nicholson Communion Service in G---the first setting of the Eucharist I sung when I first joined the OLOA Adult Choir.

    For Eastertide/festive occasions, we use (an Anglican Use Roman Catholic parish in San Antonio) the Harold Darke Communion Service in F.

    (Here is what the Darke Hosanna sounds like [go to around 6:40]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGizuB6aKZo&feature=related)

    If your Anglican priest is okay with Latin, I also suggest the Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Fatima (I don't know the composer) for any season.

    And while we are at it, for communion anthems, may I suggest the New Church Anthem Book: One Hundred Anthems, and of course, the Choral Public Domain Library (you can get Palestrina, Lauridsen, whatever you want)?
  • Abbot Jonathan CoelAbbot Jonathan Coel
    Posts: 167
    The Mass In Honor of Our Lady of Fatima is by Robert Crone. He was an extremely prolific composer, choirmaster and organist long ago in Louisville, Kentucky. Much of his music is similar to Titcomb and Willan and all based on plainsong chant. I am in the process of re-publishing his music and will soon be able to offer many of his composing which will be of enormous interest to the CMAA as well as others. If you are interested in Crone's music, please contact me at: SarumSociety@aol.com
  • Mark P.
    Posts: 248
    Darke in E
    Titcomb in D (hard to find)
    Oldroyd "Mass of the Quiet Hour"
    Jackson in G
  • Blaise
    Posts: 439
    Oldroyd "Mass of the Quiet Hour", as noted above by Mark, is an excellent setting. We use it for Christmas. For whatever it is worth, I give it my endorsement.
  • don roy
    Posts: 306
    dont forget the ubiqitious merebeck setting along with the darke setting in f. of course there is the gibbons great service...
    Thanked by 1IanW
  • Francesca
    Posts: 51
    Marbeck is the only one I know unmentioned above, and I was in the Episcopal Church for many years before swimming the Tiber.
    Thanked by 1IanW
  • Francis1984
    Posts: 21
    Many thanks for all the suggestions above.

    This has been very helpful and I am sending for copies. We do also sing the Merbecke setting and the Martin Shaw Anglican Folk Mass (which mercifully is not a "folk mass") sometimes in penitential seasons.

    Thank you for your help.
  • Bud Clark
    Posts: 10
    Here's my 1928 English version of Viadana's Missa L'hora passa ...

    Cheers,

    Bud Clark
    San Diego
    Kyrie Gloria Sanctus Agnus(1).pdf
    254K
  • Francis1984
    Posts: 21
    This is really helpful. Thanks. We used to sing the Latin in London, but I have not seen an English version before. By any chance, do you have an English version of Casciolini's Mass in A minor? I have created my own English version of the Kyries, but nothing else yet.
  • Daphne_Point
    Posts: 2
    The other great setting in parish churches over here is Ireland in C. The Agnus Dei is quite amazing - once heard never forgotten!

    Also worth a look is Oldroyd's Mass of the quiet Hour. It is very English 1930's 'palm court' in style, but still popular and congregations love to hear it.
  • ScottKChicago
    Posts: 349
    Our (Anglo-Catholic) choir will sing Darke in F (Harold Darke's Communion Service in F) this Sunday. Looking forward to it.

    As a classical saxophonist (or at least was, in my university days), I often daydream of a saxophone quartet playing the Oldroyd Mass of the Quiet Hour. I think it would be wonderful.
Add a Comment