Music at a Wedding in New Zealand
  • Just writing in to let people know what music we used for a wedding held at the Tyburn Nuns Monastery near Rotorua, New Zealand the other day.

    There were two tenors present as well as one of the nuns playing the Harmonium. One of the challenges for the day was the fact that some 60% of those attending were a mix of protestant, buddhist, agnostic or atheist. We opted to have as much of the mass as possible in English, with two solo pieces (Panis Anglicus and Ave Maria) sung in Latin. We aimed to use a variety of music resources and styles to try and give the nuptials as much of a Catholic feel as possible without alienating the many different groups attending.

    The SEP Introit for the Nuptial Mass was sung for the entrance procession of the clergy.

    The Taize Chant "Ubi caritas et amor Deus ibi est" was sung. One Tenor sang sostenuto, the other sang harmonies, whilst one of the Nuns played the Harmonium and the rest of the nuns sang the main melody.

    Kyrie XI "Orbis Factor" was sung with the Two tenors acting as cantor and members of the congregation and the Nuns sang response. It was sung 6-fold.

    The Gloria was from the Revised Mass Shalom (a very popular setting of the mass ordinary in Australia)

    The Responsorial Psalm was from Sunday IV Ordinary Time from ccwatershed

    The Alleluia was Gregorian Chant Mode 8, with the acclamation sung to the traditional tone.

    The offertory was a hymn "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling" sung congregationally.

    The Pater Noster is the ACEL (Australian Commission for English Liturgy) setting, which is adapted from Pater Noster III, but is somewhat different from the ICEL version. It is well-known amongst the mainly Australian and New-Zealand members of the congregation.

    The Sanctus was an English adaption of Sanctus XI "Orbis Factor"

    The Agnus Dei was the ICEL Chant Mass for the Assembly (English adaption of Agnus Dei XVIII)

    The communion was an arrangement for two voices and accompaniment of Ceasar Franck's "Panis Angelicus"

    The signing of the marriage register was Schubert's "Ave Maria"

    The recessional was one of the Nuns playing "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" solo on the harmonium.
    Thanked by 1R J Stove
  • Oops: "Ceasar" Franck is wrong. (Yeah, we proofreading paranoiacs notice things like that.) But otherwise, most interested to hear about this event.
  • Sorry for the typographical error. I was running short of time on a library computer.