Lent organ music (not for liturgy)
  • fernandogilfernandogil
    Posts: 38
    Wondering what's your fav lent work, this is mine:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbV3PN1FylQ
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    We're not supposed to have organ music during lent except to support singing.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    We are not, either, in the United States according to GIRM. Are there differences in other countries?
  • Randolph Nichols
    Posts: 398
    But the question is valid. There are many wonderful lenten organ works, even by Catholic composers. The GIRM prohibition applies to the Mass, but does it apply to devotions such as stations of the cross? If so, poor Dupré.

    That the GIRM lenten rubric is widely ignored in the United Sates is well known. Among priests in my area it's not even on the radar. If anything, they probably feel I'm short changing the parish if I don't play.

    By the way, I have an affection for "Attende Domine" by Demessieux.
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    It is easy to avoid using the organ during lent. Sing the antiphon Ave Regina Caelorum as the recessional. Use plainchant where possible and restrained use of organ for hymns.
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    It also doesn't apply to listening to CDs in your car.

    One of my favorites is the Bach "O Lamm Gottes" from the Leipzig chorales.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,828
    I composed a meditative work called Et Lux In Tenebris for strings, organ and choir. I intend to include glass harp for the next performance.
  • fernandogilfernandogil
    Posts: 38
    I've been missunderstood, I wasn't talking about this work as a prelude, postlude or something. Just wondering about a sort of «non liturgical soundtrack» for the soul during lent.

    Please don't use organ solos during lent
    Thanked by 1canadash
  • francis
    Posts: 10,828
    Bach's Passion of St John
    Thanked by 2fernandogil CHGiffen
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    If you want something simple, there was a Sarabande in D minor from a Harpsichord suite by Handel (HWV437) I have/had it somewhere in my folder under interludes.
  • francis
    Posts: 10,828
    oh! THIS... is amazing.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5SX0bL6Bik
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,191
    Yes, I reprinted the relevant lines regarding Lent and the organ and other instruments for my parish in the Lenten service music folder. Some found it odd to not hear the organ but many were surprised at how well acapella singing they could do.

    My Lenten organ project is learning the Tournemire "Seven Last Words of Christ" for playing next year. (But not at mass).
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    I do play some organ solos on the 4th Sunday of Lent, and that is allowed. I just don't overdo it because it is "pink" Sunday. It is something of a reminder that the dreary season will not last forever, and the resurrection is coming soon.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    It also doesn't apply to listening to CDs in your car.


    Given my low-brow tastes in religious music, I'm quite thankful for this exemption.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Andrew_Malton
    Posts: 1,187
    .
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    Does the prohibition on solo instrument music apply to preludes and postludes in letter or in spirit?

    In other words, would prayer before Mass be considered a non-liturgical devotion during which organ solos would be permitted?

    Just curious what others think.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    In spirit.
    Thanked by 1jpal
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    If the letter of the law is followed, preludes and postludes are not forbidden since they fall outside the liturgy of the mass. However, this is rather akin to having a lobster platter on a Friday in Lent. In keeping with the spirit of the liturgical season, one should entirely omit preludes and if there is to be a postlude, it should be of a quieter and sombre tone.
    Thanked by 2Spriggo jpal
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I wrote for the USCCB secretariat for Divine Worship last year about this question, Here is the response I got from the associate director

    Thank you for your email. While we don't want to become too legalistic in such matters, I think an authentic spirit of the GIRM paragraph you cite would advocate avoiding preludes and postludes during Lent.

    It is part of creating the atmosphere for the Mass and for the whole spirit of Lent.
    Thanked by 2Spriggo jpal
  • marajoymarajoy
    Posts: 783
    Since we are talking about music not for the liturgy, one of my favorites is Bach's O Mensch Bewein. (done at the proper SLOW tempo... those 32nd notes do NOT mean play fast, as I have heard before! yuck!)
    Thanked by 1R J Stove
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