This is quite the year!!

Sunday, Dec. 24 = Christmas Vigil for Sunday Mass
Sunday, Dec. 24 = Christmas Midnight Mass with carol program preceding
Monday, Dec. 25 = Christmas Mass of the Day

New Christmas pieces this season (challenging or not;))
** Puer Natus (Morales)
** Iesu Redemptor (Stadlmayer)
** Iesu Dulcis (Victoria)
** Iesu Dulcis (Allen)

Missa O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria) for the seasonal Masses - hopefully, a pontifical for Epiphany.

Fortunately, we have the opportunity this year for Sunday Mass on 12/31 (Te Deum - plenary indulgence) and 1/1 (Veni Creator - plenary indulgence)

Planning for 2018-2019 season - Angelus ad Pastores Ait (Hassler) + Magi Viderunt Stellam (Victoria)

Planning for 2019-2020 season - Christmas Matins before the Midnight Mass + possibly introduce parts of Messe de Minuit (Charpentier).

Christmas? Don't remind me. It's going to be crazy this year. Sunday masses on the 24th, midnight mass, masses Christmas Day. I remember the last time the two days came so close together. It was exhausting for musicians and clergy.

Viola - do you have / need a recipe for Smoking Bishop? :-)
you can find it here https://punchdrink.com/recipes/smoking-bishop/

VIOLA, you are in Scotland. One of the very few places on earth I would ever want to visit. what is the weather like this time of year?

and to keep it musical........ does your choir have a tradition of going out and caroling the neighborhood?

Canadash, is the Lotti MB the one for 3 voices? I've been looking at that one...

Just introducing a Casciolini 3 voice for Advent - it is modeled from XVII-2 and XVIII with alternating chant / parts. Quite lovely!

Mme: We are English expats living in N E Scotland, where at present we have snow. Back home in England our church did go out carolling, sometimes with a brass quartet, but here they don't seem to do it. Probably too cold. Also Scotland used to have a tradition of ignoring Christmas and focusing on New Year, when lots and lots of people ARE out and about, especially in cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow, though not singing carols.
Do come and visit, it's a beautiful country, though the weather is not great.
Incardination: please could you supply more info about your Advent Mass, eg where to find it. Too late for this year, but it might be useful for Lent. And I like your suggestion for the two Bishops. Thanks!

The Scots custom of visiting early after midnight at the New Year is also present on the Isle of Man. But the Manx have a Christmas custom of their own - Oeill Voirrey, which means the Night of Mary. This has now decayed into a general sing-song and party sometime in winter. Orginally, people would attend evensong on Christmas Eve, and then without the cooperation of the parson, would remain in church and spend the evening in a recitation of carvals. These were long chanted poems, often newly composed, delivered while walking as slowly as possible up the aisle of the church. The earliest fragments of these which have been preserved date from the 16th century. (No written Manx exists before 1748, when the Gospel of Matthew was published). I imagine this is a popular reaction to the loss of midnight Mass, but there is no proof.

Dec. 24, 10:30am service.
Dec. 24 subbing at the 4:00 service at my previous work church
Dec. 24 7:00 candlelight service. Had the Lauridsen O Magnum Mysterium programmed for this but lost two of my section leaders to family or personal health challenges and pulled it. I’m really sad, and very concerned that one of my basses (who is nearing 90) may not be with us much longer. He was in tears when he told me he had to stop singing and kept apologizing. I told him he did not need to apologize, he needs to take care of himself. He’s been fighting bladder cancer and it’s not going well.
Dec. 24 11:30pm attend TLM with my family.

Dec. 25-at some point hit the road for south Florida to visit the in laws, soak up some sun and go sit at my favorite tiki hut on Hollywood Beach and try to decompress. This has been a rough year.

Dec 24: 10am
Dec 24: 530pm possibly
Dec 24: singing/playing at 10pm at different church
Dec 25: back at regular church singing quartet before 12am, then play the 12 am
Dec 25: 730am
Dec 25: 10am
Prayers please...

Viola, I wasn't quite sure where I stumbled across the hard copy of the Mass... I had transcribed it into Finale (attached), but your question made me curious as to its provenance. Searched for it online, and found the same that I had a hard copy of - interestingly enough, uploaded to this forum back in 2011 by rich_enough. I've attached it here as well.

The original has accompaniment. My version is a cappella. I provided the chant notation for the chant parts as well as the modern music equivalent, but this is just to see both representations - the chant is still only sung once. In my version I edited text to the standards I have for my group. Text in parentheses indicate final consonants of melismatic phrases. Depending on the context they might go on the final half of the note. (In this case, for example, final consonants in parenthesis occurring on a half note are on the last beat of the half note).

I was in a bit of a rush, so I'm sure there are some clean-up things that I need to do. Anyway, hope these are helpful!

December 23 4:30pm anticipated with cantor
December 24 9:00am televised with men's schola
December 24 11:00am Spanish with men's schola
December 24 4:00pm Children's Choir
December 24 6:00pm women's schola
December 24 10:00pm Prelude with Cathedral Choir
December 24 11:00pm Pontifical televised with Cathedral Choir
December 25 9:00am Solemn with Cathedral Choir

The 26th is my second eldest son's birthday. No rest for the weary. Figure out more presents and make a good cake. That was good timing eh?

Dec. 24: Rehearse 9 am for Christmas Vigil
Dec. 24: Advent IV, 10:30 am
Dec. 24: Christmas Vigil, 4:00 pm

In our rural midwest area we are one parish in a cluster of 6. Dec. 25 Masses are annually rotated amongst them, our parish is not scheduled this year.

For the Casciolini 3 v Mass, we are introducing a section each Sunday as an Ad Lib. So Advent I we sang the Kyrie of the Mass but used the rest from XVII. This Sunday, we will introduce the Sanctus / Benedictus, but use the rest from XVII. Advent III, we will introduce the Agnus but use the rest from XVII. Finally, Christmas Eve, we'll use the full Casciolini 3 v.

That was a long-winded introduction to the point!! :) As we rehearsed the Sanctus last night, we found it strange that the incipit for the Benedictus would have been written as in the key of F while the remainder was in the key of C. It doesn't add anything - if anything it makes it a bit more challenging, particularly hearing the B flat before singing the B naturals for the II line. I believe it was an editing error in the original which I simply reproduced without assessing. I've changed the incipit to be as in the key of C to match the rest of the Benedictus.

Melo

Something like this, right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPlE0ibIt0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t8aFqzaXHM

Bumping - someone just asked about the Casciolini 3 part Mass. Attaching the most up-to-date revision.