Simple Unison Mass Setting - Holy Thursday
  • chrispcmitchell
    Posts: 2
    Good evening!

    My parish is a bilingual parish (English and Spanish), and for Holy Thursday, our pastor (who, by the way, has a truly excellent attitude towards the sacred liturgies and sacred music) has decided to have a bilingual Mass. I direct a small, elderly choir, and there are two Spanish choirs. I am one of two or three people (out of a total of 20 or so) that can fluently read music.

    I am going to coordinate the three choirs to sing, in Latin, the Propers and the Ordinary of the Holy Thursday Mass. Does anyone have a simple, easily accessible setting of these that can be sung a cappella with unison voices?

    Thank you for your help!

    Chris
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,332
    Well, why not do the Gregorian ordinary? Mass IV was found in the preconciliar excerpts for Holy Week (that is, the book for the whole week and only the week, but with everything in it), and it’s what we use. The Kyrie is highly repetitive. The Agnus is relatively easy for a new chant ordinary.

    You can substitute the Gloria for VIII if you need to do so, and maybe the Sanctus too; the latter is the hardest by far of the pieces. But I recommend to anyone to move beyond VIII and include IV in the repertoire; the 1974 gradual specifically lists it for Apostles, which I think is a good pairing, but we hardly get those on Sundays if you use the NO (so the vast majority of folks), and nothing says that you can’t do it on green Sundays.
    Thanked by 3Abbysmum tomjaw rich_enough
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,654
    There is the Graduale Simplex a simple setting of the Propers, and officially provided for this purpose.
    If you find the presentation in the book confusing, note that the antiphons are repeated in full, not as printed. As in GR Ubi caritas is the Offertory.
    Thanked by 1Paul F. Ford
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 89
    A collection of the most simple Gregorian ordinary movements is the "Missa mundi" (such it is called in the "Gotteslob"), which consists of the movements listed in the Kyriale as Kyrie XVI, Gloria XV, Sanctus XVIII, and Agnus Dei XVIII. I must admit that, except for the repetitive Gloria, I do not find them paricularly "simple" because the lack of memorizable melodies requires sight reading abilities in my opinion. Much simpler, in my opinion, are post-Gregorian plainchant masses like the "Missa de angelis" (Missa VIII in the Kyriale), which has a clear major harmony and memorizable folk-song like phrases.

    The "Gotteslob" also has a number of vernacular Kyrie-Tropes; I have attached one for Lent and Holy Week [removed the attachment because this trope is still under copyright, and it is of no use to the OP anyway]. This is very simple because the congregation repeats the melody that the cantor has sung, albeit with a different text. Following this idea, you can make your own bilingual trope, e.g. on basis of Kyrie XVI, and sing each trope twice: once in Spanish and once in English. I guess that such tropes can also be found in modern English and Spanish hymnals.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,332
    Two problems, one for each: the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus found in the Missa Primitiva are ferial in origin, and the latter two for Lent no less. The Gloria is for minor feasts. Sure, nothing prevents you using that Gloria, but it’s tonally off, even if the mode aligns with, say, Gloria IV. Also, while I find its use day in and day out inappropriate and detrimental to the use of chant, Agnus XVIII repeats each strophe exactly, and people here know the melodies (or can be exposed to them) due to the missal chants in English. I don’t recommend changing in English, but it’s there, and in self-selecting communities, these are well sung from day 1 as a result.

    I think that Gloria VIII is really hard a capella.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 89
    I think that Gloria VIII is really hard a capella.

    The Gloria on Holy Thursday is the last time when organ and bells sound before Easter night. Unlike the rest of the mass of the Last Supper, the Gloria is thus accompanied.
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,935
    Indeed, we treat the Gloria as a dress rehearsal for Easter, with accompaniment of Schubert's Deutsche Messe. The Gradual, mandatum, Ubi caritas are unaccompanied plainchant, alternating Spanish with English, and Sanctus/Agnus XI (in continuity with Lent, rather than what I think is the more traditional XVIII) are in Latin.
    Thanked by 1Xopheros
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,332
    @Xopheros read the OP.

    But also even if it’s tolerated the historical practice is to silence the organ after the incipit and fanfare before the chant.
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 89
    even if it’s tolerated the historical practice is to silence the organ after the incipit and fanfare before the chant.

    Just checked our Directorium, and it clearly states that organ and bells must sound during the Gloria and thereafter be silent until Easter night. It is thus not merely a "tolerated" tradition.

    It seems, though, that the rules in the diocese of the OP are different as he asks for all a capella monodic mass ordinaries (sorry, for overlooking this).

    Coming back to the original question, the plainchant masses by Henry du Mont seem to be well suited.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,332
    I don’t know what your Directorium is but that it be a local custom or particular law does not mean that the actual liturgical books envision that it be done this way, it’s just not contra legem to do so if one wishes.

    Well one reason for an a capella ordinary is lacking an accompanist.
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 89
    Sorry for not explaining what the "Directorium" is, but as it is a Latin term, I thought it would be worldwide the same. The "Directorium" is the liturgical calender including the liturgical rules for each day and it is issued by each diocese each year. Not following it would be against the rule, because the Directorium, by definition, is the rule. The book is primarily of importance for sacristans, but also for church musicians. If a sacristan among the forum members accidentally reads this, maybe (s)he lets us know how it is called in the US.

    With respect to Holy Thursday, the Gloria rule is not peculiar to our diocese: I have checked a random sample of Directoria from other dioceses, and all require organ and bells for the Gloria. Of course, there can always be local reasons for not following the rule: One of the churches in our parish, for instance, does not have churchbells.
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,654
    Before GS gets round to the the propers, it includes the common and the ordinary chants in simple settings. These items are, helpfully, numbered as in a hymn book. There are five Glorias among the suggestions with the sources shown :-
    #35 ed. Vat. XV (Dominator Deus)
    #40 more hispano
    #45 more ambrosiano
    #50 ed. Vat. XII (Pater cuncta)
    #56 ed. Vat. X (Alme Pater)
    If the singers can cope with the melisma, which is the same on each occurrence, I judge the Ambrosian to be easiest. Note that the hymnbook numbering system is there to facilitate choosing items without regard to the suites into which they have been gathered.
    Thanked by 1Roborgelmeister
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,654
    Although not directly relevant to this side discussion about the NO bell ringing, the CTS-published Divine Worship: The Missal is a liturgical book containing the decrees of promulgation. It says -
    At this Mass the Gloria is sung. The bells are rung while the hymn is being sung and, when it is finished, they remain silent until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil.
    My CTS pew missal for the NO has something similar with the addition of - unless, if appropriate, the Diocesan Bishop has decided otherwise.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,332
    We call it an ordo and so does pretty much everyone tbqh.

    Ah since again the Novus Ordo does something just thoroughly un-Roman.
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