Viola

Public Health
Look on YouTube for the Italian air force, not only creating vapour trails of the Italian flag (red, white green) but also reverently taking the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Our Lady of Fatima into the skies to bless their country. https://www.…

Comment by Viola March 2020 permalink
Ravanello Vexilla Regis • New Edition
This is beautifully produced and a useful piece. But I have a query. The original, in Secunda Anthologia Vocalis, appears to be written for three equal voices, so the first chord is a simple triad. This version drops the lowest voice an octave, so t…

Comment by Viola March 2020 permalink
Compline during Lent
A problem we had on one occasion with candlelit Compline, and which I warn against, was that the lighting was way too dim and our basses couldn't see their music. The result was....interesting.

Comment by Viola March 2020 permalink
The St Andrew Hymnal
Hello from Aberdeen. I got my copy of St Andrew's Hymnal from an old church that no longer used it. It's amazing what you can find if you ask to look through old music.

Comment by Viola March 2020 permalink
Best LM hymn tunes
HEREFORD, by the great Samuel Sebastian Wesley, has a nice lilt.

Comment by Viola March 2020 permalink
Pastor keeps throwing off the choir when he sings...
'practicing keeping it together in the face of chaos is probably a good exercise.' The latest chaos here is the fire alarm going off, triggered by excessive incense. It's happened several weeks in a row. The alarm is in Eflat so perh…

Comment by Viola February 2020 permalink
Congregational English Mass Ordinaries: Looking for recommendations
James MacMillan's Mass of St Anne is very approachable. It can be done in unison or SATB. We have used it frequently; the choir and congregation like it.

Comment by Viola February 2020 permalink
Easy Polyphony for All-Male Schola?
Check out Giovanni Battista Martini on the cpdl site. His pieces are straightforward; the In monte Oliveti is for TTB, very beautiful and suitable for Holy Thursday. Adoramus Te Christe, likewise, for Good Friday. You'll find he has some 4 part…

Comment by Viola February 2020 permalink
Sunday of the Word of God
Our readers were all called up for a blessing.

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Is the Harpsichord a liturgical instrument?
My doubt would be that to hear a harpsichord played is a rare event for most PIPs so could be a distraction from the liturgy.

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Is the Harpsichord a liturgical instrument?
I think the Ordinariate Church in London has one in their loft... Yes! I was there a few years ago, looking at Embassy Chapel music mss for my PhD. In the 18th century the church was originally part of the Portuguese Embassy, so one of the few pla…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Is the Harpsichord a liturgical instrument?
A harpsichord was used at Aquhorties, an early 19th century seminary in north east Scotland. They couldn't afford an organ at first so the harpsichord plus a few fiddles accompanied the singing and played voluntaries. Interestingly the harpsich…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
A Little Silence at Communion
Last year when on holiday in France we attended Sunday Mass in Avignon. The congregation stood in silence as the Blessed Sacrament was replaced in the tabernacle after the distribution of Communion, then as the door was closed they all bowed. It was…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Screens in liturgy
In our last parish there was a 19th century Bishop organ, with its lever for hand blowing still there though it has been electrified. We tried using the lever once out of interest. Never again. The noise of the cranking drowned out anything but the …

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Italian Organ music query
Thanks for these helpful comments. It's the 'Albinoni' Adagio as edited/written/expanded, whatever, by Remo Giazotto. A friend of mine is conducting a performance of it next week, with orchestra and organ. This was written on the orga…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
"that absurd 7-days-per-week-plus-holidays job"
a)Less than 50%, sadly. We have a good number of students who sing well but go off home for Christmas and Easter. b) none

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Houston, we have a problem...
It is said that Elizabeth's final years were haunted by visions of dismembered corpses and severed heads dripping blood, reminders of the many priests and other Catholics, not least her cousin Queen Mary, martyred during her reign. One could s…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Houston, we have a problem...
I must defend my native land of England here! Interestingly most of the executions for witchcraft under James I of England, VI of Scotland took place in Scotland where the victims (not all women) estimated at about 4,000, were burned at the stake. T…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Finita Jam Sunt Proelia
We have sung the Latin words to the tune Vulpius which exists in various SATB arrangements as The Strife is o'er and also other Easter words. I couldn't find a printed version either, so Sibeliused the tune as used for the English and wrot…

Comment by Viola January 2020 permalink
Joy to the World?
Wow, it is pretty awful, not least because of the ridiculously low pitch (seems to be starting on G?) We will be having this as our final hymn at Midnight Mass, but in the splendid arrangement by John Rutter, with trumpet descant. From previous expe…

Comment by Viola December 2019 permalink
Colin Mawby RIP (9 May 1936–24 November 2019)
We are indebted to both of them for beautiful, inspiring, prayerful music. May they rejoice in the music of the angels.

Comment by Viola November 2019 permalink
"Gaudete" from Piae Cantationes
A version with a Geordie accent from the 70s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lN9AJj9rtlk

Comment by Viola November 2019 permalink
Consecutive 5ths: Am I being too picky?
Coming back to this because I think I may possibly have a solution. It is: start the tenor with an A on the last beat of bar 12. That preserves the open 5th on the second beat, and the tenor now has an independent entry up to D on the first beat of …

Comment by Viola November 2019 permalink
Newman - Richard Terry tune with the Saint's words...
That's interesting: here in the UK that tune by Sir Richard Terry is always known as BILLING. Why, I know not. Nice to have an alternative harmonisation. Thank you.

Comment by Viola November 2019 permalink
Sad news, grief, and a hymn
All your family are in our prayers, and thank you for a beautiful piece of music.

Comment by Viola November 2019 permalink
Christmas is right around the corner
I haven't started thinking about Christmas yet; we're focusing on Advent.

Comment by Viola October 2019 permalink
Hymnal Recommendations
Thanks for comments re screens. I learned that there used to be a rood arch (is that the right term?) here, very impressive ornate Victorian Gothic with a depiction of the Crucifixion, but it was removed in the 60s for the usual reasons. Sigh. The p…

Comment by Viola August 2019 permalink
Hymnal Recommendations
In my experience hymnals are like cookbooks; even the best contain things you would never bother with and don't have things you would like. Someone has just donated some money to our place of worship with the stipulation that it be used to prov…

Comment by Viola August 2019 permalink
What our "Catholic Music" has done
We do Faber's hymns quite regularly and they go down well. Fr Caswall's are also worth doing. I have good and bad experiences of subbing. Bad, when asked to play Bind us together at a wedding 'because it's a traditional Catholic …

Comment by Viola August 2019 permalink
Sound familiar?
An Anglican seminarian and organist who sings with us from time to time and is known as the Resident Heretic. He will be joining us for the Assumption. He is very high Anglo-Catholic and has said that our Sunday Mass is like a Methodist service with…

Comment by Viola August 2019 permalink

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About

Username: Viola
Email: musicatcathedral-abdndotorg
Joined: March 2015
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