Click on the post above for an anthem that we sang at communion two weeks ago -- Adrian Batten's "O Sing Joyfully". We sing a lot of the early English Renaissance motets and anthems -- Byrd, Tallis, Batten and the anonymous "Rejoice in the Lord Alway" (not the Purcell 'Bell Anthem' - but we sing that too. Both great, but the anonymous setting is a smaller, more intimate work.)
All the English stuff makes me feel very much at home as a former Anglican, but we also sing Palestrina, and Victoria, and Viadana - Exultate Justi
"We Give the Lie to Bad Catholic Music" ought to be our motto.
I read the first line of your post, and I immediately knew that it was from you...
You are blessed to have a group like that. envy, envy...
***Not all Catholic parishes are a musical wasteland.***
Tell me that you guys sing Gregorian chants as well and I will be in violation of the 10th Commandment. :)
So. how far are you from Los Angeles? I’ll be over. We have ‘Captain Ahab’ on the organ upstairs — my son and I cannot sit together, because if either of us dares to take a peek at him, we roll our eyes. But the no music mass is, of course, wonderful.
I did politely talk to the organist once, thanking him for playing/ singing How Great Thou Art, requesting could we maybe do other of the Great Old Hymns. He obstinately replied that there were some very good NEW hymns in the OCP book too. Not really.
We are so content and thankful, however, to have good, solid orthodoxy that we don’t complain.
I never heard the Nicene Creed spoken in a Protestant Church.
I prefer the anonymous setting of Rejoice in the Lord Alway too.
I’m a member of my parish choir and we have a great repetoire of music. This weekend we are singing the Missa Brevis Joannis de Deo of Haydn with string trio as well as the Franck Panis Angelicus and the (oversung) Mozart Ave Verum. Last week we sang music of William Mathias. In our season we sing everything from Chant Communio for the Sunday to Palestrina to Bruckner. We also have had a composer in residence and routinely perform premiers by guests and by choir members. I already can’t wait until next year.