Thursday 18 June 2009

Corpus Christi video clips

Here they are at last. I've been having some trouble with Gloria TV but my persistence has been rewarded.

Introit Cibavit eos, sung by all.


The Gradual and Alleluia, sang by a smaller group of cantors. We also (all) sang the Sequence, but the camcorder couldn't cope with the sound of the organ which accompanied it.


The Offertory, Sacerdotes Domini, sung by the cantors.


The Communion, sung by all, in alternation with the verses of Psalm 22.


The Introit and Communion verses are, in fact, antiphons for psalsm, although the psalms are usually not sung any longer. It is still possible to sing them, however, and at communion there is usually time. The correct psalm (in the correct psalm-tone) for each Introit and Communion is given in a book 'Versus Psalmorum et Canticorum' (1962) which can be downloaded for free from the Church Music Association of America here, and bought hard copy (2008 reprint) from them via Lulu here.

The custom of singing the psalm with the communion verse seems an admirable one to me, and it has long been followed in Oxford; it is also done commonly at St Bede's Clapham Park and at the St Catherine's Trust Summer School - and no doubt other places as well.

Tuesday 16 June 2009

Corpus Christi and Termly Dinner

Corpus Christi at the Oxford Oratory was our last Mass of term, and of the academic year. The Oratory church is the largest at which we sing, and Masses on Holy Days can attract a congregation of a hundred. As has become the custom, this was the occasion of some First Holy Communions. Mass was celebrated by Fr Jerome Bertram Cong Orat.
Mass8
After Mass we had our Termly Dinner, which I suppose can be at lunchtime, at the Old Parsonage, just over the road from the Oratory.
Lunch
Video clips to follow. More photos of the Mass here.

Thursday 11 June 2009

First Friday of June

Mass3
This was Whit Friday, the Friday after the Feast of the Ascension (Whitsun). It was an Ember Day. Here is the Greater and Lesser Alleluia, and the Sequence. The Sequence and the second of the two Alleluias are the same as for Whitsun; they are repeated every day of the Octave until Sunday (which is Trinity Sunday).

The two Alleluias are sung by our cantors, but the full schola sings the Sequence.