Caversham

Last Saturday we sang at the LMS Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham, an extremely interesting church where the medieval shrine, which had been visited and endowed from at least the Norman Conquest and destroyed by Henry VIII, was re-established in 1959.

Introit Intret oratio mea, and Kyrie

It was the Ember Saturday in Lent, so we sang the Mass Intret oratio mea. We used the forma brevior, which has a prophecy, an epistle and a gospel, and not the long form with a total of seven readings with Graduals in between them.

We had an unusal polyphonic ordinary: La Messe de Nostre Dame by Guillaume de Machaunt, the earliest complete Mass setting by a single composer. In the Kyrie was alternated Machaunt's melody with the Mass IV Kyrie, on which it is based, which is how it is usually performed.

Here is the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, just as a sound file.


The Gradual (Propitius esto Domine) and the Tract (Laudate Dominum) (they don't follow each other immediately in the liturgy of Ember Saturday, but I have cut out the part between them.)

Interestingly this Tract recurs in the Easter Vigil.

The Offertory and the Communion


There was no view of the Sanctuary from the choir loft to speak of, so I have experimented with still images, no images, and here just what the camera could see - the singers. I'm not sure what is the best way to present these recordings.