Rembrance Sunday in Reading

Yesterday the Schola sang Brumel's Missa pro defunctis in the Church of St William of York, for Fr Armand de Malleray FSSP. This was the regular 11am Traditional Mass celebrated in that chuch, which is always sung.

Readers from overseas may be surprised that a Requiem Mass can replace a Sunday Mass. It is by a special dispensation sought by the Bishops of England and Wales after World War I.

Fr de Malleray had a rather splendid catafalque, and we had the 'ablutions': we sang the very moving responsary Libera me, while the celebrant blessed the catafalque (basically an empty coffin, representing those for whom we are praying), first with holy water, and then with incense.

I hope to get videos of this Mass uploaded at some point.

Afterwards we had lunch in Reading's Loch Fyne Restaurant.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Schola accompanied Mass in SS Gregory & Augustine.

Gloria, from Morales, Missa de beata virgine


Gradual Audi filia & Alleluia Assumpta est


Sanctus & Benedictus, from the same Morales Mass


The Alleluia is the only ancient piece of chant in this Mass, all the others being newly composed following the Definition of the Dogma of the Assumption by Pope Pius XII in 1950. This work of composition was during the brief period (1945-1971) in which a new version of the Latin Psalter, the 'Pian Psalter' overseen by Cardinal Bea, was being used, and this version has found its way into the Gradual. It is often said that Cardinal Bea's Psalter is harder to sing; the 'Gallican Psalter' found in the Clementine Latin Vulgate is composed in a poetic and rythmical style which imitates the Hebrew.

The Gradual verse (sung by the cantor) used for the Assumption (Ps 44:14) reads:

Tota decora ingreditur filia regis, texturae sunt amictus ejus.

The equivalent verse of the Gallican Psalter is completely different. It flows much more easily:

Omnis gloria ejus filiæ regis ab intus, in fimbriis aureis.

More on Latin Psalters from Wikipedia.

Nuptial Mass

The Schola was privileged to sing at the Nuptial Mass of one our our own members. The Mass took place in St Anthony of Padua, and was celebrated by the parish priest, Fr Aldo Tapparo.

Introit Deus Israel conjugat vos


Gradual Uxor tua, Alleluia Mittat vobis


Offertory, In te speravi (which is also used for the 11th Sunday After Pentecost), with its ancient verses.


Communion Ecce sic benedicetur, with Psalm verses.


More about this Mass here.

Sacred Heart

We sang for the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart at SS Gregory & Augustine.

It was the occasion both of a First Communion and an unusual thurible malfunction - see more on the LMS Chairman blog!

Introit, Cogitationes.


Gradual Dulcis and Alleluia Tollite

Videos of the Juventutem Mass

The Schola Abelis was privileged to sing at a wonderful Solemn Mass celebrated for the London Juventutem group, in the newly restored church of St Patrick, Soho Square.

The polyphonists sang Victoria's Missa O quam gloriosum.

Here is a taste of it: Victoria's Kyrie.


Victoria's Sanctus and Benedictus.


There are more photos and commentary on the Mass here.

Newman Termly Mass: and videos

The President of the Newman Society this term is actually a member of the Schola, so it was appropriate that we sang for their termly Mass. It took place in the Oxford Oratory, and we had some splendid polyphony too - see videos below.

More photos.

A selection of pieces from the Mass. The polyphony was by Guillaume Dufay, with the exception of a Byrd motet at the Offertory. Dufay was a highly influential composer of the 15th Century; see his Wikipedia entry.


A Gloria by Dufay.


The Greater and Lesser Alleluias.


The Offertory, Stetit Angelus, followed by a motet, Byrd's Memento salutis auctor.


The Benedictus, also by Dufay, sung after the Consecration.


The Communion (Angeli Archangeli) followed by motet, Dufay's Flos florum.

St William of York, Reading

We sang for the Fraternity of St Peter apostolate in St William of York, Reading, last Sunday.

Some more photos.

Juventutem Mass in London, again

We sang again for the Good Counsel Network and Juventutem London. We were singing from the back of the Church so the sound isn't very good (the camcorder was at the front!) but it was a good Mass. Our polyphonists sang Obrecht's 'Missa Fors seulement'.

Here's the Introit (Audivit Dominus: Friday after Ash Wednesday) and the Kyrie


The Gradual Unam petii


Obrecht's Sanctus and Benedictus.


See some photos.

Videos of the Pilgrimage to Caversham

Last Saturday the Schola sang for the Latin Mass Society's annual Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Caversham. There was an important shrine to Our Lady in Caversham from before the Norman Conquest to the Reformation, and this was restored in 1958. Today it boasts a lovely medieval shrine image, a large, polychromed wooden Madonna and Child; Our Lady was crowned to mark the 50th Anniversary of the restoration of the shrine. This is the second year that the LMS has organised a pilgrimage there.

It was a Votive Mass of Our Lady (after Septuagesima). (When we sang there last year, it was the Ember Saturday of Lent, which was interesting.) Not having any polyphonists with us, we sang as a vested schola from the front of the nave.

Here is the Introit, with the Kyrie from Mass IX.


The Gradual Benedicta et venerabilis, and Tract Gaude Maria Virgo


The Offetory Felix namque est.


See the LMS Chairman blog for more on the Mass; see here for more photos.

Videos of Septuagesima

The Schola was privileged to sing at a splendid Solemn Mass celebrated by a visiting FSSP priest at St William of York, Reading: Fr Alfaro had come all the way from the Fraternity mission in Colombia. For more about the Mass see here.

Intoit Circumdederunt


Gradual Adjutor in opportunitatibus, Tract De profundis


Offertory Bonum est confiteri


Communion Illumina faciem tuam

St Didacus at St Anthony of Padua

Today is the feast of St Didacus, a great miracle worker of the 15th Century, a member of the Franciscan Friars Minor. Fr Aldo Tapparo sang a Mass in his church, St Anthony of Padua, in Headington, and we accompanied the Mass.

St Didacus is given the Common of Confessors, Justus ut palma. The ordinary our polyphonists sang was by Johannes Brassart (c.1400-c.1455), who was from the south Netherlands.

Here is the Introit Justus ut palma, followed by Brassart's Kyrie.


Here are the Gradual Os justi and the Alleluia Beatus vir.


Here is Brassart's Sanctus and Benedictus.


Here is the Offertory with its verses.




More about this Mass here.

First Masses of Term

We have now sung in Blackfriars, for the LMS Oxford Pilgrimage, in St Birinus in Dorchester, for a parish requiem, and in SS Gregory & Augustine's, Woodstock Road, for All Souls
.


The Pilgrimage Mass was in honour of Blessed George Napier, and before the Archbishop of Birmingham, who blessed a plaque in honour of the martyr whose fourth centenary it was. As well as singing at Mass, we sang the Te Deum, the Litany of the Saints and the Litany of Loreto on the procession, and at Benediction afterwards. Our polyphonists sang an unusual Ordinary, Nicholas Ludford's 'Missa inclina cor meum', and a motet by William Byrd, 'Miserere mei'.

At Dorchester we had a training day with Nick Gale, the Director of Music at St George's Cathedral in Southwark (ie the Catholic one!). We had a session with him before and one after lunch, and then sang a Requiem, again with polyphony. Nick Gale has his own approach to chant which will take time for us to absord and make our own fully, but was a fascinating day which had instant results. Nick's approach, based on the Graduale Triplex, is very much focused on the text (paying attention to the length of syllables in the text, as well as stressed syllables), attention to the dominant note (usually the 'reciting note'), and certain features of the neumes brought out in the Triplex. This all involves stressing and slightly lengthening certain notes, in ways which overlaps with, but is quite distinct from, the editorial suggestions found in the standard editions of the chant. Above all it rejects the rythmical system of 'twos and threes' created in the early 20th Century by some scholars, which attempts to bring the chant more into line with modern music.



We were lucky in our timetabling because we sang the Requiem again a few days later at SS Gregory & Augustine, allowing us to consolidate what Nick Gale had taught us. The next challenge is for us to apply his principles to a new set of propers.

At Dorchester and SS Gregory & Augustine's the polyphonists sang the Requiem of Antoine Brumel (c1460-?1512/3): Kyrie, Sequence, Sanctus, and Agnus.

Videos of Milton Manor Mass

The last Mass of term, and of the academic year, was at Milton Manor House on Saturday 19th August. We had a Votive Mass of Our Lady with a polyphonic Ordinary, Missa Sancta Mater, by Francisco Guerro.

Introit: Salve sancta parens


Gradual Benedicta et venerabilis & Alleluia Post partum Virgo



Offertory motet


Sanctus and Benedictus (before and after the consecration)


For photos of the Mass, see here.

Videos of Newman Mass

I've been having a lot of trouble with camcorders and software, and now have a backlog of videos. Here are three of the Newman Society Termly Mass back in March 2010. This was a pontifical Mass celebrated by Abbot Brogan of Farnbrough. It was the Monday after the 3rd Sunday of Lent, a feria.

We sang from the front of the nave, vested, the first time we have done this. There would not be room in the sanctuary for a liturgical schola - certainly not for a schola of our size, there were eight of us.



Introit, In Deo laudabo


Gradual Deus vitam meam, and the Tract Domine non secundum, the latter of which is sung every Monday, Wednesday and Friday Feria Mass of Lent.


Offertory Exaudi Deus


A report on the Mass and the dinner which followed can be seen here.

First Masses of Term

We have sung two Masses so far: for St Joseph the Workman in St Anthony of Padua -



and for the Ascension (on the Thursday!) at the Oxford Oratory.



Both went extremely well; we had polyphony for the first, Byrd's three-part Mass, and in the second we used for the first time the Medieval offertory verses which were reintroduced to the modern repertoir by the Solesmes research in the early 20th Century.

Technological problems and time constraints have prevented my from recording videos at these Masses but I hope to remedy this for future Masses.

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.

Long Crendon and Ash Wednesday

We had a splendid Mass with polyphony today in the church of Our Lady of Light, Long Crendon, in honour of Bl Thomas Belson and his companions. These men were executed for the Catholic faith in 1589 in Oxford; Thomas Belson was a resident of Brill, which is in the modern Catholic parish of Long Crendon.

The chants are of particular interest, if not merit, since they are unique to the Mass, and the Mass is unique to England and Wales. They were put together for the feast of SS Thomas More and John Fisher, and like most 'late' chant they use bits and pieces (texts and melodies) from elsewhere.

The Introit, Deus venerunt, followed by a polyphonic Kyrie: Cristobal de Morales, Missa Benedicta es caelorum


The Gradual, Effunderunt


Morales' Sanctus and Benedictus.


Offertory Noli meminisse


Communion, Sub altare Dei, followed by a polyphonic motet, the first part of Josquin's Tu solus qui facis mirabilia.


After Mass we had a very good meal at The Angel Restaurant, a gastro-pub down the road from the church.


Lent is now upon us, however. The Schola sang at the first Sung Ash Wednesday service for a number of years, in the Church of SS Gregory & Augustine, with the blessing and distribution of ashes.

Feast of St Agnes

On Thursday evening we accompanied a Mass at the church of St Anthony of Padua in Headington, for the feast of St Agnes, thanks to the hospitality of the Parish Priest, Fr Aldo Tapparo. This was a feast of considerable importance in former centuries, and had many chants composed for it, which are now also used for other feasts as well. There is a remarkable ceremony in Rome on this day of the blessing of the lambs, whose wool is then used to make pallia for archbishops; this year it was performed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Gradual 'Diffusa est' and Alleluia 'Quinque prudentes virgines'


Offertory 'Afferentur regi virgines' followed by the Vespers hymn Jesu corona Virginum, from the Common of Virgins.

Communion Quinque Virgines

At the end of Mass we sang the Alma Redemptoris Mater, to the Solemn Tone (the Roman version printed in the Liber: there are very similar Dominican and Sarum versions as well). All the camcorder showed was the back of the servers so I put in some still pictures.


For more on this Mass, and more photos, see the Chairman's Blog.

End of Term Masses

The end of term has been exceptionally busy and I have been behind posting up photographs. What is worse is that the camcorder used to capture the singing has stopped working - with an inaccessable video on its hard disk.

Requiem, with the blessing of the catafalque, at the chapel of Milton Manor. More photos here.

We have had a very successful last few weeks, singing at a Requiem at Milton Manor, and then the First Friday of December at SS Gregory & Augustine. Since the end of term a group composed of schola members, plus a member of the St Gregory parish choir, sang at a special Mass at SS Gregory & Augustine to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the ordination of Fr John Saward.
Fr Saward has been a great supporter of the schola over the years and it was a privilege to sing at this Mass of thanksgiving. It was followed by a party with the parishioners in the parish hall.

Our termly dinner - or lunch - took place after the Milton Manor Mass, when we went to Didcot for an excellent meal in the new branch of Cibo there, with Fr Simon Leworthy, the celebrant of the Mass, and the serving team.

Next term's term card is shaping up nicely and will be posted up soon. This term has represented a great step forward for the schola, with the addition of polyphony and important input from Philip Duffy's day of training. We have never sounded better.

Presentation of Our Lady

We sang for this feast in St Anthony of Padua, of modern church in Headington (see here). The propers, Salve Sancta Parens, are the same as for Votive Masses of Our Lady; our polyphonists sang the Missa de Beata Virgine by Josquin des Prez.