Thanks for the link. The only hymn I recognize is “Stabat Mater”. Is the tune that is most popular the one written by Palestrina? I’ve never heard anything by Tallis or Byrd that I know of. My parish does not have a professional choir. There are maybe 10 people who sing, but they are not good enough to pull off anything that complex.
Palestrina actually wrote a lot of “easy” choral music that is fine for parish choirs. He also wrote a lot of GORGEOUS stuff for strictly professional choirs.
The nice thing about Palestrina is that it’s not very complex at all. Even a relatively untrained choir can do it justice, although its wonderful purity is obviously enhanced by more skilled musicians.
Is this music strictly for a choir, not for a congregation to sing? The music director in my parish has literally had to beg just to get people to join the choir. There is not much interest. The choir, which is very small, only sings at one Mass a month. Would the congregation be able to sing this if there was no choir?
He didn’t write “songs” he wrote Mass settings and set pieces (like the Stabat Mater), composed in parts, for choral presentation. Hymn singing in Catholic Churches is a phenomenon that arose late in history. The Mass is not really suited for the interspersion of “songs”. We’ve just stuck 'em in there.
So, would his music work in a parish without a choir?
You would need a choir. Although it’s ideal to have a professional choir sing Palestrina masses or motets, it can be done by a volunteer choir who has an excellent and competent music director. The director/organist at our Cathedral is one such person and the volunteer choir - many of whom are not musicians and can’t read music - can do the Palestrina very well considering their abilities. They do the Missa Brevis and the Missa Aeterna Christi Munera for our Latin NO masses and actually sang the Kyrie, Gloria and Agnus Dei from the Missa Aeterna Christi Munera for our wedding. The Sicut Cervus by Palestrina is one of my favorites.
Actually, the reason why composers like them and other poets and artists didn’t get beheaded during the 1500s was because Henry VIII loved art and music and like you said, didn’t want to lose them. There are stories of these artists getting spared even after witnessing his rage because of the fact he appreciated their art more.
That sounds lovely
That will not happen. We are lucky to get 8 people to sing at one Mass per month. I expect the choir to die out completely in my parish. Nobody is really interested. Personally, I cannot carry a tune in a bucket, so it would not be for me.
Do you have a link to a website with the Worship III hymnal. It sounds like it is good.
I unfortunately don’t. Anyone else out there who would have a link?
No. Even the easy stuff requires rehearsing. And it’s all in Latin (though much has been translated).
Worship III is quite good, notwithstanding some politically correct language. Good Mass settings – Latin & English. Well annotated and cross referenced. Good tunes – though for Protestants who come from traditions of rich hymnody, the tunes and words are often mixed up. It is the hymnal in the chapel where we hold our annual CFP retreat, and as music coordinator, I won’t let 'em bring in any outside material. W-III has some of the current popular tunes also, such as I Am the Bread of Life.
Well, the Latin wouldn’t work. Not even my pastor or parochial vicar know any. The music director is not Catholic, so he probably doesn’t know any either.
Right. Palestrina would not work for congregational singing. However, the fact that the music director is not Catholic gives you a BETTER chance that he/she knows more actual Catholic music than someone trained to current music in the Catholic Church. The “good” stuff belongs to the whole world. My Jewish musician friend SWOONS over Renaissance poliphony. A kid in my 6th grade CCD class is learning “Panis Angelicus” in public school chorus.
The music director does play some nice classical pieces after the recessional hymn is finished when people are still leaving the church. That’s usually when we get to hear the really good stuff, because, during the Mass nobody wants to sing. By the way, I asked him about Palestrina. He does know Palestrina. He said, unfortunately, he cannot play any Palestrina because of the lack of choir members. He mentioned that the Cathedral downtown has a choir that does sing Palestrina and other great composers. I might go to the Cathedral for Mass some time, but I’ll wait until football season is over, since downtown parking is a mess during football season.
Oh, yes, so true. It was my first voice teacher (Jewish) who first told me about the vast sacred music treasury of the Catholic church. She’d always tell me it was a shame that they didn’t do that music anymore at mass and remembered when she was a hired singer at Catholic churches here and in Europe hearing and doing all of this music. I didn’t get to experience it until I went to Europe.
Sigh. That’s what I miss most about my Episcopal past: we sang Missa Marialis, Missa de Angelis, and Missa Dominicalis in Latin all the time. Anthems were Bach, Tallis, Byrd, Mozart, Beethoven, Corelli, Boccherini . . . And we were just a 12-voice amateur choir. Ordinary blokes off the street.