Does nobody write music for masses anymore?

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I mean, obviously since Vatican II the Church has seen a massive amount of music written for mass, but it’s always a hymn here or a paraphrase there.

Has anybody written a setting for a WHOLE MASS in the Ordinary Form? In the way that William Byrd or Tomas Luis de Victoria wrote a whole mass, from the entrance antiphon right through to the blessing and dismissal. I know that you can chop one of these ancient settings up and fit it back together to fit the Ordinary Form, but has anyone, classical, folk or rock, latin or vernacular, written a setting for a whole mass in the OF?

It seems that the idea of a whole sung mass, as opposed to a said mass with hymns, belongs almost entirely to the Extraordinary Form, which is a shame for the majority of Catholics who still appreciate the beauty of the mass, but feel more comfortable with the Ordinary Form, or only have the option of the Ordinary Form.

I realise these things take time, and it was many centuries after the Tridentine Rite became standardised that these musical settings reached their full grandeur, but is anyone trying to do this kind of composing for the contemporary mass?

If so, I’d be interested to see or hear it.
 
Of course they have. Go to most Sunday OFs and they’ll use the same setting for most of the sung bits - the ‘Kyrie’, ‘Alleluia’, ‘Holy Holy Holy’, ‘Great Amen’ and ‘Lord Have Mercy’. That’s because complete settings HAVE been written.

The name of only one of them comes to mind for me at the moment- just because it’s ubiquitous - ‘Mass of Creation’ by Marty Haugen.

ETA: you can find a couple more at texasmidi.tripod.com/mass.htm
 
Please, no bashers and no lectures about the evils of contemporary and rock music. There are plenty of other threads about these issues, and so far, no one has managed to convince me. (Just like in the Protestant church–after over 40 years of listening to accusations from various pastors and writers that rock music is the “devil’s music”, I still remain unconvinced!)

I have wondered myself if anyone writes contemporary music for Mass (hymns).

I think that the Life Teen Masses have some fairly new music, but even a lot of that was written years ago, and some of the songs were ones that we did 30 years ago in Protestants churches. I really don’t care for a lot of the Life Teen Mass music, as it is very a-melodic. But that’s just my personal opinion, and I have no objection to its inclusion in Mass. (Neither does out bishop, BTW–he is a supporter of Life Teen Masses, and also a supporter of TLM.)

Almost all the music in our hymnals is either traditional (Holy God We Praise Thy Name, etc.), or was written in the 1970s.

I always crack up when I read people on these forums who complain about the “contemporary” music. Music that was written even five years ago is no longer “contemporary,” it is “oldie.” REALLY oldie! MOLDIE OLDIE!

So what are the contemporary hymns, the ones written in this millenium, and who are the composers who are writing them? And where are the churches that are using these hymns in a reverent NO Mass? I would really be interested in checking some of these out.

I’m not really interested in the artists who are recording contemporary Catholic music and perfoming it in a concert setting. My husband has purchased several of these CDs and really likes CCCM. (Contemporay Christian Catholic Music). But I’m indifferent to solo/group music because much of this music is not singable by a congregation of regular people who don’t sing very well. I prefer hymns that all of us regular people can sing along with in a Mass, and that don’t need a whole rock band to sound good. Again, JMO! I have no objection to a proliferation of CCCM artists and music–I wish that Relevant Radio featured more of this kind of music throughout the day.

But I am very interested in learning about current hymn writing in the Catholic Church.

Thanks!
 
Cat said:
Please, no bashers and no lectures about the evils of contemporary and rock music. There are plenty of other threads about these issues, and so far, no one has managed to convince me. (Just like in the Protestant church–after over 40 years of listening to accusations from various pastors and writers that rock music is the “devil’s music”, I still remain unconvinced!)

I have wondered myself if anyone writes contemporary music for Mass (hymns).

I think that the Life Teen Masses have some fairly new music, but even a lot of that was written years ago, and some of the songs were ones that we did 30 years ago in Protestants churches. I really don’t care for a lot of the Life Teen Mass music, as it is very a-melodic. But that’s just my personal opinion, and I have no objection to its inclusion in Mass. (Neither does out bishop, BTW–he is a supporter of Life Teen Masses, and also a supporter of TLM.)

Almost all the music in our hymnals is either traditional (Holy God We Praise Thy Name, etc.), or was written in the 1970s.

I always crack up when I read people on these forums who complain about the “contemporary” music. Music that was written even five years ago is no longer “contemporary,” it is “oldie.” REALLY oldie! MOLDIE OLDIE!

So what are the contemporary hymns, the ones written in this millenium, and who are the composers who are writing them? And where are the churches that are using these hymns in a reverent NO Mass? I would really be interested in checking some of these out.

I’m not really interested in the artists who are recording contemporary Catholic music and perfoming it in a concert setting. My husband has purchased several of these CDs and really likes CCCM. (Contemporay Christian Catholic Music). But I’m indifferent to solo/group music because much of this music is not singable by a congregation of regular people who don’t sing very well. I prefer hymns that all of us regular people can sing along with in a Mass, and that don’t need a whole rock band to sound good. Again, JMO! I have no objection to a proliferation of CCCM artists and music–I wish that Relevant Radio featured more of this kind of music throughout the day.

But I am very interested in learning about current hymn writing in the Catholic Church.

Thanks!
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Ummm … nice post, but the topic (as per the OP) ISN’T about single hymns nor about modern music in Mass in general - rather it’s about WHOLE MASSES (ie complete music from the one composer for all the singable bits of the Mass in between ‘The Lord be with you’ to ‘The Mass is ended, go in peace’) and whether any have been written within the last 40 years.

It’s a little disturbing that you don’t seem to know the difference between a Mass and a hymn even when it’s very clearly explained to you in the OP.
 
LilyM said:
Ummm … nice post, but the topic (as per the OP) ISN’T about single hymns nor about modern music in Mass in general - rather it’s about WHOLE MASSES (ie complete music from the one composer for all the singable bits of the Mass in between ‘The Lord be with you’ to ‘The Mass is ended, go in peace’) and whether any have been written within the last 40 years.

It’s a little disturbing that you don’t seem to know the difference between a Mass and a hymn even when it’s very clearly explained to you in the OP.
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I’m sorry. I derailed the topic. Please forgive me.

I do know the difference, but it seemed to me that the topics are related. Apparently not.

Just ignore my post, please.
 
I don’t think it matters if anyone writes a whole Mass or not. Around here, you can’t even get a priest to sit down with you when you’re planning the songs for a Mass, much less him learning sung Mass parts… and if it were something new, odds are Fr. Celebrant would whine, “But the people don’t know it.”

Nobody knew “Silent Night” the first time it was used in Church either.
 
I don’t think I have ever heard the “mass of creation” setting ever done all through the whole mass. usually parts of different settings are picked out and used so we wind up with proulx’s Gloria and Haugens sanctus etc. If you ask me from what I have seen in GIA’s hymnals, Proulx’s settings are the most traditional oriented. But thats just my observation.
 
I will agree that some Masses are written nowadays, and some of them are quite good (in continuity with tradition, very Gregorian or Ambrosian sounding in places, and if you look hard enough, there’s lot of Latin set to music too), but compared to 200 years ago, there aren’t nearly as many Masses being composed. In the days of Rossini, every Catholic composer seemed to write a Mass.

The reason for this is a great interest in return to traditional chant and settings of the Mass that date back to the middle ages. There is also an initiative in EF circles to “save the 1962 liturgy from 1962.” The music in 1962 wasn’t great, and so now, we are seeing the 1962 Missal used in conjunction with Rossini, Byrd, Mozart, even Bach. You didn’t see that back then–it was the Missae de Angelis or Orbis Factor every Sunday, day in, day out, and often poorly done. So now, instead of writing new Masses, liturgical music buffs, many of whom belong to TLM Societies, communities, and Parishes, are experimenting with tradition in a way that’s never been done before. Take, for example, a Missa Cantata with a small schola. They can do Gloria XV, the Rossini Propers, and the Kyrie from cunctipoten Genitor Deus all in one Mass. It’s completely in tradition, and entirely foreign to the average mass goer in the 1950s. Why write new masses when we’re only just discovering the good ones now? Now, imagine applying all that great music to the Novus Ordo, and finding good Plainchant settings of the Canon to go with it?

I think this is why there are few new masses. We’re too consumed with rediscovering old gems as part of today’s new liturgical renewal initiated by the Holy Father. However, I would like good new masses to be written, since it contributes to the movement.
 
You know, I think that one of the reasons for why the Missa de Angelis and Orbis Factor were repeated so many times was because there was a Motu Proprio from Pope St. Pius X on religious music, which stated that Gregorian Chant be given priority in worship. It had something to do with reverence.

As for mass settings, there are all kinds these days. I can think of one called “Missa Kenya.” I don’t know if it would fit in a liturgical setting, but it is out there.
 
James McMillan : practising Catholic, composer of many Masses, including Galloway Mass, Mass for 2000. Maybe his fame hasn’t made it across the pond…😛
 
The site is still under construction, but there’s a website MusicForMass.org that looks like it will have, at some future point in time, an entire Lyric Mass Suite (plus various refrains, acclamations, choral and vocal solo compositions, and instrumental compositions).
 
Pious_Mat said:
I will agree that some Masses are written nowadays, and some of them are quite good (in continuity with tradition, very Gregorian or Ambrosian sounding in places, and if you look hard enough, there’s lot of Latin set to music too), but compared to 200 years ago, there aren’t nearly as many Masses being composed. In the days of Rossini, every Catholic composer seemed to write a Mass.

The reason for this is a great interest in return to traditional chant and settings of the Mass that date back to the middle ages. There is also an initiative in EF circles to “save the 1962 liturgy from 1962.” The music in 1962 wasn’t great, and so now, we are seeing the 1962 Missal used in conjunction with Rossini, Byrd, Mozart, even Bach. You didn’t see that back then–it was the Missae de Angelis or Orbis Factor every Sunday, day in, day out, and often poorly done. So now, instead of writing new Masses, liturgical music buffs, many of whom belong to TLM Societies, communities, and Parishes, are experimenting with tradition in a way that’s never been done before. Take, for example, a Missa Cantata with a small schola. They can do Gloria XV, the Rossini Propers, and the Kyrie from cunctipoten Genitor Deus all in one Mass. It’s completely in tradition, and entirely foreign to the average mass goer in the 1950s. Why write new masses when we’re only just discovering the good ones now? Now, imagine applying all that great music to the Novus Ordo, and finding good Plainchant settings of the Canon to go with it?

I think this is why there are few new masses. We’re too consumed with rediscovering old gems as part of today’s new liturgical renewal initiated by the Holy Father. However, I would like good new masses to be written, since it contributes to the movement.
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I’m thinking about writing one, an EF, mainly influenced by Barber. The big problem there, is that it takes 6 months to write something of that scale, and you’re not guaranteed anyone will use the music.

Meanwhile, you can just go pluck a few guitar strings at a bar and reap praise from drunks. It’s too tempting and I end up in that setting.
 
TMGallyon85 said:
I don’t think I have ever heard the “mass of creation” setting ever done all through the whole mass. usually parts of different settings are picked out and used so we wind up with proulx’s Gloria and Haugens sanctus etc. If you ask me from what I have seen in GIA’s hymnals, Proulx’s settings are the most traditional oriented. But thats just my observation.
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Not really the case around here - it’s much easier to use the one setting for the whole Mass, so we tend to do so. I’d say St Louis Jesuits’ Mass gets equal billing with Mass of Creation. in these parts.
 
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