I need suggestions for good Mass settings

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CatholicZ09

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At our last liturgy meeting, the director said he wanted to implement a new Mass setting for Ordinary Time 2 (September - November) because we’ve used Heritage Mass for every season other than the Christmas and Easter seasons.

What are some good suggestions? I know he doesn’t like a lot of chant, so those ones are out. I think he had Mass of Creation in mind, but I’m trying to get him to avoid that, so I need distractions!

Thanks for the help!
 
We’ve been using the Mass of St. Francis - it’s very nice.
 
These are UK ones but can I recommend James MacMillan’s St Anne’s Mass. Another favourite is Dom Gregory Murray’s A New People’s Mass which has now been rewritten for the new translation.
 
One of my favorite Mass settings is the basic English chants found in the new Roman Missal. They are simple to learn and help to introduce the parish to Gregorian chant as Vatican II directs.

If you have access to the St. Michael Hymnal, there are many beautiful Mass settings in English, Latin, and Spanish. One of my favorites is the Mass of St. Michael, which is actually based on Ukrainian chant tones but is metrical.
 
From Corpus Christi Watershed (free)
The Glory to God from St. Ralph Sherwin Mass, Jeffrey Mark Ostrowski; melody or SATB
Mass of St. Therese Liseaux, Royce Nickel, melody or SATB

Missa Editio Tertione, Benesororium Press, Chris Mueller, melody/SATB

Mass of the Angels, Cantica Nova, Richard J. Clark, melody/SATB/org.

Contemporary Mass- St. Ann Mass, WLP, Ed Bolduc (I think the best of all new ensemble settings.)

Mass of a New World, GIA, David Haas (not great, but very good)

Revised Missa Simplex, GIA, Richard Proulx

We’ve employed all of these since 2010 at our four parish merge.
 
You may need to remind your pastor of the principle of “Pride of Place”. For example, my own parish uses chiefly the simple chant from the Roman Missal, along with the Missa de Angelis setting for the Latin Gloria, which is conveniently included in the Lumen Christi Missal. Our Sanctus and Agnus Dei are also in Latin. Now if we can just get the chanting of proper antiphons jump-started, we will be fully compliant with Vatican II 👍
 
Elizium23 said:
You may need to remind your pastor of the principle of “Pride of Place”. For example, my own parish uses chiefly the simple chant from the Roman Missal, along with the Missa de Angelis setting for the Latin Gloria, which is conveniently included in the Lumen Christi Missal. Our Sanctus and Agnus Dei are also in Latin. Now if we can just get the chanting of proper antiphons jump-started, we will be fully compliant with Vatican II 👍
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I would love to use chant, but I feel like the music director thinks it is too hard to learn, and he may be right since a lot of chants don’t have a consistent melody, but it’s a lot better than the Mass settings that are out there coughMass of Creationcough.

I listened to the German Mass (Deutsche Messe) setting by Proulx on YouTube. It seems easy enough and really reverent.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I would love to use chant, but I feel like the music director thinks it is too hard to learn, and he may be right since a lot of chants don’t have a consistent melody, but it’s a lot better than the Mass settings that are out there coughMass of Creationcough.

I listened to the German Mass (Deutsche Messe) setting by Proulx on YouTube. It seems easy enough and really reverent.
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We use the German Mass at a few of the parishes where I work and have freelanced in. The congregations at all of the parishes where I started with them learning the mass parts picked it up very quickly. Schubert originally composed it as a commission by someone who wanted the music to be easily accessible by the congregation. I can’t remember the link, but in the 19th century, the Germans did have masses in the vernacular. The original German text and music were intended for mass, but it used unapproved, so it was never utilized with that particular text. Proulx set it and then with the revised texts in 2010 before his passing. It’s actually one of my favorite English settings of the mass parts.

The revised Community Mass by Proulx is also nice. The Mass of St. Agnes by Mills, as well. It’s chant-like and easier to pick up if your music director is concerned about the congregation not picking chant up easily. One of the parishes that used to only know the Mass of Creation and had a difficult time changing, actually picked up Mass of St. Agnes and the German Mass extraordinarily well, considering that it is a parish which apparently doesn’t like change much.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I would love to use chant, but I feel like the music director thinks it is too hard to learn, and he may be right since a lot of chants don’t have a consistent melody, but it’s a lot better than the Mass settings that are out there coughMass of Creationcough.

I listened to the German Mass (Deutsche Messe) setting by Proulx on YouTube. It seems easy enough and really reverent.
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You feel like the music director thinks…

So you’re two steps removed from reality.
 
aemcpa said:
You feel like the music director thinks…

So you’re two steps removed from reality.
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I really shouldn’t say I “feel”, but rather I know. Every meeting we’ve had he strays from chant and says it’s too hard to learn for the average congregation.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
I really shouldn’t say I “feel”, but rather I know. Every meeting we’ve had he strays from chant and says it’s too hard to learn for the average congregation.
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Then you’re only one step removed from reality, or rather he is. Chant can be learned by any second-grade class.
 
aemcpa said:
Then you’re only one step removed from reality, or rather he is. Chant can be learned by any second-grade class.
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Actually, you are one step removed.

You commented in the other thread where I posted this, don’t know if you saw it.

Chant is not “easy to learn” My parish sings ANYTHING I give them. Old hymns, St. Louis Jesuits, Haas, contemporary praise and worship. They sing everything.

Except chant. I even give them the music with words with easy access-- practice before mass for several weeks in a row. Nope. We did for a full season for 4 years in a row. Still didn’t get it.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
What are some good suggestions? I know he doesn’t like a lot of chant, so those ones are out. I think he had Mass of Creation in mind, but I’m trying to get him to avoid that, so I need distractions!
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Please google Dramatic Changes in Music Rubrics for New Missal, written by Jeffrey Tucker, who is the managing editor of Sacred Music. The new translation of the GIRM removes the discretion from the music team to sing pretty much whatever it wants. It is clear that the music of the Mass is the chanted propers of the Mass. Now, the fact that the GIRM definitely states this, does not mean that bishops, priests, deacons, and music directors will pay any attention. But it is always worth a try.
 
aemcpa said:
Then you’re only one step removed from reality, or rather he is. Chant can be learned by any second-grade class.
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I don’t get how that’s being “one step removed from reality.”
 
Gelnhausener said:
Please google Dramatic Changes in Music Rubrics for New Missal, written by Jeffrey Tucker, who is the managing editor of Sacred Music. The new translation of the GIRM removes the discretion from the music team to sing pretty much whatever it wants. It is clear that the music of the Mass is the chanted propers of the Mass. Now, the fact that the GIRM definitely states this, does not mean that bishops, priests, deacons, and music directors will pay any attention. But it is always worth a try.
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The significant thing the new translation of the GIRM changed is the literal translation of the Latin word “cantus” to “chant” rather than “hymn”. It was posited by some corners that this means the Church is showing a preference for chant over hymns, but in reality there is no change in policy reflected here, it is merely an adherence to Liturgiam Authenticam in the translation of Latin documents. The Church is still perfectly fine with the use of appropriate, approved hymns in the liturgy. While the new edition of the GIRM may make it clearer that Proper Antiphons are the preferred option, the use of hymns has emphatically not been done away with in any shape or form.
 
Another user has posted that the congregation seems to be able to sing anything except chant, which is unfortunate.

But I really don’t think this is the rule for all parishes. Sure, it does not use recurring melodies, but on the other hand the vocal range is often dramatically smaller than that used in modern hymns, and the rhythm is far simpler - a lot of new music uses weird syncopations and changes time signatures. And yet I’ve seen congregations sing those hymns confidently, not because they can read music, but because they’ve heard it 100 times.

Certainly there are more intricate chant settings, but Corpus Christi Watershed has put forward some simple ones, like the St. Ralph Sherwin setting.

Here’s a link to the Lord Have Mercy youtube.com/watch?v=rDTCVcQPoZw

The other poster’s experience notwithstanding, I feel that most congregations could do chant if they heard it enough times.
 
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