Mass setting title dilemma

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Organ_freak

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Hi, I’m new. I couldn’t find anything which discusses this question, but feel free to merge/move the thread…
I have written a setting for the new translation of the missal, and part of it has been published. The whole work matches the set criteria - I have been very careful and discussed this with my publishers, who are Catholic, and with my parish priest.
We have started using this setting at Mass in line with the change over to the new missal.
I have been asked to compile an A5 size booklet with words/melody so that the congregation can follow it more easily. These will given to our parish church to use. I wrote it with the voal limitations of untrained singer in mind, so it’s not too difficult, but for now some might need these.
Anyway, I realised that I don’t have a title for the setting, and I have no idea what to call it. How do composers come up with titles for Mass settings? I would like my Mass setting to have a name to distinguish it from other people’s settings, but I’m not sure what name to give it. Nothing springs to mind, and I don’t know how to begin looking for inspiration.
I really want the title to fit the music, and to not sound corny. Any ideas on how I can solve this?

Thanks in advance, and God Bless.
 
Why is it a delemma? Just call it whatever your dioceses is “new traslation” or “corrected translation” or just insert your parish name…“St. Bart’s Mass Helper”
 
Organ_freak said:
I really want the title to fit the music, and to not sound corny. Any ideas on how I can solve this?
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Another common title template is “The Mass of [Noun]”. Does the music strike any strong chords in you?
 
My first suggestion would be to name the Mass setting after the patron saint of your parish. “The Mass of St. Jerome of [name of city]” or something like that.

Another possibility, if you have composed any psalm settings, would be to name your Mass setting after some theme from the psalm. For example, “The Mass of the Lord’s Mercy”.
 
Why would untrained singers need a separate booklet that contains music? :confused:
 
Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit asking for inspiration on what to call it.
 
When in doubt, Google it out. I’ve assembled a list of titles for mass settings below. I rendered all the titles in English for easy comparison; obviously you’re free to use Latin or Portuguese or whatever strikes your fancy. Some masses were along the lines of “Mass in Honor of St Chad” which I simplified to “Mass of St Chad”. I skipped other masses that either weren’t obviously masses by their title, or tried to split the difference: “All Is Bright: An Advent Mass.”

One more piece of advice: choose something distinctive. The Mass of Renewal by Gokelman and Kaufmann was named best new mass setting last year by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and is apparently being self-published by the composers. However, one of the gorillas in the industry has its own Mass of Renewal by a different composer. Guess whose mass is likely to be used more often, and guess what publisher will profit when a music director wants to be sure that Mass of Renewal is in his repertoire?

Wikipedia:
Mass of Our Lady, Mass of Pope Marcellus, Mass of Life, Berliner Mass, Syllabic Mass, Mass of the Children, Mass to Hope, Creole Mass, Mass for Peace, Bright Mass, Little Jazz Mass, Flamenco Mass

Random titles in my Google results:
Mass of the Resurrection, Mass of Christ the Savior, Mass of Light, Mass of the Angels, Mass of the Most Sacred Heart, Mass of Creation, Mass in Honor of Pope Paul VI, Mass of St Frances Cabrini

From particular publishers:

OCP
Belmont Mass, Mass of Christ the Redeemer, Mass of New Life, Mass of the Holy Angels, Mass of Renewal, Mass of Spirit and Grace, Mass of St Gregory the Great, Mass of St John, Mass of St Paul the Apostle, Mass of the Mosn Holy Trinity, Mass of the New Covenant, Mass of the Resurrection, Mass of the Sacred Heart, Mass of St Cecilia, Holy Faith Mass, Mass of the Magi, Celtic Mass, Heritage Mass, Mass for Teresa of Calcutta, Mass of God’s Promise, Mass of Glory, Mass of Immigrant People, Mass of Charity, Mass of a Joyful Heart, Mass of the Incarnate Word

GIA
Storrington Mass, Mass for a New World, Unity Mass, Mass of Joy and Peace, Mass for a Servant Church, Mass of Plenty, Mass from Age to Age, Glendalough Mass, Mass to the People, One Holy Faith Mass, Mass of Remembrance, Mass for the Life of the World, Mass for the City, A Community Mass, Jubilation Mass, Mass of St Cyprian, Mass of the Angels and Saints

JS Paluch
Mass of Wisdom, Mass of Awakening, Mass of Grace, Mass of Charity and Love, Mass of St Ann, Mass of Redemption, People’s Mass, Mass for Christian Unity, Moon Mass, Mass of Joy

Liturgical Press
Psallite Mass, Mass of St Benedict, Mass of Mary, Mother of God, Mass of St Cloud, Mass of St Michael, Mass of St Cecelia, Mass of St Dominic

MorningStar
Mass of St Augustine, Centennial Mass, Morning Star Mass, Aloha Mass, Amazing Grace Mass, Dixieland Mass, Mass 1999, Mass of St Cyril of Jerusalem, Mass in Space

CanticaNova
Memorial Mass for Pope John Paul II, Mass of St Agnes, Modal Mass, Mass of Redemption, Mass of God the Fostering Father, Mass of Our Lady, Help of Christians
 
Some additional titles, mostly from PrayTell blog:
Mass of St Luke, Evangelist, Mass of St John Neumann, Mass of Glory and Praise, Mews Mass (composer’s name is Mews), Mass of the Emmanuel, Mass of the Word Made Flesh, Mass of St Therese of the Child Jesus, Siena Chant Mass, Mass of the Patriarchs, Mass of the Great Prophet, Mass of St Ralph Sherwin, Mass of the Prophets & the Martyrs, Mass of Sakanala, Mass of the Blessed Fire
 
Chatter163 said:
Why would untrained singers need a separate booklet that contains music? :confused:
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They may not be trained in terms of their vocal range/accuracy, but they may be able to read and follow the rhythms and be able to figure out whether to sing the next note higher or lower than the last. This leaflet has been requested by members of the parish who can read music and can sing, but the music itself was composed with the limited abilities of untrained singers in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions and advice, folks. The list of names already in use might help me not to reuse a name.
I was thinking along the lines of ‘Mass of (noun)’ as someone suggested. I’ll have to pray about it, I guess.
 
I shudder to learn what the Dixieland Mass and the Aloha Mass may contain.
 
Sounds like a Muppets skit. I thought the Mass 1999 had a fun millennial sound to the title. That publisher (MorningStar) has quite the collection.
FatHead said:
don’t forget about all of the ones here:

ccwatershed.org/vatican/harmonizations/1/
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Just for future reference, those are:
Mass of the Holy Spirit, Mass of St Edmund Jennings, Mass of St Anne Line, Mass of St Theodore, Mass of St Thomas More, Mass of Our Lady of Good Help, Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mass of St Edmund Arrowsmith, and finally Mass of Stelliferi Conditor (Conditor means “founder,” but otherwise my translation failed me). Another one I found is Mass in White.
 
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