Mass Settings

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hcruz402

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Greetings. I have a question. What are some good, TRADITIONAL Mass Settings (Ones that sound decent, when played on the organ)?

Only serious answers, please.

Mass of Christ the Savior, Mass of Renewal, Mass of Communion, Mass of St. Ann, and Mass of Glory are all TERRIBLE contemporary Mass Settings.

Also, I know that there is a Mass Setting, out there, that uses the tune of the hymn, “Where Charity and Love Prevail,” as its basis, for lack of a better term. Which Mass Setting is that?
 
The Mass of St. Ann is beautiful and written by a very fine composer.
The two Masses by Liam Lawton are very good as well.
Use the organ for hymns and use the piano setting for the Mass settings or no will will sing. Unless of course, that’s what you want. :rolleyes:

Why would you think people would not give serous answers?
What does your priest want?
Or is this your personal preference?

Most trained musicians can make any Mass setting sound good.
 
Contemporary Mass settings aren’t really made for the organ. They are more for congregations that cannot find organists.

The Mass setting you are asking about is ‘Mass of Charity and Love’ which I think may work well on the organ although I’ve not heard it done on one.
 
I would love to hear Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Mass.
I sometimes hear “Sheep may safely graze” which I also like. I don’t care for Toccata and fugue.

I recommend Missa Luba.
 
Well the best mass settings (IMHO) are Gregorian chant and are really intended to be sung a cappella as it is done at the abbey I’m associated with every day. On Sundays and feasts, the organ is used for a prelude, after the offertory antiphon, and as a recessional, but the chant is unsupported, that is sung a cappella.

Today the setting Orbis Factor was used (Kyrie XI), except that Gloria VI was used instead of Gloria XI.
 
hcruz402 said:
Greetings. I have a question. What are some good, TRADITIONAL Mass Settings (Ones that sound decent, when played on the organ)?

Only serious answers, please.

Mass of Christ the Savior, Mass of Renewal, Mass of Communion, Mass of St. Ann, and Mass of Glory are all TERRIBLE contemporary Mass Settings.

Also, I know that there is a Mass Setting, out there, that uses the tune of the hymn, “Where Charity and Love Prevail,” as its basis, for lack of a better term. Which Mass Setting is that?
Click to expand...
I presume you are referring to Mass of Charity and Love by Steven Warner. It’s pretty good, we used it during Lent - youtube.com/watch?v=jdRxLyiN40E
 
To be honest, the role of the organ within the Mass is to support the singing (mainly so that the people and choir don’t go off the rails pitch-wise). I don’t think you can get more traditional than the 18 Gregorian Mass settings (if the organist doesn’t have enough experience to figure out a good accompaniment by himself, Corpus Christi Watershed has organ parts for each of the 18 Mass settings). if your parish is not use to chant yet, 3 out of the 18 that are good to start with are Mass VIII (Missa de Angelis), Mass XI (Missa Orbis Factor), and Mass XVIII. However, a good thing to keep in mind that each of the 18 Gregorian settings do have a time during the year that they are “meant for”. For example, Mass XVII is meant for Sundays during Advent and Lent (pretty obvious considering that setting lacks a Gloria) or Mass XI is meant for Sundays in Ordinary Time (or Sundays after Pentecost for the extraordinary form). Please note that you can mix and match if you wish. A popular combination within some parishes is the Kyrie from Mass XVIII, Gloria from Mass VIII, Credo I or Credo 3, Sanctus from Mass XVIII, and Agnus Dei from Mass XVIII.
 
I’m an organist and I wholeheartedly agree with the OP’s opinions. I personally like the Mass of the Resurrection, the Celtic Mass, and the Mass of St. Patrick. All are very majestic yet appropriate and sound very good on the organ. At least the first two you can find through OCP, I found the Mass of St. Patrick once on a search but haven’t been able to locate it again.
 
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