The Gloria

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JakeWI

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I really have been trying to think hard on the Gloria used in the past, verses now. I attend two Parishes (one is what my wife and I attend, the other is what my parents attend and we go to when we visit, they are a couple hours away in a different diocese). The one that my wife and I go to uses the Mass of Light/David Haas version (Glory to God in the highest, Glory to God…), played with piano and occasionally cello added in. The one that is played at the church by my parents is the Dan Schutte version from 2011 (Glory to God, Glory to God, Glory to God in the highest…) and is played either piano or organ depending on who is doing music at that Mass.

I am really trying to figure out what it used to be. I can’t seem to figure out or even remember what it was for me growing up in the 90s, as it definitely wasn’t any of those… especially with Dan Schutte’s being new.

How does it vary across the world in what is used at your local Parishes? Does this vary by Church, by region/Diocese (as I noticed another church in the area by my parents does it the same way as their church) or maybe no correlation at all? Just more of a curious question than anything…
 
We switch Glorias every now and then. Last year, until Advent were were using one I can’t identify that was very hard to sing and had a strange tune; at the beginning of Advent we started using the Dan Schutte one, much easier to sing. We only use piano and organ. I think people were complaining about the other arrangement as being too hard to sing.

Before the new translation we used to use different Glorias at different times of the year also.
 
Usually, music ministers select Mass settings that best suit the needs of the congregation. Older congregations may like more traditional composition while younger congregations may like more contemporary compositions. Music ministers can also get ideas if they travel to other parishes from time to time.

We used to have a variety of Mass settings before the 2011 revisions. We only know two Mass settings currently, and hopefully we can start to learn more. I’m persuading my music director to stay away from Mass of Creation.
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Usually, music ministers select Mass settings that best suit the needs of the congregation. Older congregations may like more traditional composition while younger congregations may like more contemporary compositions. Music ministers can also get ideas if they travel to other parishes from time to time.

We used to have a variety of Mass settings before the 2011 revisions. We only know two Mass settings currently, and hopefully we can start to learn more. I’m persuading my music director to stay away from Mass of Creation.
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I don’t believe our church uses anything else from “Mass Of Light”. The remainder of the songs are from “Mass of Angels and Saints” (which I like), and Angus Dei is in Latin. It is an interesting combination, for sure, yet is very sacred and respectful. The other parish I was talking about uses strictly “Mass of Christ The Savior” along with many other parishes in that Diocese.
 
JakeWI said:
I don’t believe our church uses anything else from “Mass Of Light”. The remainder of the songs are from “Mass of Angels and Saints” (which I like), and Angus Dei is in Latin. It is an interesting combination, for sure, yet is very sacred and respectful. The other parish I was talking about uses strictly “Mass of Christ The Savior” along with many other parishes in that Diocese.
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My parish is currently using Schutte’s Mass of Christ the Savior. I don’t mind that setting, but it gets old after a while. We also use Owen Alstott’s Heritage Mass setting during Ordinary Time.

Advent and Lent tend to be “hodge podge” seasons. We use music from different settings. It’s all over the place!
 
I DO NOT like the music we use to sing The Gloria at my parish.
I would prefer to just read it rather than sing it. I don’t know what the music is but it is hard to sing and just sounds terrible to me. It takes away from the reverence of the Mass IMHO.
 
We use one of the three settings commissioned by the CCCB at the time of the changes in 2011 – the one by **Fr. Geoffrey Angeles. **It’s a setting with a refrain but our choir sings it without as though it were a through composition. It’s the only setting we sing and it’s not great.

Before that we used either the one from Mass of Creation or from Fr. Stephen Somerville’s (New) Good Shepherd Mass which, before MoC, used to be the ‘go-to’ setting in Canada.

I just read on Musica Sacra that (New) Good Shepherd Mass has been revised for the new translation. As I understand it, the original ‘Good Shepherd Mass’ was one of the earliest settings of the English Gloria when we first started using the vernacular. It was very close to the new translation and only needed a little bit of tweaking. Wish our choir would get its hands on this revision and start singing it again.
 
ProVobis said:
Timeless. 👍
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Exactly,

And the benefit of being timeless is that are parish didn’t have to learn new music when the new translation came out. We just kept on singing what we had already been signing. 😃
 
Brendan said:
Exactly,

And the benefit of being timeless is that are parish didn’t have to learn new music when the new translation came out. We just kept on singing what we had already been signing. 😃
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What new translation? 😃
 
CatholicZ09 said:
Usually, music ministers select Mass settings that best suit the needs of the congregation. Older congregations may like more traditional composition while younger congregations may like more contemporary compositions. Music ministers can also get ideas if they travel to other parishes from time to time.
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That’s an altogether unfair assumption. Although many leaders fall into this trap of reasoning, quite the opposite may be true in practice.

The Rise of Latin Mass Youth
A Traditionalist Avant-Garde
What Young Catholics Want
 
Thanks for all the comments thus far! It really has gotten me thinking about all the combinations of music each church really uses, and how some get more complex than others. I have never really thought about different “settings” or even realized that there were so many.
 
And I also have to add… I just found out the setting the church that I grew up at used the “Mass Of Creation” setting for many years.
 
At my parish, we use the standard Gloria you find in the liturgy section of the missal. Sometimes we just recite it and sometimes we sing it. We don’t use the modern song versions, just something simple that would sound more like chant.
 
I’m not sure what the new one is called that we have been using since the new translations but it is pretty good. Esp with a big bass drum. BUT I really miss Haas’ version. It reminds me of my childhood
 
I miss the Gloria. One parish I attend sometimes on Saturday sings a song that simply has the words “Glory to God” in the refrain and does not use the actual prayer. The other has Mass in Latin that is sung by the choir completely from the processional until the Gospel - I swear I never hear them sing the Gloria during this time and I do know the Latin words, at least to recognize them.
 
We sing the Mass of Renewal version, and I like it a lot, but don’t like the use of the Mass of Renewal music for the rest of the liturgy. I also miss the ‘old’ music that was in place when I began attending my parish 2 years ago. It just seemed more reverent. Wish I knew what it was.

Singing the Gloria is my favorite part of the liturgy. I miss it when it is just spoken or is not part of the Mass.
 
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