Traditional Music for Mass

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EasterJoy

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By traditional, I mean with a small “t”, not necessarily all in Latin. Also, lean heavily on German Catholic songs. Something that sounds good on an organ. Nothing that was written after about 1965, and certainly nothing written for a guitar!

Examples: Panis Angelicus, but also Holy God We Praise Thy Name.

For a funeral, but it is 2012, so not so far as Dies Irae; Easter, Funeral, or Eucharistic in nature. We know a lot of them, but we’re brainstorming for a funeral we think we need to expect within the next year or so.

Thanks.
 
Ave Maria,
Latin, yes, but beautiful and traditional. It’s how I memorized the Hail Mary in Latin.

Hail Holy Queen

Mary Immaculate

ok, so these are all Marian hymns, but they are all so beautiful and I love then.
 
Since you can’t have a catholic funeral with Eagles Wings, I recommend the tract from the the first Sunday in Lent from the 1962 missal. It’s psalm 90
 
One of my favorite hymns for funerals was written in the nineteenth century and was a favorite of Martin Luther King,* Precious Lord, Take My Hand*.

My father-in-law had requested for his funeral an old American hymn with a Celtic style,* What Wonderous Love is This*.

Both of these are highly appropriate for funerals.
 
EasterJoy said:
By traditional, I mean with a small “t”, not necessarily all in Latin. Also, lean heavily on German Catholic songs. Something that sounds good on an organ. Nothing that was written after about 1965, and certainly nothing written for a guitar!

Examples: Panis Angelicus, but also Holy God We Praise Thy Name.

For a funeral, but it is 2012, so not so far as Dies Irae; Easter, Funeral, or Eucharistic in nature. We know a lot of them, but we’re brainstorming for a funeral we think we need to expect within the next year or so.

Thanks.
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Sadly; very little Catholic Church music both with big and small T is heard from the choir-loft in today’s Church. Most priest who went to seminaries before 1965 are either retired or deceased. I think good distinct Catholic Music today often depends on a number of factors. First being how orthodox the seminary the priest came from and how seriously involved the priest applies himself in having his say what distinct traditional Catholic music gets played during the Liturgy. Traditional doesn’t always imply strictly Latin though its one of my personal favorites.

It seems today the priest gives more qualified educated lay people such as Music Directors and Organist in the Church the liberty of running the liturgical music show.
Perhaps fewer priest in seminaries don’t hone their skills by studying to receive a Licendate in liturgical music. 🤷
 
EasterJoy said:
By traditional, I mean with a small “t”, not necessarily all in Latin. Also, lean heavily on German Catholic songs. Something that sounds good on an organ. Nothing that was written after about 1965, and certainly nothing written for a guitar!

Examples: Panis Angelicus, but also Holy God We Praise Thy Name.

For a funeral, but it is 2012, so not so far as Dies Irae; Easter, Funeral, or Eucharistic in nature. We know a lot of them, but we’re brainstorming for a funeral we think we need to expect within the next year or so.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
My favourite setting for a requiem mass is Victoria’s. A nice post Communion hymn would be Abide with Me, Jerusalem the Golden, or In our day of thanksgiving. Finally the Russian Kontakion is beautful if chanted as the coffin is blessed and censed.
 
centurionguard said:
Sadly; very little Catholic Church music both with big and small T is heard from the choir-loft in today’s Church. Most priest who went to seminaries before 1965 are either retired or deceased. I think good distinct Catholic Music today often depends on a number of factors. First being how orthodox the seminary the priest came from and how seriously involved the priest applies himself in having his say what distinct traditional Catholic music gets played during the Liturgy. Traditional doesn’t always imply strictly Latin though its one of my personal favorites.

It seems today the priest gives more qualified educated lay people such as Music Directors and Organist in the Church the liberty of running the liturgical music show.
Perhaps fewer priest in seminaries don’t hone their skills by studying to receive a Licendate in liturgical music. 🤷
Click to expand...
Oh, it’s not a problem with the music directors at the church. They’re fine, and they use both the older songs and the more recent songs in that parish. They are also a tiny parish, and tend to get retired priests out to say Mass for them as often as not. We just wanted a memory jog on what the older songs were. We don’t hear them at our parish much, and we don’t want to forget any of the gems.
 
Deo_Gratias42 said:
Since you can’t have a catholic funeral with Eagles Wings, I recommend the tract from the the first Sunday in Lent from the 1962 missal. It’s psalm 90
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Tell me you’re kidding!

First of all this tract is still in the post-Vatican II 1974 Graduale Romanum, the official chant book of the Church. It is sung every year at our abbey on the first Sunday of Lent at the OF Mass.

However, sung in its entirety it is nearly 15 minutes long, and of a complexity putting it out of reach of all but seasoned Gregorian chant scholas.

Why not just pick up a copy of the Graduale (I think you can find it on line) and do the funeral Mass in it? Most of it is doable, our amateur schola has done it often. It does not contain the Dies Irae, but has everything else.
 
  • The King of Love My Shepherd Is (St. Columba tune) - has always been one of my favorite hymns for funerals
  • I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (Kingsfold tune)
  • Lord of All Hopefulness (Slane tune)
  • Abide With Me (I never heard this hymn until for my husband’s 96-year-old grandfather’s funeral a couple years back. He was one of the most devout Catholics I knew. He was also in seminary before needing to leave to help take care of his family after his own father passed away suddenly. It’s not a “Catholic” hymn, but the text was moving, especially the last verse.)
youtube.com/watch?v=Rw5TtwJFIKU

Two things outside of the hymn sphere:

If your church has an organist who is a good musician and if you can find a good mezzo-soprano or good boy alto (NOT a soprano. It’s not written for a soprano), I also recommend Durufle’s “Pie Jesu”. The organ part isn’t particularly difficult and you don’t need the cello. I can send you the music if you like it and would like the music. I’ve had to sing it for three of my family members’ funerals over the past few years. The entire Requiem mass was composed in 1947 in memory of Durufle’s father and he does an incredible job incorporating the chants into the choral parts.

The little boy has one or two little blips, but he does a sweet job with it:
youtube.com/watch?v=ze0gEjU0pLk&feature=related

Or the Faure “Pie Jesu” from his Requiem mass. The organ accompaniment for this is not that difficult either. I also have the music for this, although many organists I know usually have this in their repertoire. A soprano or a “high” mezzo-soprano can do this. Originally written for boy singers, though.

youtube.com/watch?v=xTf14maKtT8
 
Sarabande said:
  • The King of Love My Shepherd Is (St. Columba tune) - has always been one of my favorite hymns for funerals
  • I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (Kingsfold tune)
  • Lord of All Hopefulness (Slane tune)
  • Abide With Me (I never heard this hymn until for my husband’s 96-year-old grandfather’s funeral a couple years back. He was one of the most devout Catholics I knew. He was also in seminary before needing to leave to help take care of his family after his own father passed away suddenly. It’s not a “Catholic” hymn, but the text was moving, especially the last verse.)
youtube.com/watch?v=Rw5TtwJFIKU

Two things outside of the hymn sphere:

If your church has an organist who is a good musician and if you can find a good mezzo-soprano or good boy alto (NOT a soprano. It’s not written for a soprano), I also recommend Durufle’s “Pie Jesu”. The organ part isn’t particularly difficult and you don’t need the cello. I can send you the music if you like it and would like the music. I’ve had to sing it for three of my family members’ funerals over the past few years. The entire Requiem mass was composed in 1947 in memory of Durufle’s father and he does an incredible job incorporating the chants into the choral parts.

The little boy has one or two little blips, but he does a sweet job with it:
youtube.com/watch?v=ze0gEjU0pLk&feature=related

Or the Faure “Pie Jesu” from his Requiem mass. The organ accompaniment for this is not that difficult either. I also have the music for this, although many organists I know usually have this in their repertoire. A soprano or a “high” mezzo-soprano can do this. Originally written for boy singers, though.

youtube.com/watch?v=xTf14maKtT8
Click to expand...
These are wonderful music choices. Incidently, all these hymns - not just Abide with me - were written by Anglicans, apart from I heard the voice of Jesus Say written by a Presbyterian, but they are all perfectly suitable for a Catholic funeral (and far superior to On Eagles Wings which I have just listened to for the first - and hopefully last - time!)

Pie Jesu is just sublime when sung by a boy choirister. Thankk you for the links.
 
liturgyluver said:
These are wonderful music choices. Incidently, all these hymns - not just Abide with me - were written by Anglicans, apart from I heard the voice of Jesus Say written by a Presbyterian, but they are all perfectly suitable for a Catholic funeral (and far superior to On Eagles Wings which I have just listened to for the first - and hopefully last - time!)

Pie Jesu is just sublime when sung by a boy choirister. Thankk you for the links.
Click to expand...
I know… Anglicans really knew/knows how to write a good hymn. 😃 I’m a total anglophile with almost all things. haha! It’s just that you rarely ever see “Abide With Me” in Catholic hymnals. I actually had to use one of my Anglican hymnals for the music when I sang it for the funeral.

“On Eagle’s Wings”… well, I have to sing it at almost every funeral here in the States, so I have to find the good things with it… mainly the text… and do my job with it.
 
OraLabora said:
Tell me you’re kidding!

First of all this tract is still in the post-Vatican II 1974 Graduale Romanum, the official chant book of the Church. It is sung every year at our abbey on the first Sunday of Lent at the OF Mass.

However, sung in its entirety it is nearly 15 minutes long, and of a complexity putting it out of reach of all but seasoned Gregorian chant scholas.

Why not just pick up a copy of the Graduale (I think you can find it on line) and do the funeral Mass in it? Most of it is doable, our amateur schola has done it often. It does not contain the Dies Irae, but has everything else.
Click to expand...
I am serious. 15 minutes, eh? Our priest informed us before Mass it was a “longer tract, about 5 minutes” and an “excellent opportunity to meditate”. I though that was a long 5 minutes.
 
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