Church Music

Based on Phillipians 2:5-7 this song is 46 in OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book.  It is by Caroline Maria Noel and here set to KING’S WESTON by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

The text is at Hymnary along with details of the tunes that were used before this setting. The sheet music for Williams piece can be purchased at OCP where the copyright is attributed to Oxford University Press. On Hymnary there are images from English hymnals with no copyright note for the tune so…

Here’s a question: Is this song still copyright in the USA but public domain in England?

The tune is published in 1931 and Williams died in 1958.

Here’s some thinking music in the form of yet more fake organ on BIAB. This tune has a rather an ominous feeling to it.

Considering the life expectancy of most of my family, it is absurdly optimistic to think that I will ever finish this survey of the songs in OCP’s Guitar Accompaniment Book from the mid noughties, especially as I interrupt whenever unfamiliar songs turn up in music selections for liturgy posted here.

43 Ashes

44 At the Cross Her Station Keeping

At the Lamb’s High Feast is Robert Campbell’s nineteenth century translation of a fourth century Latin original set to SALZBERG by Jakob Hintze. As ever, Hymnary have the lyrics and sheet music for these out of copyright songs.

Pretty much as blunt an Easter or Eucharistic hymn as you would ever want – I wonder if it a bit less aggressive in Latin.

This backing was from some time ago and is another that makes me wonder were my head was at.

Maybe I couldn’t face more fake BIAB organ. Here’s the real thing:

Unaccompanied:

Envy inducing orchestra and choir:

38 Angels We Have Heard On High

39 Anthem

40 As Grains of Wheat

41 As I Have Done For You

As I have not surprisingly run across a few of these OCP tunes before, I’m up to 42 in the OCP Guitar Accompaniment Book.

This stately Christmas hymn is by William Chatterton Dix and the tune by Conrad Kocher is called DIX, presumably in deference to the great man who wrote the words.

Hymnary once again has the words and sheet music for this one.

I did some of these backings some months ago and I’m not sure what possessed me here:

This is much more like it:

This is a  carol I’ve never blogged that is next in the OCP Guitar Accompaniment Book.

It is by James Montgomery and the sheet music and the text for his three verses is at Hymnary.  It is set to REGENT SQUARE by Henry Thomas Smart.

There are various additional verses all over the internet by later authors. The OCP has a fourth verse from the “Christmas Box” and a fifth from the “Salisbury Hymn Book.”

An unnecessary backing as you probably know this one:

This revision of a very popular Australian mass by Stephen Robinson is available as sheet music at As One Voice.

I played the old version for many years and this shares the problem of all revisions of having to unlearn the old tunes. The parts that haven’t changed well…haven’t changed. This mass was always a delight to play on guitar because that’s what it was written for. The Sanctus is basically the same and most everything else is identical, with the recurring themes coming around often enough to make it all familiar enough.

I have found the Gloria has been the problem in other masses that didn’t survive revision intact because of the extensive rewrite into English that is unsympathetic to musical setting. Here, it is again a stumbling block, but his solutions are at least more elegant than say “Creation” or “Freedom”. He is forced to drag “Lord” and “God” in “Lord God heavenly King” over two bars each and that is a stretch. Otherwise his forced interpolations don’t stand out too badly at all.

So why not get out your mass books and sing along and see if this is a mass that your parish could use.

Lord Have Mercy

Glory to God

Gospel Acclamation

Lenten Gospel Acclamation: He has three – I picked “Praise to you Lord”

Holy Holy Holy

We Proclaim Your Death, O Lord

When We Eat This Bread

Save Us, Saviour of the World

The Great Amen

Lamb of God

Ming posted this on the page where I blogged the Mass Shalom, but I thought he posed good questions that might provoke some more general discussion and assistance:

We have been using Mass Shalom for many months now, after switching over from A Chant Mass for the Assembly. The Glory to God chant was a bit touch and go the first couple of times…

I am thinking of trying out some mass settings
– Paul Taylor’s Mass of St Francis (played it through once: also my parents’ parish St Bernadette’s Castle Hill NSW uses it)

I have just bought the following but have not played through them
– Joshua Cowie’s Mass of Mary McKillop (need more than one voice parts to make it work)
– Richard Connolly’s Notre Dame Mass
– Richard Connolly’s Mass of Our Lady Help of Christians
– Maggie Russell’s Mass of Freedom

We have also used the earlier version of Marty Haugen’s Mass of Creation for quite some time.

My own favourite is the (old version of) Bernadette Farrell’s Setting Four in GA (GA 126-132). I looked up Mass of Hope http://www.ocp.org/massofhope and the revised version is much simplified. I miss having this mass sung with a full choir, plus an organ and a keyboard.

I would like to hear from anyone how has used any of the above, or any other mass settings. I just play what has been given to me, but if my wife D’Arne and I can learn some new ones, at least we have the option to try to “sell” them …

We have been with the new settings some years now and maybe it’s time to see what else is out there.

I blogged my impressions of the six settings chosen by the Australian Bishops here but have had reason to review my opinions since. Of the six, Mason’s “Glory and Praise”, Taylor’s “St Francis” and Smith’s “Shalom” (revised by Mason) are all singable, playable and functional for suburban parishes with limited resources, and having played them all in parishes think they work well, although Shalom has always been a difficult one for guitar. I think the other three chosen settings are either for the very talented or Cathedrals. In other words I was too scared to even make backings for them.

I’ve played Haugen’s “Creation” and, while I generally love his songs, I don’t think the Gloria survived the rewrite. Similarly, Maggie Russell’s “Freedom”, has clunks in the revised Gloria that are rather jarring. We have been using it as one of our three settings (with “Glory and Praise” and “St Francis”) but I’d prefer it was retired myself.

If we did look for another setting there is no lack of choice as Ming suggests.

Robinson’s “Mass for Moderns” has been revised, contrary to my ignorant blogging some years ago. It was very popular before the change and is worth looking at again. I’ll put up some backings for sing along purposes soon.

…other worthy possibilities I have blogged already.

The Mayfield Mass

Glendalough Mass

Mass of Love

Mass of St Anne

Mass for a Pilgrim People

Mass of God’s People

Rivers Youth

Rivers

Missa Santa Clara

Pocket Mass (OK that baby is mine and somewhat unlovable)

It may still take years of parishes singing the new masses before any particular setting rises to the top and becomes as ubiquitous as say “Creation” was, but I’d value opinions, ideas, experiences and answers to Ming’s questions. He hints that having to sell a new setting may be a challenge just yet, and I’m sure he’s right as some people are still not over the shock of having to learn a more than one new setting in that first year and may not be ready for any more just yet.

Entrance: Summoned By Love (O’Brien/Watts) AOV 2/18

Psalm 70 (McKenna)

I will sing of your salvation.

Gifts: In Love We Choose to Live (Cotter) AOV 2/63

Communion: Bread of Life (Farrell) AOV 1/164

Seed Scattered and Sown (Feiten) GA 195

Recessional: As a Fire is Meant for Burning (Duck) GA481

This setting of Psalm 91 by Marty Haugen will be used as a seasonal psalm all through Lent at our parish this year.  I am familiar with the refrain from years ago at another parish but the verses will need some learning.

The text is at Hymnary and the sheet music can be purchased at OCP, although we could not find a version to buy with chords so they were added to the purchased version by the leader of our music liturgy group.

I have now checked and I have better music in the OCP GAB 910, with slightly different chords, but I’ll go with her arrangement I think.

Yola’s parish are using this Ed Bolduc song for the Year of Mercy. Bolduc uses Frederick Faber’s text and adds his own refrain text. His tune has two verses/refrain/verse/refrain/interlude/verse/refrain, but that will take it out to more than six minutes, so two verses and one refrain might just be enough.

Faber’s text is at Hymnary. Bolduc’s adaptations, refrain and sample sheet music are at WLP, where it can purchased for download.

You hear a tasteful snippet there with a violin part that is very nice indeed.

My backing is probably more raucous than it needs to be.

Ming also mentioned this communion song by Marty Haugen as one he uses as an instrumental.

The text is based on the Didache and while the tune is nice the whole song is fine for Eucharist. I could find an MP3 for sale at GIA but not the sheet music but you can buy it at sheetmusicplus and Hymnary notes its presence in the Gather hymnals generally, not just Gather Australia where I have a copy.

(There is a setting by David Haas of Haugen’s text but that is a different tune altogether.)

Ming is obviously correct that it is a good tune for an instrumental, as others have followed his lead.

Piano instrumental:

Guitar Instrumental: