Church Music

I’m renovating old posts, looking for bad links etc, and I’ve found that I never blogged this song by Christopher Willcock SJ. I made a backing and forgot all about it I’m afraid.

It is a setting of Psalm 102 in his distinctive grand style.

It can be purchased for download at OCP.

BIAB is not really the right program for Willcock’s music but they are meant for learning purposes only.

Antiphon

Let all the peoples praise you, O Lord,

Let all the peoples praise you. (Rpt)

 

1. Nations shall fear the name of the Lord

and all the rulers of earth your glory,

when the Lord shall build Sion again,

coming in glory. Alleluia!

 

2. Let this be written for ages to come,

peoples unborn may praise the Lord,

who has come down from the sanctuary on high

to set the prisoners free. Alleluia!

 

3. Sion shall hear the name of the Lord,

and God’s praise in the heart of the city.

Peoples and nations shall gather to praise,

worshipping God our Lord: Alleluia!

© Christopher Willcock 1991.

This is a very beautiful funeral song by Marty Haugen that we used in other liturgies by just singing the refrain. I got it as part of the collection “All Are Welcome,” which can still be purchased at GIA.

The text of the refrain is here. You can hear the whole song at Haugen’s My Space page.

This old backing was just of the refrain repeated.

This song by Jesse Manibusan, of “Open My Eyes” fame, must have played at least once for me to have had to make a backing.  The question is why we didn’t keep doing it – it sounds great. It is a setting of Psalm 72.

The text is at spiritandsong where you can also purchase the song for download. I found it in Spirit & Song Vol 1 No 70, which I know I didn’t own when I made this backing.

This is another backing from the recesses of my hard drive. When I started playing in a Catholic Church there were songs that were in the pores of everyone in the pews that I’d never heard and had to learn. This was one of them, although I haven’t heard it for a while.

1. Immaculate Mary, your praises we sing.
You reign now in heaven with Jesus our King.

Refrain
Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria!
Ave, Ave, Maria!

2. In heaven the blessed your glory proclaim;
On earth we your children invoke your fair name.

3. We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth,
And bless, Holy Mary, the land of our birth.

Hymnary tells me the tune is the Lourdes hymn, and the first stanza is by nineteenth century priest, Fr Jeremiah Cummings and the second to seventh are by the late Fr Brian Foley. Wikipedia says the Lourdes hymn is a traditional French tune and the words are by Abbe Gaignet. This is all very interesting but the lyrics I find on the net vary in content and number of verses so I have no idea who wrote what. Some have been updated to promote apparitions other than Lourdes.

This site has:

Immaculate, Mary!
Our hearts are on fire.
That title so wondrous
Fills all our desire!

We pray for God’s glory,
May His Kingdom come.
We pray for His Vicar,
Our Father, and Rome.

We pray for our Mother,
The Church upon earth.
And bless, sweetest Lady,
The land of our birth.

Three verses will do I suspect.

The sheet music is available here in the public domain, but I note many other links to different arrangements on the net.

These are the choices made for this week. I’m not sure we realised at the time that is was mostly Bernadette Farrell’s work.

Entrance: Come to Set Us Free (Farrell) AOV 1/39

Psalm 130 (O’Brien)

With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption

Gifts: God of Second Chances (Haas)

Communion: Tree of Life (Thompson) AOV NG 138

Bread of Life (Farrell) AOV 1/164

Recessional: Praise to You O Christ Our Saviour (Farrell) AOV 1/28

I’m still looking through a folder of forgotten backings from many years ago and came across this. I only knew it from Enya’s version. I can’t recall what it was used for in the liturgy. All the wonderful solo and choir versions make me wish for a simple assemblies’ voice for this one.

“How Can I Keep from Singing” was written by Robert Lowry. The text and much background and links to sheet music are at hymnary.

I’m still going through an ancient folder of MIDI files created on Band in a Box V1 for Windows in the last millennium. I’m putting them through my cut down version of ProTools to see what comes out the other side.

This is a hymn by Bob Gillman. The text is here. It can be purchased for download at musicnotes. It is suggested for weddings.

This is a Dan Schutte song ideal for veneration of the cross on Good Friday.

The text is at Schutte’s site. (No 25) It can be purchased for download at OCP.

Having got to the bottom of the miscellaneous pile, I’ve found some songs that I made backings for in the remote past and for which I longer have sheet music. This is a Dan Schutte song that I fear we used with some obvious liturgical movement.

As discussed here, this is a song for advent.

The text is at Schutte’s site here (No. 3) You can hear a snippet with hand bell accompaniment and purchase for download at OCP.

I saw this song mentioned on Mary’s blog, where she links to its text and sheet music here. It is noted that this setting of Psalm 51 is by an unknown author.

Chorus:
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord
And renew a right spirit within me.
Create in me a clean heart, O Lord
And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, O Lord,
And take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of your salvation,
And renew a right spirit within me.

Have mercy on me, O Lord in all your goodness.
In your great compassion, wipe my sins.
Wash me from my guilt and cleanse me from my sins
And renew a right spirit within me.

Open my lips, and I proclaim your praise.
My humble heart I offer up to you.
May the sacrifice I give be pleasing in your eyes
And renew a right spirit within me.

I tried to work it out from that sheet music, but it seems a bit defective (or I’m not up to it).

The link here has more useable music. This link made me aware of Keith Green’s version, which he claimed to have written, which is nearly identical.

Just to be perverse I’ve made a backing that follows the slightly different verse melody of Green while sharing the usual tune for the chorus.