Only four of us made it on Thursday.
We practiced Missa cum Jubilo in anticipation of the Mass at Cambuskenneth.
Hopefully, this announcement gets into the bulletin
MASS AT CAMBUSKENNETH
A Latin Mass dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus, will be held at the
Abbey on Saturday 20th April at 11.00am. Our Gregorian chant group will
help to lead the prayers using the setting Missa cum Jubilo.
Mass will be said in the tower of the Abbey, which was once known as the
Abbey of St Mary of Cambuskenneth.
Alan has offered to make an arrangement of the Agnus Dei in English to the music of Missa de Angelis.
We would like to pray the Kyrie in Greek and the Lamb of God to this English setting at the regular Sunday Mass in St Margaret's. I will speak to Fr Joe about this
Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us.
At the Thursday practice, our pre-chat featured some talk about Pope Francis washing the feet of two women and two Muslims at the juvenile prison. My concern is that the Canon Law is specific that only men 'vir' should be chosen. While the Pope is the supreme legislator, I'd have preferred that he change the law first, rather than disobeying it. He could change the law to 'people' or 'altar-servers' or even 'Brownies' and I'd be happier than having him just ignoring the law that obedient priests have complied with for decades. There is apparently a saying that highlights the SJ's lack of interest in liturgical accuracy:
'as lost as a Jesuit in Holy Week'.
So, perhaps, our Jesuit Pope is just carrying on a tradition of his Society.
But there's no denying that the image is a powerful one:
God bless our Pope
Six of us met in the Crying Room. After a short prayer, we ran through Missa De Angelis. We spent more time on the Gloria, which we hadn't sung publicly. We went over several topics: excelsis should sound like eggshells-is; we should emphasise the middle sound of the phrases (Ado-RAH-mus) and drop the volume at the end of each phrase. Other pronunciation tips: propter manyam; Domine Dehyyus; sushipay; noh-hstram.
This version sounds quite good, I think:
In the Sanctus, remember to hold the note just before the highest, as in the third Sanctus. And to run into Dominus.
We went through Missa Cum Jubilo. The main point was to extend the 'eyh' sounds as in Dominus Deyhus.
The idea of sung Vespers in the Chapel Royal looks good. I will contact Holy Rude to say that we can't make their proposed date in May and get some options.
Fr Kenneth was happy with the idea of a Scratch-chant day in St Mary's, although we couldn't have the same day as a wedding. I will try to confirm a date for St Mary's, either September 28th or October 5th.
Some of us continued in symposium and got gloomy about the fate of the North Korean people. We also learned about war-crimes from a translators point of view. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1524709.stm
At the Latin Mass, we were somewhat short-handed but made a creditable effort. The accoustics in Holy Spirit work well. Missa De Angelis was well received and several people joined in with Regina Caeli.
I excused myself from the Wednesday practice claiming a cold and sore-back combo.
Apparently, the idea of a Scratch Chant-Day was popular. Let us try to arrange this in September, then we will have enough time to plan and publicise it to get interested people to attend. I will speak to Fr Kenneth about St Mary's hall and church. We may even be able to have an organist if Cath Docherty is available.
The Missa de Angelis was practiced in anticipation of the Masses after Easter. It went well.
The Missa Cum Jubilo swung along. Jack commented on the Celtic sounding nature of the Gloria. Try listening to Mari’s Wedding first, and then the Gloria (I don't hear it myself).
Regina Coeli is coming up over the next few weeks:
Quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia,
Resurrexit, sicut dixit, alleluia,
Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia.
Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia.
For He whom you deserved to bear in your womb, alleluia.
Has risen, as He promised, alleluia.
Pray for us to God, alleluia.
Finally, the Schola is invited to sing at the Latin Mass in Arbroath on 25th May.
I'm told that this date is important for Celtic supporters.
Father Joe and Alan both spotted that there is no Kyrie in the Easter Vigil Mass. So we'll wait and sing something later. No 'Lord have Mercy' this Saturday.
In the meantime, here's some fun.
Sydney Symphony asked their Facebook fans to change the lyrics of the opening chorus of Carmina Burana to whatever they liked, "and we would get the fabulous Sydney Philharmonia Choirs to sing the winning entry. We received a huge number of entries about a range of topics. Matthew Hodge's entry, an Ode to Sleep Deprived Parents and was declared the winner!"
We went ahead and met without Alan who couldn't make it to Stirling.
Our chat was about the Seder Meal for the Bible study group in St Margaret’s on the previous evening (two of us had helped to organise it). Three schola members attended, with wives, and enjoyed the event. Some of the content for this came from A Passover Seder in the Light of Christ by Jewish convert, Roy Schoeman. http://www.hebrewcatholic.org/SederinChrist/passoversederint.html
We opened with the choristers prayer.
I downloaded Missa cum Jubilo from Silos 'Lumieres du Gregorian' and we used it to improve our efforts. We worked most on the Kyrie, then scampered through Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. We fnished with Ave, Regina Caelorum.
We were a bit concerned about Cambuskenneth on 20th April since next Thursday is Holy Thursday so we won't meet then. We might start to run out of time to prepare after that. Jack suggested that we could meet whenever was convenient to Alan. I emailed him to ask if he would be able to come through one evening soon for another practice to improve our chances.
Even stranger to remember that Alan had been praying about increasing the use of chant the week before on his French retreat. Then on the first chant-related day back in Scotland a random bloke wanders up and asks him about starting chant lessons in Stirling.
If we can arrange an extra rehearsal, then I'll email everyone and post another blog.
Three of us went to the RSNO's Come and Sing choir day on Saturday. We thought that we were prepared for the cold interior of the Holy Rude. But we all struggled. A slim soprano from St Margaret's was also there. She was frozen all day long.
When I arrived with Malky, I introduced us as 'the Gregorian Guys' and was met with warm grins, they were expecting us and I had a solicitous young lady asking me later if I was managing with the modern music notation. I wasn’t.
Ulsterman Christopher Bell was the conductor, he is the Director of the RSNO Junior Chorus and told us that his father is a Church of Ireland minister.
He is a very engaging teacher with a fund of amusing anecdotes. His account of how a Saint Matthews Passion in a similarly cold Cathedral had left him with permanent mental damage whenever he has to conduct the piece. A large American had shouted to his wife to 'get your fanny over here' so that she could warm herself on the radiator he had secured.
Two peoples divided by a common language, indeed.
We spilt into our teams, George and I as Basses, Malky as a Tenor.
Our Conductor, Chris, sympathised with the Altos as they took their places, reciting the Alto's Lament:
It's awful being an alto when you're singing in the choir,
Sopranos get the twiddly bits that people all admire,
The basses boom like big trombones, the tenors shout with glee,
The alto part is on two notes, or if you're lucky, three.
Several ladies joined in the last line, with feeling.
Next our Conductor led us in a vocal exercise that I remembered from our children's time at school.
When I was one, I'd just begun the day I went to sea,
I climbed aboard a pirate ship and the captain said to me,
We're going this way, that way, forward backwards. Over the Irish Sea
A bottle of Rum to fill my tum, And that's the life for me.
For several verses, with actions.
The plan was that we would rehearse the voices before lunch and then join with the RSNO musicians to practice in the afternoon. The climax was to be a public performance for friends and family at 6.00pm.
We began with Howard Goodall's Love Divine. The Sopranos sang the Ah-Ahs and we Basses were to hum. It is a lovely piece. Christopher had us spitting out the alternating phrases such as 'Finish Them' against each other. But he really went for it making us emphasise 'Changed from glory'. He was almost shouting 'Changed-fromCHANGED-FROM!' to get the two sequences working together (at 2.15 in the clip). We men had to get our CHANGED-FROM in there fast and clear.
Here's a school choir doing a better job than we did. (But they'd been working on the piece for months):
We began Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine in English. Christopher decided that our French pronunciation wouldn't be good enough. It was fun to sing and rather a deep prayer:
Word of God, one with the Most High,
in Whom alone we have our hope,
Eternal Day of heaven and earth,
We break the silence of the peaceful night;
Saviour Divine, cast your eyes upon us!
RSNO kept calling Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus, the Ave Verum. Which is meaningless. 'Hail True' isn't a prayer, while 'Hail True Body' is.
Hail, true Body, born
of the Virgin Mary,
who having truly suffered, was sacrificed
on the cross for mankind,
Haydn's Little Organ Mass was a real disappointment.
In one of our early Stirling Schola meetings, Alan had explained that a key difference between Gregorian chant and modern music was the importance of words over tunes. This point was very evident in Haydn's Missa Brevis. Both the Gloria and the Creed are incomprehensible because each part (now I know what STAB means) sing different lines in the prayer. They then come together for a few lines before going off into incomprehensible babbles again. The pieces end with elaborate AMENs, so not much time saved.
See here for an example:
The 6.00pm performance was great fun.
My wife thought that the Tenors were louder than the Basses. There were twice as many of us as them. Well done Malky.
LATER EDIT:
RSNO tell me that the abbreviation is SATB (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass).
From Army friends I know that STAB stands for Stupid TA B*****d (ARAB is the counter insult for Regular Army soldiers from the TA)
Six of us gathered in the church crying-room. Alan offered a prayer for choiristers which he had found:
Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants,
who minister in Thy temple.
Grant that what we sing with our lips,
we may believe in our hearts,
and what we believe in our hearts,
we may show forth in our lives.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Alan told us that he had received very positive feedback about the Mass on Sunday.
We reconfirmed dates. Cambuskenneth Mass is scheduled for 20th April. The Missa Cum Jubilo will be used.
The
Edinburgh Festival dates are 3rd, 10th and 17th August. Alan will think
about what psalms to sing, based on nearby saints-days or festivals. We
will try to get a date in early June and July for a practice
performance in Holy Rude.
I will ask whether we can pray vespers in St Margaret’s on a Saturday in May.
We
went through all of the prayers in Cum Jubilo. In the Sanctus Alan
reminded us about the notes being on the vowels. So Deus should sound
more like Deyy-us and Pleni more like Play-ni. Then Bey-ne-dictus qui
vey-nit. Here's a version:
Click to Enlarge
Later a few of us spoke about the depressing news about the Cardinal and the effect of it all on regular parishioners. I mentioned a blog post from the Vocations Director for the Archdiocese of Southwark. He has had to cope with the impact on the morale of men who are in seminary or considering a vocation to the priesthood. http://southwarkvocations.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/a-word-of-encouragement.html
'How would we react if we were to discover that our father was committing adultery? I am sure there would be a range of emotions including anger, confusion and great sadness. But would we blame our mother? No. We would cling to her more closely. We would try to console her by the warmth of our love. We would stick with her. When the Church has been wronged by one of her members it should evoke within us a desire for reparation and a determination to respond with greater fidelity.
This isn't a time to get disheartened. It is a time to be more faithful. That is what the Lord is asking of you today. Please be assured that I am praying for you.'
We need some holy and effective bishops in Scotland.
I hope we get good news about a friend soon.
On a more cheering note, three of us are going to the RSNO's Come and Sing choir day on Saturday:
An earlier event
100 local singers will practice several pieces from 10.00am and sing them as a choir at 6.00pm.
Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus
Howard Goodall's Love Divine
Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine
Haydn's Little Organ Mass
It will be interesting for us, as Cantors of the Holy Rude to sing the Mass prayers in Latin in the church of the Holy Rude.
