Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Lent 3 -- Year C

Lent 3 (3/11/07)--Cycle A Readings (RCIA)

Processional: Dum sanctificatus

Psalm: Gelineau


Offertory: Sicut Cervus (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina)

Communion: Qui biberit

Post-Communion: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say W 130



Gotta love "Sicut." After an e-mail last week urging people to renew their commitment to the choir, I had the best attendance at rehearsal and mass that I've had in a while. And so the Palestrina sounded wonderful. This really is a gem. The vocal lines seem to sing themselves . . .

I've also spent a little more time in rehearsals dealing with good vocal technique. I think the "honeymoon" phase with my choir is over and I'm starting to realize that there are some vocal issues that I was either not hearing, ignoring, or avoiding before. It's good for me to remember that these are volunteers, not professionals.

1 Comments:

At Wednesday, March 14, 2007 12:12:00 PM, Blogger Cantor said...

“Sicut” is a great little piece. The only entrance I have found a hard time teaching is the short tenor entrance, about in the middle, “ita desiderat”.

One interesting thing I found is that the secunda pars of this motet, “Sitivit anima mea” is missing a word that is present in the Gregorian tract text. The Gregorian text (as we have it) has “ante faciem Dei mei”, while Palestrina doesn’t have the “mei” part. Also interesting in that one is the open fifth chord on “quando” - it really sticks out, which I used to think was a boo-boo on Palestrina’s part, but now I am wondering if that open fifth isn’t meant to be jarring.

 

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