26 OT--Year C

26 OT--Year C

Processional: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus (HYFRYDOL)

Psalm: Gelineau (I'm going to stop including this one; we always do Gelineau)

Offertory: Super Flumina Babylonis (Lassus)

Communion: Memento verbi w/Viadana fauxbourdon

Recessional: Praise, My Soul (LAUDA ANIMA)


I didn't like the Tietze Introit melody for this week (and couldn't find a better tune to put with the text) so I scrapped it. Happens occasionally and probably the only person that minds much is me.

We had some growing pains with the Lassus. It was a challenge last year and a challenge this year; I wish this Proper fell a bit later in the year because I love this setting; I finally have to cave and ask our organist to double the parts because we were having some intonation issues that I just couldn't fix 100 percent in the brief rehearsal time we had with it. The choir seemed to have the hardest time with the rhythm; this is renaissance polyphony at its best and some of the entrances were tricky (especially since they are still adjusting to these editions that use the half-note as the pulse). In fact, on the last page I had to put the altos back on track when they entered a beat late (my fault) and then the basses did the same, though they corrected after a couple measures (also my fault as I was trying to fix the altos during their entrance). All in all, it came off pretty well, though we did need the organ to double and I wish I could have had one more week to rehearse it.

Memento was a nice introduction to the phrygian mode; it has a very "major" feel to it at the beginning and then eases its way nicely into mode 4. To get a sense of the mode, I actually had them sing the end first and worked my way backwards . . . not during mass, of course. Again, they are really doing a nice job with the chant; they're making some nice strides and it's seeming to click a little quicker than it did last year.