This post is inspired by a few new people at Mass last night who were interested in joining the choir.
The first hurdle - pronouncing the Latin - here’s a video I prepared earlier.
Perhaps learning some Latin is the next part - I’m working on more resources for that, but for now I’ll see that any print outs have a translation on them, so you’ll be able to compare the Latin and English yourself and make the links.
For now, let’s skip to listening to the Ordinaries of the Mass!
Ordinaries of the Mass
Our next Sung Mass will be the Second Last Sunday before Advent. We’re planning to use the Gregorian Mass Setting designated for plain vanilla Sundays. It’s known as Mass 11 or Missa XI if you like Roman Numerals or Missa Orbis Factor. You can look up any Gregorian Mass Setting at Corpus Christi Watershed’s Kyriale - you can find printable pdfs as well as a few recordings plus sheet music for organ accompaniment!
As it is a Sunday, we will also be singing the Creed. We generally use Credo 1. You can find it near the end of the Kyriale. It is a long one. One way to lighten the load on our voices is to alternate phrases between ladies and men at each double bar line. Another way is to alternate loud and soft at each double bar line.
Apart from that, we also sing the Propers which usually change from week to week, but as it draws to the end of the Liturgical Year we have the same propers. This is also very handy for freeing up rehearsal time for Christmas preparations. I wouldn’t expect newbies to be singing the propers though - focus on the Ordinaries first.
Ad Libitum Pieces
And then there are the ad libitum pieces. Last night we sang Ubi Caritas and Ave Verum.
One which I would very much like to sing is Anima Christi:
This was gleaned from Chant Cafe but today that webpage is not responding for me, so I’ve taken the liberty of copying the pdf into Repleatur’s collection and Here is the link to the PDF for Anima Christi thanks to Peter Kwasniewski.
After that, the next Sung Mass falls on the First Sunday of Advent so we will be singing Mass 17 - which is very easy and leaves out the Gloria. So, if Mass 11 is a bit much for you right now, you could jump ahead and work on Mass 17 instead.
When Advent comes, as you might expect, there are lots of Latin Advent hymns to sing:
- Creator Alme Siderum
- Rorate Caeli
- Alma Redemptoris Mater
- Veni, Veni Emmanuel (or Veni O Sapientia depending on which verse you start with)
That gives you a veritable truckload of material to choose from. Make yourself a shortlist and come back to visit. There should be a comment box at the end of this article where you are warmly welcome to ask questions, point out glaring inaccuracies or omissions or anything.
God bless, and see you on Sunday!