Listmania!!!

... and yet again, I find myself playing Catch-Up. I have lists. Lots of lists. When I wasn't tethered to my computer, I was in church for a good portion of this past weekend. I've been asked to sub for the 5.30 pm Saturday Mass at Immaculate Conception Church for Lent III, so I decided to take a break from the endless grading, lecture-writing, lab-designing, and exams writing by going to Mass and observing what's usually done at that Mass.

My first list is what was done for Lent II. For me, it a sense of déjà vu as the Episcopals did the Transfiguration Theme for the Last Sunday after Epiphany, two weeks ago. Numbers out of Gather Comprehensive (1994).

February 17: Lent II (5.30 pm)

Kyrie: 398 Hold Us in Your Mercy: Penitential Litany (Cooney/Daigle)
Gospel Acclamation: Praise be to you O Jesus Christ our Lord (Eggers)
Sanctus, Mem. Accl., Amen: Mass of Hope (Farrell)
Agnus Dei: 312 Agnus Dei XVIII (yes, in Latin. For some interesting reason, they did this 4x, with the last being "dona nobis pacem" as usual. But then again, the EEMs are doing during this time what they really should have been doing during the Offertory/Preparation of the Gifts. The Liturgically Aware over at the RPInet Fora have pointed out to me this Liturgical abuse time and time again ... but considering my relation to IC is merely PIP and occasional cantor, it truly is not my battle to fight.)

Pro: 778 'Tis good, Lord, to be here (SWABIA)
Psalm: 45 Psalm 33 (Haugen)
Off: 391 God of Abraham (Farrell)
Comm: Erm ... forgot the first one we did ... the second was an Irish Blessing as we were seeing off a Friar who spent 6 months with IC, as he was scheduled to return to NJ later that afternoon. I'll edit this post with an exact title, but it was penned relatively recently by Fr. Chepponis, with a dedication to Bp. Wuerl.
Re: Organ voluntary

One thing I've noticed - in years past, when this concept was first introduced, people did not leave in silence. Now, many years later, people are now leaving in silence ... either that, or maybe my being next to the organ drowns out the chatter of the people as they leave. (I would kind of hope more for the former rather than the latter, of course.)

Second list: I cantored the 7.45 am Sunday morning Mass, also at Immaculate Conception. The person planning this music admitted she didn't have a chance to check on the readings before she planned the music ... and admittedly, it showed. The only reference to a Transfiguration theme was in the verse I chose for the Gospel Acclamation (lifted from that wonderful resource that is CanticaNova Publications. Again, the numbers are out of Gather Comprehensive (1994).

February 17: Lent II (7.45 am)

Kyrie: 175 (traditional chant; I happily yielded to Fr. Dan (yay, he's back :) ) as he's got a wonderful singing voice, and he does chant quite well.)
Gospel Acclamation: 267 Proulx
Sanctus, Mem. Accl., Amen: 300, 301, 302 Land of Rest
Agnus Dei: 312 Agnus Dei XVIII (yes, in Latin)

Pro: 392 Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
Psalm: Psalm 33 (Guimont)
Off: 397 Tree of Life (Haugen)
Comm: 383 Parce Domine (Mode I, verses Ps. 51, set to Tonus Peregrinus)
Re: Organ voluntary (which ended up being a quick improvisation of sorts, just enough to get Father out the door)

A happy thought came out of this ... I had received many positive comments about what we did for Communion. I will blog on this in another post, and solicit any opinions from anyone who cares to put in their two cents ...

Third list: St. Joseph's Episcopal Church. I was quite happy about the new choir member, and he's got a strong voice, stays on pitch, reads music well. Yay! People in the congregation also commented on how what a nice voice the new baritone has. My Psalmist was sick with the flu, however, so I ended up having to kind of improvise for the Psalm. I had my guitarist play chords under the refrain, and I chanted the verses a cappella. I didn't decide until when I was at the ambo, what Psalm Tone was I was going to chant the thing to. I ended up kind of making it up as I went along. It seemed to work - I received compliments on my chanting. (Thank you, Dr. Quinn - I guess those years of singing in the Compline choir helped bring the Inner Chanter out of me.) Whereas the Romans got the Transfiguration theme, the Episcopals got John 3:16: God So Loved The World. Gosh, if I had the forces, I would have loved to have presented an anthem of that title ... the Stainer's such an old chestnut, but I'm rather partial to Bob Chilcott's setting myself.

With that, the list. Numbers are out of The Hymnal 1982.

February 17: Lent II:

Prelude: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 731; J. S. Bach)
Pro: 401 The God of Abraham praise (LEONI)
Kyrie: Willan (S-91 in Hymnal 1982, if you're interested)
Psalm: Ps 121 (Barrett)
Seq: 635 If thou but trust in God to guide thee (WER NUR DEN LIEBEN GOTT)
Off: 440 Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
Sanctus: S-124 New Plainsong (D. Hurd)
Lord's Prayer: chanted (S-119 in Hymnal 1982, if you're interested)
Fraction Anthem: S 161 New Plainsong (D. Hurd)
Comm: Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit (BUNESSAN); Hosea (yes, that one, penned by G. Norbet. See my note in my Lent I post if you're scratching your head at my Communion choices.)
Re: 473 Lift high the cross (CRUCIFER)

I could kill my friend Richard for this one: he forever ruined "Lift high the cross" for me when he made up this little ditty:

Lift high the cross,
And don't forget to floss ...

Horrible, isn't he?

Here is something of a Blooper: in the Order of Worship, the BWV number was listed as "BMW 731." I got a good chuckle out of that one.

Fourth list: Episcopal Centre at Duke University.

February 17: Lent II:

Prelude: Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (BWV 731; J. S. Bach - sort of improvised, because the toy I get to play is a 1-manual, 3-stop Holtkamp)
Pro: 401 The God of Abraham praise (LEONI)
Decalogue: S-353, chanted a cappella
Kyrie: Willan (S-91 in Hymnal 1982, if you're interested)
Seq: 440 Blessed Jesus, at thy word (LIEBSTER JESU)
Off: 142 Lord, who throughout these forty days (ST. FLAVIAN)
Sanctus: S-114 (Willan)
Lord's Prayer: chanted (S-119 in Hymnal 1982, if you're interested)
Fraction Anthem: S-158 (Willan)
Comm: 668 I to the hills will lift mine eyes (BURFORD)
Re: 473 Lift high the cross (CRUCIFER)

Last but not least: Compline at Chapel of the Cross.

We've been using the Order for Compline, as set by David Hurd. Our little additions:

Call to Remembrance (Farrant; sung as Introit)
In manus tuas (Sheppard; sung in addition to "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ...)
Ave Regina Cælorum (Marian antiphon right after the Dismissal)
Ave Maria ... virgo serena (des Prez)

Much to our ... discomfort ... someone was recording the service. There was a fellow who, for the past several weeks, had his laptop with him, trying to discern the best placement for a microphone, given the acoustics of the building. He finally recorded this past Sunday. I'm so glad Dr. Quinn made a mention of it, but one couldn't help being awfully self-conscious, especially with a large microphone planted in front of the choir. However, as usual, I think we did fairly well. Service ended, as usual, with the abfab David Arcus providing an improvisation on a theme of his choosing.