During Communion in our parish, we often sing the text to St. Thomas Aquinas’s great Eucharistic hymn, which begins “Now my tongue the mystery telling” (Hymn #199). The tune to which we usually sing this hymn is PANGE LINGUA, a plainchant melody that comes from the Sarum Use. We also sing that tune on Good Friday, with the text of a different hymn, this one about the Cross and the Crucifixion, a hymn which begins: “Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle.” Here is that Holy Week hymn sung in its original Latin form by the Tenebrae Consort, directed by Nigel Short. This is from a recording that presents a collection…
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Music for Passiontide, I — John Sheppard, Media vita
In the Church in England — before it was the Church of England, and thus before The Book of Common Prayer as we know it — many English parishes followed the liturgical practices prescribed in the Sarum Use, developed in the see of Salisbury. These parishes included in the prayers at Compline (i.e., the evening prayers) the singing of the Nunc dimittis, as does our Evening Prayer service. Beginning sometime in the 14th century, from the third Sunday in Lent until Passion Sunday, Compline services prefaced the singing of the Nunc dimittis with an antiphon which began: Media vita in morte sumus. In the midst of life we are in…
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Passion Sunday, the Fifth Sunday in Lent (March 29, 2020)
This Sunday marks the beginning of the two-week period historically known as Passiontide. During these final days before Easter, more attention is given to the sufferings and death of Jesus. This Sunday has also been known as Judica Sunday, that designation taken from the first word of the day’s proper Introit, a text taken from Psalm 43: Give sentence with me, O God, and defend my cause against the ungodly people: O deliver my soul from the deceitful and wicked man: for thou art the God of my strength. O send out thy light and thy truth, that they may lead me: and bring me unto thy holy hill, and…
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Feast of the Annunciation (March 25, 2020)
Within the Anglican tradition, there are two sets of Propers that may be sung on the Feast of the Annunciation. The first set contains the texts from the traditional Western Rite, texts which relies heavily on passages from Psalm 45. The Introit from the Western Rite presents the scene of the royal wedding that is depicted in Psalm 45: The rich also among the people shall make their supplication before thee; she shall be brought unto the King in a raiment of needlework: the virgins that be her fellows shall be brought unto thee, with joy and gladness. My heart is inditing of a good matter: I speak of the…
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Fourth Sunday in Lent (March 22, 2020)
Many members of the parish will no doubt be reading the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel readings that would be received if today’s services could be held. Those texts are readily available in the Prayerbook. But the Propers that punctuate our service are not as handy to read. So until we can restore our services, I’ll be posting the Propers here for each service. The Fourth Sunday in Lent is traditionally called Lætare Sunday, after the first Latin word in the Introit: “Rejoice ye with Jerusalem: and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: that ye may suck,…
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Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday (March 21, 2020)
In the midst of our present uncertainties, it is helpful to remember that God’s Creation is still a thing of goodness and beauty. And God has given us — some more than others — the capacity to discover and amplify the goodness and beauty implicit in Creation to a glorious level. One notably gifted servant of Creation’s and the Creator’s glory was Johann Sebastian Bach, whose birthday we celebrate today. Consider Bach’s achievement in a larger context discussed by philosopher Josef Pieper. In his book In Tune with the World, Pieper wrote: Underlying all festive joy kindled by a specific circumstance there has to be an absolutely universal affirmation extending…
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Third Sunday in Lent (March 15, 2020)
Today’s liturgy involves several references to ocular activity. Our Processional hymn — “Saviour, when in dust to thee” includes a reference to our averting our eyes from God out of a sense of guilt and penitence: “when, repentant, to the skies scarce we lift our weeping eyes . . . ” God’s vision is also referenced in the hymn: in the second stanza, we plead with God to “turn, oh, turn a fav’ring eye; hear our solemn litany!” (You can read more about this hymn here.) The Introit for today is from Psalm 25, and is referred to in liturgical texts by the first two words of the Latin of…
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Second Sunday in Lent (March 8, 2020)
Our opening hymn, “Before thy throne, O God, we kneel,” expresses the spirit of Lenten self-examination with some remarkable details. “Sins of heedless word and deed” and “crafty trade and subtle snare” describe how both carelessness and deliberation can involve forms of disobedience. The text to this hymn is the work of William Boyd Carpenter (1841-1918). As an Anglican priest, he served as chaplain to the Bishop of London and honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria. In 1884, he was consecrated Bishop of Ripon, a post which he left in 1911 to become canon at Westminster. Boyd was regarded as one of the greatest orators of the Victorian era, and many…
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First Sunday in Lent
PROCESSIONAL HYMN: “Kind Maker of the world” SEQUENCE HYMN: Psalm 51 (Charles H. Wilton, 1761-1832) SERMON HYMN: “My God, accept my heart this day” OFFERTORY ANTHEM: Scapulis suis Music: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) Text: Psalm 91:4 Scapulis suis obumbrabit tibi Dominus et sub pennis ejus sperabis; He shall cover you with his wings and you shall be safe under his feathers scuto circumdabit te veritas ejus. his faithfulness shall be your shield and buckler. COMMUNION MOTET: “Agnus Dei” from Missa Brevis Music: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594) Text: Ordinary of the Mass COMMUNION HYMNS: “Draw nigh and take the Body” “Glory be to Jesus” CLOSING HYMN: “The glory of…
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Ash Wednesday (February 26, 2020)
Here are the hymns we will sing during our Ash Wednesday mass: PROCESSIONAL HYMN: “Forty days and forty nights” (#55)SEQUENCE HYMN: “God the Father, God the Son” (#229)SERMON HYMN: “Lead us, heav’nly Father” (#567)COMMUNION HYMNS: “Let thy Blood in mercy poured” (#190) and “Here O my Lord I see thee” (#208, PENITENTIA)CLOSING HYMN: “Lord, who throughout these forty days” (#59) During the Offertory, the Choir will sing the first four stanzas of “Jesus, I will ponder now,” a hymn by the German Baroque poet Sigismund von Birken (1626-1681). The musical setting is from an earlier Lutheran cantor and music teacher, Melchior Vulpius (ca. 1570-1615). Here are the stanzas the choir…