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Cantica sacra

exploring the rich legacy of sacred singing

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    • Weekly liturgical elements
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      • Psalms, monthly cycle
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    • Canticles
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    • Education
      • Chant tutorials
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      • St. Dunstan’s Psalter
    • Essays
    • Notable repertoire
    • Recording reviews
    • Interviews
    • Singers’ Sandbox
  • Glossary
  • About
  • Psalms, hymns, etc.
    • Weekly liturgical elements
    • Psalms
      • Psalms, monthly cycle
      • Psalms, by number
      • Psalms, by tone
    • Canticles
    • Hymns
  • Texts
  • Composers
  • Poets
  • Read, learn, etc.
    • Education
      • Chant tutorials
      • Chant workshop
      • Psalm samples
      • St. Dunstan’s Psalter
    • Essays
    • Notable repertoire
    • Recording reviews
    • Interviews
    • Singers’ Sandbox
  • Glossary

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New or recently updated

Interview with Thomas Forrest Kelly on the history of musical notation.

An abundance of recordings and commentary concerning the music of Advent is presented on this page.

“Resting in Love’s quiet watch” — Josef Gabriel Rheinberger’s name is well known among church organists. It should be better know among lovers of sacred choral music.

The recordings of hymns made in our “Choir in Quarantine” series are all available on this page.

“The Christian Singer from the Gospels to the Gothic Cathedrals” — a series of six lectures by Christopher Page.

“Music, Imagination, and Experience in the Medieval World” — a series of six lectures by Christopher Page.

Interview with Christopher Page on The Christian West and Its Singers: The First Thousand Years.

William Byrd’s setting of the Te Deum adorns this familiar text with a kaleidoscopic sequence of sound.

Poets & Translators whose words we sing

St. Ambrose (339-397)

John Keble (1792-1866)

John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894)

F. Bland Tucker (1895-1984)

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Recent Posts

  • Jun 03, 2023 Reflections on music and silence
  • Mar 23, 2023 Music for the Annunciation and for Passiontide
  • Dec 23, 2022 O great mystery
  • Nov 26, 2022 “The melodies and the notes are precious”
  • Jul 02, 2022 Mary visits Elisabeth; music ensues
  • Apr 17, 2022 Music for Easter

About our hymns

“Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness” originally featured six stanzas that we don’t now sing . . .

Charles Wesley’s triumphant “Hail the day that sees him rise” is one of many triumphant hymns to celebrate the Ascension

This mid-19th-century hymn was written to defend the Creed’s claims about the Church

This hymn was written as musical partner for the reading of I Corinthians 13.

 

Singing Psalm 47

There are many references to the elements of music in this Psalm: clapping, singing, melody, a merry noise, and the sound of a trump(et). That proliferation of musical allusions may account for the large number of settings of this Psalm to music.

MORE . . .

The wonder of Thomas Tallis

One of the greatest composers in the early years of Anglicanism navigated the changes in ecclesiastical life with remarkable poise and creativity.

MORE . . .

William Byrd’s Te Deum

Our parish typically sings this great ancient hymn to Anglican chant. Most of the many settings of this text are in Latin, but one of the greatest in English is by William Byrd.

MORE . . .

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