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Cantica sacra

exploring the rich legacy of sacred singing

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

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New or recently updated

J. S. Bach composed two cantatas for use on the Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary. One of these includes the chorale we now know as “Jesu, Joy of man’s desiring.” Learn more here.

Stabat Mater dolorosa is a 13th-century poem about the suffering of Mary witnessing the suffering of her son. Reflections on the text’s significance and a collection of compositions from five centuries is on this page.

The Tears of St. Peter is a powerfully affective work for Holy Week by Orlande de Lassus. Read about it here, along with an introduction to his settings of the penitential Psalms.

“The depths of solemn grandeur” — Texts from the Lamentations of Jeremiah have been traditionally sung during Holy Week. What internal orientation do we need to receive these texts fruitfully?

A list of pages that introduce music for use in Passiontide is here.

Palestrina’s setting of the Offertory for Palm Sunday evocatively presents an anguished text from Psalm 69 which anticipates Christ’s experience of betrayal.

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

Interview with Thomas Forrest Kelly on the history of musical notation

“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

  • Jul 02, 2022 Mary visits Elisabeth; music ensues
  • Apr 17, 2022 Music for Easter
  • Apr 06, 2022 J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion: An Introduction
  • Mar 17, 2022 Music for St. Patrick’s Day
  • Jan 22, 2022 Singing the Collect for the Third Sunday after Epiphany
  • Dec 24, 2021 Recordings for Christmas

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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