Society of Saint Gregory

(And by the way, modern scholarship has discovered that a proportion of Byrd's Latin polyphonic output was not only not designed for liturgical use in his day but was never actually used liturgically then. I'll try to dig out the reference. Please do: given the circumstances under which Mass was be...

I'm gratified that my attempt to provoke a serious debate has drawn such eloquent responses ─ thank you, cb and mcb (what a rare coincidence of initials!). I also note that no real attempt was made to deal with my lengthy list of things which no longer fit comfortably into a post-conciliar liturgica...

And those of us who bought items from his liturgical library from Anne Blackett at the 2005 Summer School will have especial cause to remember him with gratitude. He was a good man.

I guess I'm keen to know what you think is the appropriate spot for those polyphonic communion antiphons. Are they proscribed now? Is there any better point at which they might be sung? I have to confess that I can't think of a suitable place to sing them, which is why the Presentation of the Gifts...

On the other hand, the offertory procession is almost a second gathering rite as we shift from Word to Table. So I often go for an item which in some way brings us back to the day's Gospel. And that's a very good thing to do, I think. Gelineau talked in 1978 at the SSG/Universa Laus Congress in Str...

we had 6 candles on the Altar, Biretta, and Eastward-facing celebration of the Mass! Does that mean the wedding was in the extraordinary form too? Rome is particularly interested to know of such celebrations, though I've never heard of any in these southern parts. (Sorry this is somewhat OT, Mr Bea...

Of course, if I were to sing Ave Verum Corpus at my place of worship I'd use it as a song after communion. Cf. GIRM 37a. I sincerely hope you wouldn't! ─ see GIRM 88: When the distribution of Communion is finished, as circumstances suggest, the priest and faithful spend some time praying quietly. I...

If you accept the premise that choir-only items should not be sung during the Communion procession (cf. GIRM 86-87), then choral motets at the Preparation of the Gifts could include all those Ave Verum and other settings of eucharistic texts that have not been able to been used at Communion since 19...

The problem is that Joe Wise could play the guitar and sing but couldn't read music, so I've been told, so someone else had to write it down for him. Whether that's true or not, there's no real reason for that 2/4 bar at the beginning of the verse. If you do the whole verse in 4/4, starting at the b...

"Though one with God"; words by John Bell, set to "Jerusalem" in "Resurrexit" on page 74 (Decani Music) seems to include most of the text First published in the third major Iona Collection Love from Below (Wild Goose and GIA). Other versions of what is often known as t...

In that situation, the incentives on the monopoly provider are to control supply (in this case, for example, by artifically limiting access to the texts and to inflate copyright fees, so that parishes will buy only from 'house' composers) and there is no mechanism for reducing price: the provider c...

So the lesson is probably: don't hold your breath. Or have I missed something? No, I don't think you have. Tucker's so bound up in his campaign that he can't really see the wood for the trees. I think there's an inherent danger in saying "this is for worship, so we shouldn't have to pay"....

Delirious! But what on earth is doc's new avatar?! It seems to resemble something you'd see under a microscope. Or can it really be a scooby-doo? (And if so, why?)

I'm very pleased to know that doc is now sharing the moderation responsibilities, but wonder why he still doesn't seem to have the word Moderator in grey under his name in the right-hand column. Perhaps it's something to do with the unforgiving nature of the bulletin board software that musicus cite...

This is certainly the version I remember singing in my long-distant childhood. But without the picture (brrrrr!) And it might be better in D flat (or even C) than D, to allow for the highest note in the refrain.