The Recovering Choir Director

The Propers of the Mass: The Word of God Singing To Us, With Us, Through Us

December 2, 2009 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 9 comments.

(NB: This is a working draft of an article that may or may not appear elsewhere. Comments and constructive criticism encouraged.)
In a 2006 letter, Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin reminded us of the Second Vatican Council’s clear teaching about where the presence of Christ occurs during the Mass:
[T]he most sacramentally intense presence of [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Tags: Bishop Robert C. Morlino; Graduale Romanum; Gregorian Chant; Gregorian Missal; Hymnody; Propers; Responsorial Psalms; Roman Gradual; Roman Rite (Ordinary Form).

Music planning in the simplified Roman Rite: an e-mail exchange

November 5, 2009 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 0 comments.

Here’s an e-mail exchange concerning daily-Mass propers in the Ordinary Form between me and a volunteer at my new position. Permission was granted for me to post this. Volunteer’s remarks are in bold.
(For entertainment purposes only; trust, but verify. Corrections and clarifications welcome!)
Here’s a question for you: for daily Masses, where do you find [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Tags: Graduale Romanum; Humor; Propers; Roman Missal; Roman Rite (Extraordinary Form; Usus Antiquior); Roman Rite (Ordinary Form).

Propers vs. hymnody (and ought it be that way?)

May 18, 2009 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 3 comments.

David Schütz, the Australian blogger of Sentire cum Ecclesia and an in-the-trenches church musician, offers a critique of some aspects of Jeffrey Tucker’s book Sing Like a Catholic, specifically on the issue of replacing hymnody with propers.
I have posted a response in his comment box; while it awaits his approval, I reproduce it for you [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Tags: Hymnody; Propers; Roman Rite (Ordinary Form); Sing Like a Catholic (Tucker).

An English-language choral Offertory proper for Easter Sunday

April 30, 2009 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 1 comment.

Jerry Galipeau of WLP has posted on his blog “The Earth Feared and Was Silent”, a composition by the late Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell, OCSO.  The piece takes its text from a translation of the Offertory proper chant for Easter Sunday.

Download the sample PDF octavo.
Download the mp3 of the final refrain.

I note that the soprano line [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Tags: Easter Sunday; Fr. Chrysogonus Waddell OCSO; Jerry Galipeau; Offertoriale Triplex; Propers; Roman Rite (Ordinary Form); Sacred polyphony; Vernacular Plainsong; World Library Publications (WLP).

Hymns vs. propers at Mass – questions for reflection

April 26, 2009 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 2 comments.

In no particular order, below are some questions I have come up with regarding the hymns-versus-propers discussion, which seems to have gained a certain momentum in the Catholic blogosphere.  Some of them perhaps are leading questions, others require a yes/no answer, but all of them I hope will provoke some thought on this matter.

Does the [...]

Filed under: Uncategorized.
Tags: Propers; Roman Rite (Extraordinary Form; Usus Antiquior); Roman Rite (Ordinary Form); Sung Mass (Missa Cantata).

Unwritten memo to composers: “Set the propers”

September 24, 2008 by Aristotle A. Esguerra — 1 comment.

In light of all of the liturgical music reform verbiage coming from diverse places like official Church organs and bloggers like myself, and as a result of reading Jeffrey Tucker’s recent reflections on William Byrd’s settings of the Mass propers, it seems that there is an implied directive to today’s and tomorrow’s composers of sacred [...]

Filed under: Contemporary Religious Music; Liturgical Reform.
Tags: Fr. Carlo Rossini; General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM); Jeffrey Tucker; Pope Paul VI; Propers; Roman Catholic Church; Sacrosanctum Concilium; Second Vatican Council; William Byrd; World Youth Day 2002; World Youth Day 2005; World Youth Day 2008.