Notes About The Music

18th Sunday after Pentecost 2024

Processional hymn: All Ye Who Seek A Comfort Sure, 862
Recessional hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, 900
Kyriale: Mass IX, 740; Credo IV, 780 

Motet at Offertory: Da Pacem Domine, Costanzo Festa (c. 1490–1545)
Chant at Communion: Ubi Caritas, Chant harmonized by Craig Kingsbury (b. 1952)

The text for the votive antiphon for peace Da Pacem, Domine date from the 6th or 7th century and are based on biblical verses 2 Kings 20:19, 2 Chronicles 20:12,15 and Psalm 72:6–7. The first words of the antiphon are shared in common with the Introit for this Sunday’s Mass: Grant peace, Lord, in our time; for there is none else who would fight for us if not you, our God. Costanzo Festa sets this antiphon for four voices retaining the Gregorian melody as a Cantus Firmus in the Tenor voice and in canon with the Bass voice.

Costanzo Festa (c. 1490–1545) was the first Italian polyphonic composer of international renown. Festa was one of only a few Italians in the Papal Choir during his generation and was hailed as, “a most excellent musician and eminent singer” by Pope Paul III. His compositional style focused less on imitation and complex counterpoint for its own sake, and often wrote purely homophonic passages.

17th Sunday after Pentecost 2024

Processional hymn: The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, 917
Recessional hymn: Hail, Holy Queen, 908
Kyriale: Mass XI, 740; Credo IV, 780 

Hymn at Offertory: Stabat Mater, Chant Sequence
Motet at Communion: Ave Maris Stella, Guillaume Dufay 

The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the feast itself commemorated this Sunday. When the Mass of the feast is said, the sequence Stabat Mater is recited/sung prior to the Gospel. This sequence is often used as a devotional hymn for praying the stations of the cross and is sung to a simple tune. The chant sung today, which is the proper chant, is more ornate and the melody changes every two verses. 

The Vespers hymn for many feasts of the Blessed Virgin is Ave Maris Stella, which dates to the 9th-century and sung today is a setting by Guillaume Dufay. This hymn as with many of Dufay’s compositions use the technique of fauxbordon, where the original melody is retained with some embellishment while the other voices harmonize in a fixed parallel structure.

Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) was a priest, composer, and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1428 and spent his life directing and composing for papal and cathedral choirs. Dufay was among the most influential composers of the fifteenth century, and his music was copied, distributed and sung everywhere that polyphony had taken root.

16th Sunday after Pentecost 2024

Processional hymn: Jesus, Meek and Lowly, 833
Recessional hymn: Come Down, O Love Divine, 887
Kyriale: Mass XI, 740; Credo IV, 780

Motet at the offertory: Ave Maria, Jacobus Gallus (1550–1591)
Hymn at communion: Salve Mater, Carmelite Chant, arr. Paul Thomas May 

Because September 8 is the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady (and commemorated this Sunday) the music selections are Marian in theme. The choral motet Ave Maria by Jacobus Gallus (1550–1591) is widely recognized among those familiar with traditional Catholic music but under the attribution of Victoria. A prominent Spanish musicologist in 1913 had published the work in a group of Victoria’s motets and it was not disputed until 2001 when the work was contained in Gallus’s manuscripts. 

The setting of the Angelic Salutation begins with the simple Gregorian incipit and elaborates on the melody initially in the Soprano voice and eventually moving to each voice throughout the motet. The clarity of the text, careful repetition, and clever use of harmony has made this work a favorite among chorister and listener alike.

Jacobus Gallus (1550–1591), was a late-Renaissance composer of presumed Slovene ethnicity. Born in Carniola, which at the time was one of the Habsburg lands in the Holy Roman Empire, he lived and worked in Moravia and Bohemia during the last decade of his life. His output was both sacred and secular, and hugely prolific: over 500 works have been attributed to him.

15th Sunday after Pentecost 2024

Processional hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, 838
Recessional hymn: Holy God We Praise Thy Name, 881
Kyriale: Mass XI, 740; Credo IV, 780

Motet after Offertory: Jesu Dulcis Memoria, Cornelius Schmuck (1814–1903)
Communion Antiphon: Panis Quem Ego, Heinrich Isaac (c.1450–1517) 

Jesu, Dulcis Memoria is a celebrated 12th century hymn attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. The entire hymn has some 42 to 53 stanzas depending upon the manuscript. The setting today is by Cornelius Schmuck and this motet was included in the St. Gregory Hymnal. Little is known of Schmuck, but he was Pennsylvania native born in York in 1814.

The communion antiphon is a setting by Heinrich Isaac. The text of the antiphon is taken from John 6:52: The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. Isaac composes pieces of the melody in both the Tenor and Soprano voices in a quasi-canon. 

Heinrich Isaac (c.1450–1517) was a Renaissance composer from the South Netherlandish region. His output was rivaled only by Orlandus Lassus in number and variety of composition. Most notable of his collections is Choralis Constantinus which contains nearly 400 Gregorian chant based motets of propers for the Mass.