Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Choral Highlights for
On October 6, 2019, the Schola Cantorum calls upon the Holy Spirit and elucidates themes of justice and truth in the music for the Red Mass this year with works by Anton Bruckner and Henry Friedell as well as a modern take on the venerable chant “Veni Creator Spiritus.”

10am Mass, Annual Red Mass

Much of the music for the Red Mass supports and interprets the principal theme of the Mass; the invocation of the Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts and to inspire those in the legal community to be imbued with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Prelude 10am Mass, “Os Justi” – Anton Bruckner (1824 – 1896)

An example of choral music embodying the tenets of the Cecilian movement in 19th century Germany, Bruckner’s “Os Justi” is a dramatic and emotive motet which economically utilizes minimal material and resources. As a nod to an earlier style of composition, this lydian mode piece includes no accidentals. The opening section breathlessly builds toward a celestial brightness. Then the listener is led into the secondary fugal section by way of suspended cadences, before a recapitulation. The text, taken from Psalm 36 with a verse added from Psalm 89, praises the attributes of a saint, whose mouth speaks wisdom and his tongue speaks justice; God’s law is in his heart. It is a fitting theme at this Red Mass where we invoke the Holy Spirit’s advocacy on those who discern justice and truth.

For a recorded version of the Bruckner, click below.

Preparation of Gifts 10am Mass, “Veni Creat0r Spiritus” – Michael John Trotta (c.1978)

The motet at the Preparation of the Gifts has two textual sources, the hymn of the church (Veni Creator Spiritus) attributed to Rabanus Maurus (776-856 AD) and the sequence for Pentecost, (Veni, Sancte Spiritus). Both prayers are paeans to the power and works of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but also invocations, inviting the Spirit further into our works both public and private.  Michael J Trotta, an American choral conductor and collaborative composer, isolates the opening line of the chant, before developing its motives through a warm harmonic texture.

To hear a version, click below:
 

Post-Communion Motet 10am Mass, “Draw Us In the Spirit’s Tether” – Harold Friedell (1905 – 1958)

Harold Friedell was a teacher at Juilliard and Union Seminary, as well as a renowned organist and composer. He wrote in a dense contrapuntal style that utilizes modern and frequently diatonic harmonies. This setting of the text by Percy Dearmer (1867-1936), an Anglican priest and poet, is no different. Continuing the themes associated with this Mass, the text petitions the Holy Spirit to be present when two or more people are gathered to pray.
 
To hear a version, click below:

11:30am Mass, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Tim

Post-Communion Motet 11:30am Mass, "O Lord, Increase My Faith" - Harold Friedell (1905 - 1958)

The Communion Motet for this Mass, which quotes the Gospel, was for many years attributed to Orlando Gibbons, but is now believed to be the work of Henry Loosemore (d.1670.), one of three Loosemore brothers who were all distinguished musicians from Devonshire. Henry and George were both organists in Cambridge at King’s and Trinity Colleges, respectively. John was a renowned organ builder who remained in Devon.