Third Sunday of Lent

Choral Highlights for

The Woman at the Well in today’s Gospel from John for the First Scrutiny of the RCIA rite at the 11:30am Mass is the inspiration for some of the most beautiful choral music ever written on the theme of mercy. Choral music at the 10am Mass in Latin focuses on more general Lenten themes with music of Byrd, Palestrina and Victoria.

Prelude 11:30am Mass, Restless is the Heart – Bernadette Farrell (b. 1956)

This motet, by the British Catholic composer Bernadette Farrell, takes its text from two sources. The antiphon is from a prayer of St. Augustine, while the verses are from Psalm 90. The motet has become a popular selection for Catholic funerals and Remembrance Services with its calm emphasis on finding rest in God and on the transitory nature of life. Augustine’s prayer resonates in the recounting of the Samaritan woman’s interaction with Christ at the well, as depicted in today’s Gospel. Christ promises that her longing will be satisfied when she discovers and drinks from the source of the life-giving water that will never run dry.

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Kyrie 10am Mass, “Missa Quarti Toni”– Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 – 1611)

Although the Spanish counter-reformation composer Victoria wrote numerous Mass settings based on chants, secular tunes, and even his own compositions, this Mass setting uses original motivic elements. The name – Quarti Toni or Fourth Tone – is derived from the Ecclesiastical modes of chant, in which the Hypophrygian scale (B, C, D, E, F, G, A) is the fourth in number following the two Dorian modes and Phrygian. The flatted second degree of the scale in this mode gives the mode its uniquely dark and unexpected tonality and can be heard throughout in this setting of the Kyrie.

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Preparation of the Gifts 10am Mass, “Justitiae Domini Rectae”– G.P. da Palestrina (1524-1594)

This setting of verses 9 -12 of Psalm 18 demonstrates the post-Trent musical style of the Italian Renaissance composer Palestrina. It is one of two setting of this text from his collection of 68 Offertories for five voices (Breitkopf and Haertel Vol. 9). The text given is the Offertory text for Lent III in the Gregorian Missal based on the Gradualia Romanum. “The ordinances of the Lord are right, bring joy to all hearts, sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. Therefore your servant will observe them.” The motet marvelously expresses this text with motivic word-painting.
 
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Preparation of the Gifts 10am Mass, “Sicut Cervus / Sitivit Anima Mea” – G. P. da Palestrina (1524-1594)

This setting of the first verse of Psalm 42, demonstrates the post-Trent musical style of the Italian Renaissance composer Palestrina. It was published in 1584 in the 2nd Book of Four Voice Motets. “As the deer longs for living waters, so my soul thirsts for you, O God.” The imagery of the deer longing for a running stream is presented as a reflection on today’s Year A Gospel, where Peter and the disciples have given up everything to follow the source of life-giving water and the promise of eternal life.

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Communion Motet 10am Mass, “Ave Verum” – William Byrd (1538-1623)

This Eucharistic text of anonymous attribution, has been set numerous times by composers such as Mozart, Elgar, and more recently by Poulenc, Colin Mawby and Malcolm Archer. Byrd adapts the text differently from other composers by adding a miserere nobis (have mercy on us) at the end of the prayer. In addition to the textual differences, the setting stands out from other settings by the composer overwhelming somber and dark music language throughout the work. Byrd’s setting was published in 1605 in his work Gradulia, which is a collection of Latin motets for the clandestine Catholic community in Protestant England.

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Communion Motet 11:30am Mass, “There’s A Wideness in God’s Mercy” – Music: Calvin Hampton (Setting: Ken Berg) Text: Frederick Faber

Two themes in today’s scriptures are called to mind in this relatively modern hymn tune setting paired with a text by the prolific 19th century English poet Frederick Faber. The text speaks of the immeasurable mercy of God and likens it to the “wideness of the sea.” That same bountiful mercy is revealed in the Year A Gospel for this Sunday proclaimed at the 11:30 Mass. Jesus approaches the woman at the well with compassion and offers her life-giving water that will never be exhausted. Today , we will sing only four of the original thirteen stanzas of this poem found in Faber’s Hymns (London, 1862). The text has a particular resonance with the themes taken up in Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia, particularly in verse 3: “But we make His love too narrow by false limits of our own; And we magnify His strictness with a zeal He will not own. For the love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind; and the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.” This hymn is a staple of Christian worship but is most often sung to the Dutch folk tune IN BABILONE. Calvin Hampton (1938 -1984) took up the challenge to create a fresh rendering of the hymn, composing a new tune with an undulating accompaniment that effectively evokes the movement of waves at sea. The tune name ST. HELENA is given in honor of a community of Episcopalian women active in his parish church (Calvary Episcopal, Gramercy Park, NYC) called the Order of St. Helena. Ken Berg, of Birmingham, AL, composed the choral setting heard in today’s liturgy.

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