Fourth Sunday of Lent

Choral Highlights for

Celebration of Mass and other public liturgies is suspended until further notice. 

Even though the Schola Cantorum will not be providing its customary musical leadership this Sunday given the cancellation of public liturgies, we’d like to share some of the music that we had planned to sing, for your own reflection and meditation. Couple this with reading the scripture of the day (USCCB website), and your own personal prayer or reflection with your family at home. For your daily prayer life we also recommend either a digital or print version of the excellent Give Us This Day prayer resource. Many also are finding sustenance in participating in an online or livestreamed Mass – see a list of options for daily and Sunday Masses (Archdiocese of Washington webite).
 
You may wish to begin your reflection with this prayer:
God our Creator, show forth your mighty works in the midst of your people.
Enlighten your Church that we may know your Son as the true light of the world and through our worship confess him as Christ and Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, holy and mighty God for ever and ever.  Amen

10am Mass Introit - Laetare Jerusalem

This entrance chant in the 5th mode takes its text from Isaiah 66:10-11 and Psalm 122:1. The joyful character of the text hints at the joy of Easter soon to come. The opening motive on the word ‘Laetare’ is the same as the final motive on the Alleluia at the Easter Vigil, connecting the minor joy of this feast with the great joy of Easter. Here is the English translation of the Latin text: “Rejoice, O Jerusalem; and gather round, all you who love her; Rejoice in gladness, after having been in sorrow; exult and be replenished with the consolation flowing from her motherly bosom. I rejoiced when it was said unto me: “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” 

To hear a version, click below:

11:30am Mass Prelude, Rejoice in the Lord, Always – Anonymous 

This anonymously composed motet from mid-16th century England has been a standard of the English liturgical choral repertoire. The text from the 4th chapter of Philippians (KJV) shares the first word with today’s Introit text ‘rejoice’ or ‘Laetare’ from which this Sunday is named. While its authorship remains uncertain, the clarity of its counterpoint and textually sensitive use of interplay between polyphony and monophony suggests a well-trained Tudor-era composer on the level of Tallis or Byrd.

To hear a version, click below:

10am Mass Preparation of the Gifts, Erravi Sicut Ovis – Thomas Crecquillon (c. 1505 - 1557)

This simple and gentle setting of verse 176 of Psalm 119, recalls today’s responsorial Psalm 23, where God’s goodness and mercy are compared with that of a shepherd. The motet uses imitative counterpoint throughout for each successive vocal entrance and prefigures the Palestrina polyphonic style. Crecquillon was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Lowlands and a priest in the chapel of Charles V. Whether he ever ascended to the position of Chapel Master remains uncertain. The text is from Psalm 119: “ I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek out your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.” Though this motet has not yet been recorded, click below to hear a Crecquillon motet sung by the Schola earlier this season, “Pater Peccavi,” to give you a sense of the compositional style:

11:30am Mass Preparation of the Gifts, Illumine the Eyes of Our Hearts – Brent Weiland Weiland (1963 – 2015)

Brent Weiland was a Chicago based composer and music director. This motet uses an imitative technique between the men’s and women’s voice of the choir. The text speaks of Christ as the light of the world, and his healing of the blind man from today’s Gospel. The text is from the Byzantine "Pentecostarion."
 
In Your merciful loving-kindness,
You took flesh for us, O Christ our God.
You gave light to a man who, from his mother's womb, lived in darkness.
How wondrous is Your compassion!
You anointed his eyes with the mud Your fingers had molded,
and made him worthy to be flooded with light divine!
So now enlighten us, O Giver of Life! Illumine the eyes of our hearts,
For you alone are the Fountain of grace!

10am Mass Post-Communion Motet, Ave Verum – Francis Poulenc (1899 – 1963)

Poulenc was a French composer and pianist. Although primarily self-taught, he studied piano with Ricardo Viñes beginning in 1914, and through Viñes was introduced to many contemporary musicians of his day, including the other members of Les Six . He composed over multiple genres including opera, orchestral, chamber, and choral. This setting of the Ave Verum prayer was composed in 1952, around the same time as his Quatre motets pour le temps de Noël.

To hear a version, click below:

11:30am Mass Post-Communion Motet, Open Thou Mine Eyes – John Rutter (b. 1945)

This motet is based on a prayer by one of the greatest figures in late renaissance English literature and principal editor and translator of the King James Version of the Bible, Lancelot Andrewes, Anglican bishop of Chichester, Ely, and Winchester dioceses in the 16th century. It is found in his book of Daily Prayers “Preces Privitae,” a private devotional prayer book published posthumously in 1648 and 1675. The text of the prayer was set in 1980 by the English composer John Rutter as a commission by the Texas Choral Director’s Association. It is written in a very gentle and simple style, with an opening motive explored by various vocal arrangements with limited harmonic interaction.

To hear a version, click below: