Time to say "Yes" to the new Missal...

[quaeritor]

Good to hear you can whistle VML, but I wouldn't have placed you as old and grey.

More seriously, I've missed the "Eldonian" - what? where?

Q

PS - that "smiley" comes up in the draft as "lol" which my daughters insist it text-speak for "lots of love". I hope you don't think I'm being forward!

Q

[Nick Baty]

PS - that "smiley" comes up in the draft as "lol" which my daughters insist it text-speak for "lots of love".

I think it's Laughs Out Loud – related to ROFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing).

[NorthernTenor]

Whatever our personal preferences, it's the memorable stuff that will stick.

.... like the Missal tones, you mean?

Yes.

[alan29]

PS - that "smiley" comes up in the draft as "lol" which my daughters insist it text-speak for "lots of love".

I think it's Laughs Out Loud – related to ROFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing).

Couldn't possible comment on PMSL.

[Nick Baty]

Or ROFLMAO – Rolling on the Floor Laughing my Alb Off!
(Ssssh! We're OR – bears lurking with champagne!)

[Dom Perignon]

We are lurking!

[VML]

Very kind of you, Q, but even remembering the OGWT puts me at a certain age.
The Eldonian Gloria is one of Nick Baty's, from his Concept music. It is a good memorable tune, and we really could do with tunes.
The chant Gloria is IMHO dire. It may grow on us with years of use, and it may work well in a monastic community that is well practised at chant singing. We may try it at some point, especially as our congregation will have the dots in front of them.

[John Ainslie]

The chant Gloria is IMHO dire.

I quite agree. It didn't have to be. An adaptation of Gloria XV which preserves and enhances its melodic formulae but is more sympathetic to the rhythm of the English language is perfectly possible. There is a Chant Mass out there which is an update of one in use in my parish over many years...

[quaeritor]

The chant Gloria is IMHO dire.

I quite agree.

You just beat me to it, John! I started off all shining-eyed enthusiasm determined to persuade the parish to start from the source and work outwards to more elaborate settings when we had time to see what was establishing itself (well, at least it would be free and we could learn the words, and we wouldn't be speculatively laying out significant sums on stuff that might not "take") - but quite honestly I couldn't bring myself to push it. It's doleful throughout which is particularly inappropriate for the Gloria. That opening phrase is just doom-laden and the whole thing is - well - dire is the best (polite) word.

There is a Chant Mass out there which is an update of one in use in my parish over many years...

Any details available?

Q

[Nick Baty]

Any details available?

There A Chant Mass by John Ainslie" – published by Decani.

[FrGareth]

The chant Gloria is IMHO dire.

I quite agree...

I don't see our unaccompanied congregation managing it either. The last few bars seem quite elaborate - big on nobility, but low on simplicity. So far we have set our Gloria to a 3-note psalm tone and I can see the Psallite AAABBBBAAA tone being our next step.

[NorthernTenor]

The chant Gloria is IMHO dire.

I quite agree. It didn't have to be. An adaptation of Gloria XV which preserves and enhances its melodic formulae but is more sympathetic to the rhythm of the English language is perfectly possible. There is a Chant Mass out there which is an update of one in use in my parish over many years...

I listened to the Missal Gloria from Cambridge this morning on the car radio, on may way to an early rehearsal. It confirmed my experience of rehearsing it: it's an effective setting, of greater complexity than the Ambrosian and less than others. In addition, the absence of editorial interference allows for appropriate sensitivity to the nuances of the English text.

I suspect that many liturgical musicians have come to expect a more overt, robust expression of joy from settings of the Gloria and other mass texts - at its worst an ecclesiastical equivalent of the Wall of Sound - and that this has de-sensitised them to the noble simplicity and beauty of more under-stated music. Conversely, I don't feel the Psallite setting pulls this off, though I will be happy to stand correction when I've heard it in action.

[contrabordun]

I suspect that many liturgical musicians have come to expect a more overt, robust expression of joy from settings of the Gloria

Guilty as charged...but it seems to me a reasonable thing to expect, given the words.

and other mass texts

I've not seen any evidence for this though (ie that liturgical musicians' expectations vis a vis the Gloria apply to other mass texts)

[NorthernTenor]

I would suggest your comment illustrates the problem, Paul. Think about it.

[organist]

Westminster Cathedral started using the chant Gloria before the summer at the Saturday 6 p.m. Mass. Within 2 weeks I was thinking this is dull and worse BORING! Only 2 tunes! We are still using St Anne's Mass and some of the chants. I shall be able to report further after Sept 17th! It will be interesting to see just how "green" our churches are - all those missalettes, booklets, fine books recycled???