Palestrina and Mozart and Bears, oh my!

We sing at Mass today. I have been so crazy busy that I forgot to post that earlier in the week. I forgot to invite everyone to Mass on Facebook, and I neglected my usual pattern of posting the texts to the songs prior to Mass so everyone could see them and understand the words.

I am sorry to all who have come to count on these things.

However, we DID serve at the big honorary dinner for Andre de Gruy, and they WERE extremely generous and the event went well. The food looked good, and cooked by the KC's. We did a good job as waiters/waitresses and dishcrew, and the event seemed to be a rousing success.

So, this afternoon, we will sing Mozart's great anthem "Ave Verum" and Palestrina's "Jesu, Rex Admirabilis." For texts and translations, check back here tomorrow or Monday. By then, I should have had a few minutes of spare time to upload pics, video and audio files and get the texts typed in. I have to translate the Palestrina, so it will probably just get a literal word by word translation and I'll skip trying to make it artful.

Have a blessed day, and we'll see you at Mass!

ANNOUNCEMENT OF GREAT YUMMYNESS!

It's time again.

Order forms for brownie pop wreaths and party platters will be available starting WEDNESDAY, November 11th outside the choir room. This year, we will ONLY be selling wreaths and Plates, and only to those who pre-order them.

How much, what kind?

PLATE: $20, contains approximately 20 brownie pops decoratively arranged with a bow

SMALL WREATH: $35, contains approx. 25-30 brownie pops

LARGE WREATH: $50, contains approx. 35-40 pops

Each "pop" is a chocolate-covered brownie on a stick, individually wrapped. Some are plain, and some are rolled in toppings.

Toppings include:

Peppermint

Toffee

Sprinkles

Walnuts

M & M's

The wreaths are perfect for family gatherings, office parties, and because they keep VERY well in a air-controlled room, can be used as a centerpiece or interior door wreath and people can pull a pop off whenever they want a sweet pick-me-up.

Youth Choir members will be available on Wednesday nights at dinner to take orders, and you can always email Ms. C at csb4sryc@comcast.net if you'd like additional information. God bless you and your family this Holy-day season!

All money raised will go into our scholarship/travel fund.

A really really funny thing

From WDTPRS, comes this jewel in the com box (that's comment box for those who do not regularly read blogs)...

Fr. Zuhlsdorf was commenting on a speech given by Bishop Trautman at Catholic University of America in which his Excellency was concerned that the vocabulary of the new translations is possibly "incomprehensible" to the average Catholic because of words like "ineffable, incarnate, and consubstantial", and Fr. Z has some excellent thoughts on this matter at his website which you can visit here

Anyway, in the 100 or so comments that followed, there is this (edited for length):

Parishioner to children's choir director:

“Everyone should pray in the language they actually speak. Why, these kids don’t even understand what they’re singing. You, there—” he singles out one child—- “I’ll bet you don’t know what Kyrie eleison means.”

“Bet I do.”

“OK, what does it mean?”

“It means Miserere Domine.”

*smile*

Mass for Life, offered at St. Richard's as part of Respect for Life Month, October 2009

On Tuesday evening, we gathered in the Church to offer Mass as Catholic "People for Life" during Respect for Life month which is observed during October every year. Fr. Dall said best, said it all, so, please take the time to listen to his sermon from Mass:




I especially liked the Community Prayers. They seemed to address many of the heartaches that women face who are making difficult decisions. You can listen to, and pray with, ALL of the Community Prayers, by CLICKING HERE.

Music was a joint offering by the St. Richard Youth Choir and the St. Richard Band. Gail Madden is the director of the band, which serves weekly at the 5:30 PM Sunday Mass. We were happy to join them in serving God & His people in this special Mass. Video of some of their work can be found by CLICKING HERE.

For our part, we sang "Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God," by P. Bouman. The text:

Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me,
renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away, cast me not away
from thy presence.
And take not thy Holy Spirit from me
and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.

Grant unto me the joy of thy salvation,
grant unto me the joy of thy salvation,
uphold me with thy free spirit
uphold me with thy free spirit.

Video of the Communion Anthem




We should also take a moment to thank Suzan Cox, Gail Madden, Fr. Lincoln Dall, Helen Walsh, Allyson Harris, Brian, and all the youth who particpated for their hard work helping to make this Mass for Life such a success. Call the Church office for information regarding all of the opportunities for prayer, sacrifice, and witness that Fr. Dall talks about in his sermon; the number is (601) 366-2335.

Congratulations are in Order

Congrats to Ramsay, Emily, and Claire for making the Mississippi Girlchoir's Treble Song Honor Choir!!! Now, get to work learning that music! Just kidding, but you will be getting CD's soon and then we will have to get to work.

Don't Monkey Around with your Time Talents & Treasures

Before Mass, we gathered in the choir room as usual, but trickling in for some strange reason. We really missed Kaitlyn, as she was in Washington D.C. this weekend on an adventure in Democracy. We wish her well and pray that she returns safely to us next week. The weather was dreary, and our voices and energy were down a bit, but Mass matters, so we came, we sang, we gave God our best.

Cantate Domino before Mass:



Than, we ran through Laetatus Sum for Thanksgiving, and that was kind of frightening. They will surely work some on it at home, right guys????? Ms. C smiles, but looks worried, too, at her ducklings who are still struggling with the ginormously difficult piece we decided we really wanted to sing at home after working so hard to learn it last year....

So, here are some live recordings from Mass: You might want to grab some headphones for the psalm, because it is quite low in volume. I was counting on the Church's new sound system to record it, and I just haven't quite figured out how to make that work yet. Hat tip to Suzan for helping us work out Sound issues. Thank you.

Psalm 90:

Fr. Mike warned us against monkeying around with our time, talents & treasures in his Sermon:

He was working off of this gospel, just in case you didn't make it to Mass because you were in, like Washington D.C. or something. Ms. C winks at Kaitlyn and smiles.

Then, we got to work with our talents, giving them back to God, with the Offertory Anthem, A Jubilant Song by M. L. Lightfoot:

Text to the Offertory anthem:

A Jubilant Song,
by Mary Lynn Lightfoot
available through The Sacred Music Press, #10/1026-2

Cantate Domino canticum novum,
Sing to the Lord a new jubilant song!
Cantate Domino canticum novum,
omnis terra, Sing to the Lord all the earth!
(repeat)

Let the seas roar, and the floods clap their hands!
Let the hills sing together for joy!
Let the heavens and the earth all rejoice;
for the Lord is greatly to be praised!
Proclaim God's salvation!
Declare God's great glory!
Lift up a jubilant song
and make joyful noise!
Make joyful noise!
Make joyful noise!
(repeat refrain)

Communion Anthem and text:

Cantate Domino,
by Guiseppe Ottavio Pitoni (1657-1745)

Cantate domino, cantate!
Cantate, cantate, domino canticum novum.
Laus ejus in ecclesia, sanctorum,
in ecclesia, sanctorum.

Laetetur Israel, in eo
Laetetur, laetetur, in eo
qui fecit, eum.

Et filii Sion, et filii Sion,
exultent, exultent, exultent
in regesuo. Exultent, exultent
in regesuo.

Translatio (with a little help from me, b/c some of the translation provided was just silly):

Sing to the Lord a new song,
sing His glory in the multitude of His saints.

Be joyful Israel, be joyful, be joyful
in the Lord who made you;
and sons of Sion, with gladness rejoice in your King.

Finally, we ended our celebration with Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, and I'm including it because I like it:

I think there are those out there who like to sing along with our web songs, and for them, I toss a "thank you" and remind everyone that you can comment any time you like. I've got comment moderation on because there are teenagers who visit this site regularly and they do not always have great judgment in their commenting, so a little extra precaution is in order.

We sing again in November, both on the 7th and at Thanksgiving. We hope to see you at Mass, and in the mean time, Cantate Domino!!!!

State Honor Choir is Coming: Preview

The State Honor Choir repertoire this year has some real jewels. Of the songs I could find out there on You Tube, these are the best representatives from the flock...

Six of our choir members will be auditioning this year, and this post is mostly for them so that they may begin to get these often difficult songs deeply embedded in their minds enough to be able to sing them in a quartet in January for some really stiff judges. We are excited, and in scramble to the finish line mode right now. I pray that St. Cecilia will bless us as we begin to work for this honor. The skills gained from singing in the big honor choirs come home to rest in our quality offerings at Mass, so it is ALWAYS worth the work to pursue the hard choir.

The Youtube direct link to my playlist is here.

The songs that we can begin with are:

Famine Song (which I find hauntingly beautiful, having known several of the boys who survived the march in Sudan and became beloved members of the Episcopal Church here in town):



Bogoroditse Devo (a beautiful anthem to the Virgin by Rachmaninoff):



The SECOND song on this video is the Cantate Domino by Croce. This is the song for State. The Mozart is just lagniappe because I'm lazy and don't feel like editing it off:



This one is AWESOME...I wish we had sixty kids and a Mass that it was even remotely appropriate to sing this at...some days I think I've got a gospel bone deep in my body, because I just can't WAIT to hear this next Spring: