An Abundance of Blessings

Thanksgiving Mass was such a blessing for us. More people got to sing the Esurientes this year, and it was a real stretch for some who have not sung it before, but they were brave and God was glorified...when you listen to the audio file, the clip clopping sound you hear is the children of our parish going up to put their offerings on the altar.

Then, at communion, four very young and very brave people stood up. There was an energy in the air between us, and as Rob began the opening, I could see the look, the question...can we do this? Will it be okay? Are we gonna actually SING this song? In PUBLIC? It is quite difficult to sing something like this piece when you are alone on your part, and are not a professional musician. It was truly an offering of our hearts, and a test of the collective will of those involved to offer it in spite of the fact it would not be perfect, but would be perfectly us. So...the live recording of the piece we failed at so miserably at the All State Honor Choir Auditions last year, offered in its proper place before the altar of God one year and hours of work later:

Sean yet again did a great job cantoring, singing Psalm 145:

And one for the sing along'er's: Now Thank We All Our God---

The National Catholic Youth Conference

From The Catholic Key in Kansas City:

The National Catholic Youth Conference's Eucharistic procession through the streets of downtown Kansas City. 22,000 youth. Go read the article at the link above. Gives you a lot to think about.

Thanksgiving Day Mass

We will offer the music at the Thanksgiving Day Mass at St. R's on Thursday, November 26th at 9:00 AM. This is the choir's last true week off until, well, I guess it might be safe to say April, so pray for us, we have a long and difficult road ahead of us.

Our primary goals during the busy season ahead are these, listed in order of importance:

1. To be present at, and pray with the community at, Mass every Sunday. Once a month, we will offer our music to the glory of God at the Saturday 5:30 PM Mass.
2. To work hard at musical excellence, focusing on improving tone and blending.
3. To work hard in service to St. Richard's as the need arises.
4. To work hard at earning money for the scholarship fund for the Choir to go to Rome.
5. To work hard at earning money for the choir's operating expenses and service projects for the Junior Youth Choir.
6. To be ambassadors for St. Richard's, Jackson, and Mississippi as we travel to Mass wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.

If we stay true to our goals, we will represent our Parish and our Church with dignity and with grace. Please pray for the intercessions of St. Cecilia and St. Gregory for the choir.

The 2008-2009 St. Richard Youth Choir:

Sopranos
Claire (5), Chantele (4), Emily (2), Mollie (2), Catherine (N), Kathleen (N), Mary Claire (3)

Altos
Kaitlyn (6), Katie (6), Ramsay (2)

Guys
Sean (5), Scott (4), James (4), Trey (4), Kolbe (N)

The numbers are the years each choir member has been here. An "N" indicates that this is their very first year in this choir. Many, like Claire, Katie, Sean, Chantele and Trey, Mollie and Scott, were also in the Junior Youth Choir from the very beginning when they were in Kindergarten or first grade, so they have been here much much longer.

Our Communion Anthem at Mass this thanksgiving is very special to us. Last year, when we auditioned for State Honor Choir and discovered how horribly difficult that was going to be, we had to learn Laetatus Sum for the audition. Because it was so beautiful, everyone decided then and there that the learning of it should not be wasted and piece NEEDED to be sung at Mass, where it was intended to be sung when it was written by Haydn in the "way back then." So, a year later, here we are, ready to put it before God and the people of St. R's. We hope you will find it an inspiring piece to reflect on after communion.

COMMUNION ANTHEM:

Laetatus Sum, by Johann Michael Haydn (1737-1806)
available through Theodore Presser Co. # 312-41607

The text of Laetatus Sum is:

Laetatus sum, laetatus sum
in his, in his quae dicta sunt mihi:
in domum Domini ibimus,
in his, in his, laetatus sum, laetatus sum.
Fiat pax in virtute tua,
in virtute tua:
et abundantia, et abundantia, in turibus tuis.
Fiat pax in virtute tua,
in virtute tua:
et abundantia, et abundantia, in turibus tuis.
Laetatus sum, laetatus sum
in his, in his quae dicta sunt mihi:
in domum Domini ibimus,
in his, in his, laetatus sum, laetatus sum.
Fiat pax in virtute tua,
in virtute tua:
et abundantia, et abundantia, in turibus tuis.
Fiat pax in virtute tua,in virtute tua:
et abundantia, et abundantia, in turibus tuis.
Laetatus sum, laetatus sum
in his, in his quae dicta sunt mihi,
Laetatus sum, laetatus sum.

TRANSLATION for Laetatus Sum:

For I rejoiced, for I rejoiced with those, with those
who said unto me
"Now let us go to the house of God,"
with those, with those, for I rejoiced, for I rejoiced.
And may peace be within your ramparts,
be within your ramparts,
and great prosperity, and great prosperity be
within your towers.... etc.

OFFERTORY ANTHEM:

The Offertory will yet again be Esurientes Implevit Bonis by Vivaldi. (For information on the song and it's publisher, look last year at Thanksgiving for texts and such) The text is just unsurpassed for a Holiday like Thanksgiving. Translated:

"The poor he has filled with many good things, but the rich he has sent away empty."

From the Magnificat, it is a beautiful reminder of our task to give thanks and praise to God and remember the poor among us.

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: $40, 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.

November 7th Mass at St. Richard's, a few snidbits and commentary

While we were rehearsing, I heard someone jokingly mention we should do an entire Mass in "duck," quacking our way through various hymns, ordinary and anthems. As I reeled at the thought of this terrible idea, I pondered how young people who are attempting the impossible task of singing this very difficult music with so few people and so many parts must sometimes reach within the depths of their courage to do what we do here at the Youth Choir. Though singing a whole Mass in duck is an absolute "not gonna happen", the occasional craziness we engage in on YouTube and the occasional steam-blowing-off techniques in rehearsal keep us sane as the music gets really really hard.

This year, among our challenge pieces are some small but potent polyphonic anthems. In rehearsal, we put the finishing touches on this lovely piece by Palestrina, "Jesu, Rex Admirabilis"



Text to Jesu, Rex Admirabilis!

Jesu, Rex admirabilis!
Et Triumphator nobilis.
Dulcedo, ineffabilis.
Totus desiderabilis.

For those of you who have been with us since last year, please do note how far our young men have come since their early beginnings in those "man" voices. Here, we have a good example of what they are capable of.

At Mass, James sang the psalm and did a wonderful job. Here is a recording of Psalm 146, recorded live at Mass:

The Communion Anthem, Mozart's great Ave Verum, was especially lovely. Because we had so few young men, we put everyone on the top two parts, a strategy that works very well for small choirs attempting to get a Masterwork of this caliber into our repertoire.

Text for Mozart's Ave Verum
-available through Mills Music, Inc. New York #64058

Ave, Ave verum corpus
natum de Maria virgine:
vere passum immolatum
in cruce pro homine:
Cujus latus perforatum
unda fluxit et sanguine:
Esto nobis praegustatum
in mortis examine,
in mortis examine.

Translation for Ave Verum

Jesu, Word of God Incarnate,
Of the Virgin Mary born;
On the Cross Thy sacred Body
For us men with nails was torn.
Cleanse us by the Blood
and Water Streaming
from Thy pierced side.
Feed us with Thy Body broken,
Now and in death's agony,
Now, now, now, now and in death's agony.

I also recorded Fr. Dall's Sermon, which I had the benefit of hearing three times this weekend, as I helped with the Junior Youth Choir at 8:00 AM Sunday, and sang with the adults at 10:30 AM Sunday.

And for our good friends of the blog who like to sing along with great hymns...I add "We Gather Together":

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!