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AM ALWAYS SEARCHING FOR brief SATB pieces that can be used throughout the liturgical year. The following seems to have been written for the institution of the FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING, 1 but can be sung at any time. The piece alternates back and forth between chant & polyphony, just like this setting of the “Ave Maris Stella.” Examine the chant used by Mercier and you’ll see it comes from Mocquereau’s 1903 Liber Usualis. This suggests that Mocquereau’s edition continued to be employed by French musicians in spite of the Editio Vaticana publications which began appearing in 1905.
* * PDF Download • “Te Saeculorum” (MERCIER)
When you listen to this rehearsal video, do you hear how the composer has mixed together in a marvelous fashion the plainsong melody?
That rehearsal video uses words the first time; but when the refrain is repeated, it’s sung in Solfège. It also provides assistance for counting the rhythm.
Rehearsal Videos :
EQUAL VOICES : YouTube • Mp3 Audio
When teaching the chant verses, you can use this accompaniment.
NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:
1 Pope Pius XI—who also wrote about the Sacrament of Matrimony—established the Feast of Christ the King on 11 December 1925, by means of an encyclical letter called “Quas primas.”
