HOPE EVERYONE had a wonderful Christmas! Today, I finally had time to watch the Midnight Mass at the Vatican. The Sistine Chapel Choir, as I mentioned before, is sounding better each time and looks like they got new choir stalls recently. I am sure that the nice choir stalls are contributing to that nice blending. On the right, the bottom picture shows the new choir stalls and the top picture was taken a few years ago when the Westminster Abbey Choir visited Rome.
The Holy Father celebrated this Mass mainly in Latin and the Roman Canon was also said. The Sistine Chapel Choir sang beautifully. The men chanted like monks and the boys sounded like they have been training in Britain. Here is a video of Silent Night, which was sung after the Communio. The new choir stalls can also be seen in this video (4:14).
And here is a video of the Introit chanted by the men, nicely and calmly.
If you would like to watch the whole Mass, here is a video from the Vatican Youtube channel. Here are some highlights you won’t want to miss:
Processional Hymn – Angels We Have Heard On High with beautiful descants (6:20)
Solemn Proclamation of the Nativity (13:00)
The Nine-fold Kyrie IX (23:14)
Credo III with a special arrangement of Et incarnatus est (57:25)
Communio – In splendoribus with harmonized verses (1:31:19)
Recessional Hymn – Adeste Fideles arranged by Sir David Willcocks (1:45:50)
