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Views from the Choir Loft

Which Mass Goes With Which Season?

Jeff Ostrowski · December 30, 2015

897 Verdelot Polyphony “Deo Gratias” ANY BELIEVE the Ordinarium Missae to be more ancient than the Proprium Missae. Nothing could be further from the truth! Most of the Mass Ordinary is quite recent compared to the Proprium, especially the Creed (which to this day is placed in a different section). We have become accustomed to seeing “Mass in honor of Such-And-Such” and the entire setting will match; but this wasn’t how things were done 1,000 years ago. The KYRIE settings were in one place, the AGNUS DEI settings in another, and so forth.

Abbot Pothier and Dr. Peter Wagner made sure to remind those who used the Editio Vaticana that the Mass Settings—Mass I, Mass II, Mass III, and so forth—can be mixed with one another freely, but most people don’t realize this. For example, many believe that only the first Mass Setting can be used for Eastertide. (I once worked for a priest who thought that.) This view is indefensible yet popular. Perusing the ancient manuscripts, we see how freely the Mass settings were mixed, and this was true when the Renaissance composers were creating their masterpieces.

For instance, if you look at Missa de Beata Virgine—for the Blessed Virgin Mary—by Cristóbal de Morales, 1 you’ll see he uses Mass IX for the KYRIE. Mass IX in our current books has the suggestion “In festis B. Mariae Virginis,” and the Gloria was troped with Marian prayers before the Council of Trent. However, Morales uses Mass XVII for the SANCTUS, BENEDICTUS and AGNUS DEI. [The SANCTUS for Mass IX and XVII begin similarly, but there is no doubt Morales was using Sanctus XVII, not Sanctus IX, when you look at the rest of the piece.] Mass XVII is labeled as “Adventus et Quadragesimae.” 2 Francisco Guerrero (d. 1599) uses Mass IV for his “De Beata Virgine” KYRIE. Yet, in another Mass for the Blessed Virgin, Guerrero uses Mass IX for his KYRIE, just like Morales did!

Some Renaissance composers even set the “Deo Gratias” using polyphony. Verdelot’s Mass is an example, as you can see in the upper right corner.



NOTES FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1   Fr. Morales was a Spanish priest who died in 1553.

2   For the record, the plainsong melodies from Mass XVII are used by Morales in a very clear way that is quite striking. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another Mass quite like it. It is almost a harmonization of the plainsong!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Francisco Guerrero Composer Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

23 May 2022 • FEEDBACK

From a reader: “I wasn’t looking for it. But, I stumbled across your hand-dandy arrangement of Pachelbel’s Canon. Jeff, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread! I had to play a wedding on Saturday. The bride requested the Canon. There were 11 bridesmaids! The organ loft is a football field away from the communion rail. It’s so difficult to play and keep checking the mirror. Your arrangement is absolutely genius. One can skip and choose which variations to use. The chord names are handy so that when my eyes are off the music, I always know where I am at. A thousand times thank you for sharing this arrangement!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
19 May 2022 • “Trochee Trouble”

I’m still trying to decide how to visually present the “pure” Editio Vaticana scores, using what is (technically) the official rhythm of the Church. You can download my latest attempt, for this coming Sunday. Notice the “trochee trouble” as well as the old issue of neumes before the quilisma.

—Jeff Ostrowski
16 May 2022 • Harmonized Chant?

This year’s upcoming Sacred Music Symposium will demonstrate several ways to sing the CREDO at Mass. This is because—for many parishes—to sing a full-length polyphonic CREDO by Victoria or Palestrina is out of the question. Therefore, we show options that are halfway between plainsong and polyphony. You can hear my choir rehearsing a section that sounds like harmonized plainsong.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“We know that originally the offertories of the repertoire included a series of verses, just like the introit and the communion, but generally more ornate. Many of these are musical compositions of great beauty. They quickly fell into disuse, and we find them only in the most ancient manuscripts. The only remaining trace of this older arrangement in our present-day liturgy is that of the offertory of the Requiem Mass.”

— Dom Joseph Gajard (1956)

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