• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

New Collection of Propers from GIA

Fr. David Friel · October 2, 2016

UBLISHING SETS of English Mass propers began to catch on in earnest only a few years ago. The trend began with individual efforts, largely published freely online. The trend is growing, apparently into something of a market.

An abundance of free, propers-based resources are available here at CC Watershed. The Simple English Propers project remains freely available here. Richard Rice’s Communio project is posted here for free download.

Several wonderful collections of propers have been released in recent years by CanticaNOVA Publications. There is also Fr. Weber’s excellent book, The Proper of the Mass for Sundays and Solemnities, still available through Ignatius Press. Filling a void for the oft-neglected offertory propers is Dr. Jon Naples’ outstanding collection, Offertory.

The field is no longer limited, though, to niche markets.

Interestingly, the trend towards propers has begun to find a home even in the large publishing houses of liturgical music. For example, just released by GIA Publications is the first volume of Honey from the Rock, a new collection that takes texts from the antiphons of the Roman Missal and sets them to music in a variety of genres. This is actually the first installment of a promised four-volume series from GIA.

There are other examples, too. Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB has settings of entrance and communion antiphons for the year available through OCP. International Library Publications offers a few collections of antiphons here.

For a long time, the Mass propers have not accounted for a very large share of the liturgical music publishing market. This is strange, of course, since the actual liturgical texts would seem the ideal texts for producing liturgical music. This new momentum says something about where we are in the project of restoring truly sacred music.

The fact that major publishers are offering collections based on proper texts is evidence that there is a market for this. Publishers would not be producing new vernacular settings of the propers if they did not expect them to sell. This means that the propers movement has achieved at least some degree of traction.

Needless to say, not all of the aforementioned resources are of the same quality or the same suitability for Catholic worship. Nevertheless, the fact that more publishers are taking seriously the need to provide music for the official liturgical texts, rather than simply songs of our own creation, is quite significant. It means that our ongoing grassroots efforts for truly sacred music, rooted in the liturgy of the Church, is bearing fruit.

Someone else reacting to the new collection from GIA might be disappointed, looking down about the modern music styles used by the composer. What I see, however, is hope.

Growing attention to the Mass propers—even in styles that may not epitomize universality, beauty, and holiness—is evidence that authentically Catholic liturgical music has promise.

Editor’s Note: Richard Rice recently released 900 pages of English Propers with accompaniment (Volume 1 and Volume) which can be downloaded free of charge if you create a Lulu username & password.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Alius Cantus Aptus, Authentic Liturgical Renewal Reform, CanticaNOVA Publications, Hymns Replacing Propers, Proper of the Mass in English, Propers, Roman Missal Third Edition, Simple English Mass Propers, Singing the Mass Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at Saint Anselm Church in Northeast Philly before earning a doctorate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America. He presently serves as Vocation Director for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and teaches liturgy at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The first tasks of the new pope will be to restore normality, restore doctrinal clarity in faith and morals, restore a proper respect for the law and ensure that the first criterion for the nomination of bishops is acceptance of the apostolic tradition. Theological expertise and learning are an advantage, not a hinderance for all bishops and especially archbishops.”

— Cardinal Pell (2022) about the pope who will succeed Francis

Recent Posts

  • Three (3) Tricks Every Choir Director Should Learn
  • Question: “How Do You Read The Official Edition?”
  • PDF Download • “Organ Accompaniment Booklet” (Passion Sunday Vespers) — 24 pages
  • Vespers for Easter Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
  • Hidden Gem: Ave Regina Caelorum (Steven Talley)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.