ODAY I PLAYED MY FIRST SPANISH-LANGUAGE NUPTIAL MASS – a glorious occasion, but one not without a learning curve for this music director! In search of a good Spanish setting of one of the nuptial Mass psalms, I sent out a plea to my colleagues in the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians. And boy, was I richly rewarded! My fellow laborer in the vineyard of souls, Marc Cerisier, pointed me to a lovely setting that he had recently composed of Ps 34 (“Haz la prueba y verás qué bueno es el Señor”).
This psalm, and many more fine compositions by composers both past and present, are helpfully catalogued at the CRCCM’s new Repertoire Project (https://repertoire.crccm.org), a database which offers an ever-expanding list of choral music recommendations for Sundays, solemnities, and ritual Masses throughout the liturgical year by way of a user-friendly online interface. The database includes entries about published/copyrighted works, as well as entries with scores for those that are in the public domain or made freely available by the composer. The contents of the database are searchable by liturgical date or season, composer, language, musical forces required, and more!
This resource is made freely available to everyone, not just cathedral music directors. As the webpage states, “The Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians humbly offers this trove of choral repertoire to Roman Catholic musicians and those of other denominations as an aid to planning music for liturgical celebrations. We hope you find this resource valuable and we invite you to revisit the site periodically as its offerings are further enriched over time.”
I hope that you will take advantage of this treasure trove of ideas and resources, and I would like to extend my thanks to all of my CRCCM colleagues for their collegiality and support, which enable us all to better serve Our Lord and His people.
