Advent is upon us

As we begin the new church year, we notice several seasonal changes to
the liturgy. Last week at the celebration of Christ the King, we heard
festive sounds; we proclaimed Glory to God in the highest. This week
we notice that the color of the sanctuary has changed to the purple of
Advent. The Gloria is not proclaimed on Sundays during Advent. At St.
Louis we sing the Kyrie (Lord, have mercy) in the Penitential Rite
during the seasons of Advent and Lent. It does not replace the Gloria - the Kyrie is present throughout the whole year, but at St. Louis we
sing it during Advent as a means of giving greater emphasis to our
personal need to seek a closer relationship with God as we wait for
the coming of Christ.

St. Louis Choir
Yesterday for the 1st Sunday of Advent, the St. Louis Choir sang the following choral works. The Prelude was Now Let Every Tongue Adore Thee by J.S.Bach from Cantata No.140, Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme. "Therefore, stay awake!" from Matthew's gospel ready of the day. During the Preparation of the Gifts, the choir sang "And the Glory of the Lord" from the Advent portion of Messiah(G.F.Handel). The text is Isaiah 40:5 - "And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." In Isaiah this follows the familiar preceeding passage -

"A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley." (Isaiah 40:3-4)

During Communion, the choir sang Psalm 84 "How lovely are Thy dwellings". The piece is a Hal Hopson arrangement of Gabriel Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine. Psalm 84 was the Communion Antiphon for the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Youth Band
The St. Louis Youth Band sang for the 9:30am Mass yesterday - they
sing at the 9:30am Mass on the 4th Sunday of the month during the
school year. One of the goals of the group is to experience a vast
variety of sacred music. Yesterday was an opportunity to explore that
goal. At all of the Masses this weekend, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel was the Gathering Hymn. This familiar chant and text (O Antiphons) has been present in the Church for hundreds of years. At the 9:30am Mass the Youth Band sang additional harmonies composed by David Willcocks. In addition they sang Ave Maria by Dan Kantor which incorporates a modern (1993) melody with the Ave Maria Chant. As the Closing Hymn, the Youth Band sang Emmanuel by Steve Angrisano, a modern (2004) setting of the O Antiphon text.

A Beginning Blog

What an incredible weekend! It seems only fitting to begin a blog about Music Ministry at St. Louis at a time so filled with music.

At the 4pm Mass, the Children’s Choir sang at the monthly Children’s Mass. This group – newly formed this fall for children in grades 2-5 – is under the direction of Mary Theresa Suhar.

The 5:30pm Mass was the annual Bereavement Mass. Erin Hedden played violin including a violin/organ transcription of Pie Jesu from Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem.

Larissa Sanders, the new Associate Organist at St. Louis, played at the 8am Mass. She arrives at St. Louis with a great deal of experience as a pianist and organist in addition to her experience as a choral conductor for both adult and children’s groups.

At the 11:15am Mass, the St. Louis Choir sang Jerusalem, My Happy Home by James Hopkins, Maurice Duruflé’s setting of Ubi Caritas and Sheep May Safely Graze by J.S.Bach. The Bach included two flutes – choir members Susan Carron and Erin Pickett – and piano.

On Sunday afternoon, the Youth Band sang for Confirmation at 3pm and 5:30pm. The music included a great variety of musical styles and texts over a vast time period – specifically John Rutter’s I Will Sing with the Spirit, Tom Booth’s I Will Choose Christ, Jim Cowan’s The Cup of Life Outpoured, and O God Beyond All Praising to the tune THAXTED by Gustav Holst.

In the weeks ahead, I would like to use this space as a means of answering the who, what, and why of Music Ministry at St. Louis. What piece of music was that this morning? What was the thinking behind it? Who wrote it? Who played it? Why is it important at this point in the Church year? What is the meaning behind singing it at today's celebration?