Settings of English Liturgical Texts

Look for several settings of English liturgical texts in the forthcoming new edition of The St. Michael Hymnal, including my Entrance Antiphons.

I. Entrance Antiphons

Congregational responses for Sundays and Solemnities, with Psalm verses for choir or cantor. Responses are based on simple chant melodies, while the verses are loosely based on the tones of the Invitatory. Includes two verses, plus a setting of the Gloria Patri for optional use as the final verse. Modern notation with organ accompaniment. The organ/cantor edition may be purchased for PDF download 
on the St. Michael Hymnal web site.

II. Simple Choral Gradual

SATB settings of Entrance, Offertory, and Communion Antiphons with their accompanying Psalm verses for the Sundays and Solemnities of the Church Year. Simple harmonies are suitable for modest mixed choirs, or can be used as a unison setting with organ. The recently updated collection is available for download through the Church Music Association of America. A printed edition is available through Amazon.com.

I am preparing an edition of SCG that contains the melodies of the refrains for congregational use. Here is Volume 1 for Advent and Christmas, and Volume 2 for Sundays 2–12; others will follow.

In progress: Choral Missal 2010

SATB settings of the Entrance and Communion antiphons from the new
English Missal. Here is a first draft of the Sundays of Advent.

III. Responsorial Psalms

English responses use simple chant-like melodies. Verses use an accompanied expanded version of Gregorian psalm tones or unaccompanied simple tones.

Individual psalms are available from the Chabanel Responsorial Psalm Project.

Note: The complete collection is undergoing revisions. Check back soon
for a new complete Lulu.com edition.

        

Meanwhile, feel free to download these ZIPfiles containing Psalms for Sundays and Solemnities that have been revised as of October 2011. These should address the most egregious (and embarrassing) textual errors present in both the Chabanel and Lulu.com editions:

Year A Psalms       Year B Psalms       Year C Psalms       Year ABC Psalms

IV. Magnificat Antiphons

Simple settings based on Tone VIII Gregorian Chant melodies
of the English Magnificat Antiphons for Evening Prayer II, as found in Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours, for Sundays and Solemnities of the Church Year. Includes solemn and simple tones for the Magnificat canticle in both Latin and English.

Available in a Schola Edition, which uses traditional chant notation. Also available in an Accompaniment Edition, which
uses modern notation. PDF downloads available from Lulu.com.

 

V. Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis

SATB settings of the traditional Anglican Evensong texts. Recordings of Mag and Nunc feature The New York Virtuoso Singers, conducted by Harold Rosenbaum.


VI. English Offertories

SATB settings of six Offertory Chants, using English translations from the Grail Psalter, and set in the style of traditional English anthems. These liturgical texts can be used as seasonal motets as well, and Ave Maria for the Fourth Sunday of Advent might be useful throughout the year. The current collection includes Offertories for the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Sundays of Advent, and for the Christmas Vigil and Midnight Masses.