Rabbula Gospels, 6th c. Syriac

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Ascension Thursday

May 30, 2019

7 P. M. Sung Mass

____________________________

Common

Missa super osculetur me, Orlando di Lasso (1532-1594)

Tonight’s service features music in the cori spezzati style pioneered in Venice in the late 16th century: two choirs in different locations pass music back and forth, with the resulting stereophonic effects creating all sorts of dramatic possibilities. Orlando di Lasso, one of the last of the line of Franco-Flemish composers that dominated music in the 16th century, traveled extensively to Italy and worked with the Gabrieli family in Venice who were proponents of the cori spezzati style at San Marco. di Lasso eventually settled in Munich and was one of the most prolific and outstanding composers of the late Renaissance, of the same caliber as Palestrina and Victoria, although his music is not as well known. His Missa super osculetur me is what scholars call a “parody mass” — it is based on his earlier polyphonic motet “Osculetur me” on a text from the Song of Solomon. What is most striking about this mass is the inexhaustible creativity with which Lassus treats the parody technique. Not content simply to quote or extrapolate on motifs from his motet, the composer engages the listener in an elaborate guessing game, sometimes presenting fragments complete (though out of order), as we hear in the Gloria and at other times developing material into longer sections of variation, seen in the Kyrie. The Benedictus departs from the original altogether, offering entirely new material to the listener. Textual interest is sustained through the use of long phrases (with their contrapuntal possibilities) and the different characters offered by single and double choirs.

________________________

Anthems

William Walton (1902-1983)

O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name. For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth from generation to generation. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.

Hymns

Hail the day that sees Him rise (LLANFAIR) by Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was published in 1739 in Hymns and Sacred Poems under the title “Hymn for Ascension-Day.”

The first and second stanzas employ apostrophe, a rhetorical device in which the poet addresses an absent or inanimate object. The first addresses the day of Jesus’ ascension, the second the gates of heaven which accept Christ in glory. The third emphasizes the true humanity of Jesus and his continued investment in the lives of those on earth, in comparison to his heavenly inheritance described in the previous lines. He is the continuous intercessor for mankind, imploring his assistance in the efforts of all to follow him in the ascent to the presence of God, leading finally to the beatific vision and eternal union with God.

Bread of heaven! on Thee we feed is by Josiah Condor (1789-1855), the son of an engraver and bookseller, and was largely self-educated after leaving school at thirteen. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven . . . Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. … I am the true vine.”—John vi. 51-4, xv.

See the conqueror mounts in triumph (IN BABILONE) was written Christopher Wordsworth (1807-1885), the nephew of the poet William Wordsworth. Christopher Wordsworth was an athlete, classicist, poet, and Anglican bishop of Lincoln.

The text views the ascending Lord being sung to by angels at heaven’s gates, recalls Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, and looks forward to our reign with Christ in glory. The text emphasizes not only the event of the Ascension but also its meaning for us: in Christ’s ascension, “we by faith can see” our own. Our shared destiny is to be raised with Jesus: “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.”(2 Cor 4:13-14)

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Easter IV

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

Breakfast following 10 A.M. Mass

____________________

Common

Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena

____________________

Anthems

Herbert Howells (1892-1983)

The Lord is my shepherd; therefore can I lack nothing. He shall feed me in a green pasture and lead me forth beside the waters of comfort. He shall convert my soul and bring me forth in the paths of righteousness, for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, thy rod and thy staff comfort me. Thou shalt prepare a table before me against them that trouble me; thou hast anointed my head with oil, and my cup shall be full. But thy lovingkindness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Here are the Dale Warland Singers.

______________

William Byrd (1540-1623)

Alleluia. Cognoverunt discipuli Dominum Jesum in fractione panis. Alleluia. Caro mea vere est cibus, et sanguis meus vere est potus: qui manducat carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in eo. Alleluia.

Alleluia. The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. Alleluia. My flesh is meat indeed: and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me: and I in him. Alleluia.

Here is the Ensemble Plus Ultra.

____________________

Hymns

#345 The King of love my shepherd is (ST COLUMBA) was written by Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821–1877). It is notable for its skillful meter, and its well-managed rhyme scheme of single and double rhymes, which control and shape the emotion very beautifully. Baker gave an Anglican slant to Psalm 23, interpreting it as a psalm of love and care, but stressing these qualities as evidenced in the Eucharist. The spread table of verse 5 becomes the altar on which the elements are displayed, and the delight comes as the believer takes the ‘pure chalice’; the unction, or anointing (from 1 John 2: 27), while bestowing grace in a spiritual sense, also has suggestions of a rite. This verse spreads its meaning through the whole hymn, allowing the words of Psalm 23 to acquire an extra significance: so that the last verse suggests that the length of days of a person’s life can be spent, figuratively, ‘within thy house for ever’, in the service and under the influence of the church, and then later in heaven. The singer can reflect back, and conclude that the first verses suggest the ransomed soul, sought out in love and rescued from sin (Baker’s version of ‘he restoreth my soul’). The beautiful use of the shepherd metaphor in verse 3, as the shepherd carries the lamb gently on his shoulder, is an illustration of the tenderness of Baker’s work: these lines were the last words spoken by Baker on his deathbed.

Be joyful Mary, heavenly Queen (REGINA COELI IUBILA) is a translation of Regina coeli, iubila, an anonymous 17^th century hymn. The tune was written by Johann Leisentritt (1527-1586), and published in his Catholicum Hymnologium Germanicum in 1584.

 I know that my redeemer lives (DUKE ST) is by the English Baptist Samuel Medley (1738-1799). The hymn uses a simple repetition of “He lives” to celebrate the resurrected Jesus who rules our lives and gives us eternal life. Christ is risen! Truly He is risen!

Herri met de Bles, Final Apparition of Christ to His Disciples Flemish, c. 1530-1550.

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Easter III

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

Breakfast following 10 A.M. Mass

____________________

Common

Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena

____________________

Anthems

Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Alleluia. Worthy art thou, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created. Salvation to our God, that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever. Alleluia, Amen.

The offertory motet, “Worthy art Thou, O Lord” is the setting of the antiphon for the Magnificat for Easter II in the Sarum rite, a text taken from Revelation 5 and read today in the second lesson. The music conveys the sense of grandeur and majesty of the text, which it declaims clearly in a homophonic, choral texture. Listen for the chromatic alterations that provide color and contrast: for example the radiant C major chord on “power” that shines out from amid the predominantly E-flat major harmony, or the quick trip to E-flat minor adding mystery to “Thou hast created all things.” Healey Willan (1880-1968) was born in England and attended a choir school where he studied harmony, counterpoint, and organ. From an Anglo-Catholic background, Willan was organist and choirmaster at St Mary Magdalene in Toronto, Canada from 1921 until his death. This parish, with its choir singing unaccompanied motets at a very high level, became a source of liturgical and musical inspiration for other Anglican choirs in North America.

__________

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

Surrexit pastor bonus qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis, et pro grege suo mori dignatus est, alleluia.

The good shepherd has arisen, who laid down his life for his sheep, and for his flock deigned to die, alleluia.

Here is Queen’s College, Oxford.

In the communion motet, Surrexit Pastor Bonus, Victoria plays the six voices off each other in creative ways, often in duets or trios. At the outset, the highest three voices sing a phrase and are answered by an echo of similar material in the lower three voices (the antiphonal style). Victoria is a master of subtle drama and text painting: listen for the rising intervals of an octave or a fifth as each voice enters on “surrexit.” Listen also for the contrast between the prevailing sunshine and the cloud that passes overhead on “mori dignatus est,” that is, “worthy to die.” Victoria highlights the word “mori” with longer note values, repetition, and chromatic alterations (E-flat major, D major, and G major triads in the key of F major). The piece closes as the sun returns and we hear a final, rousing chorus of alleluias.

___________________

Hymns

Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness (SCHMÜCKE DICH). The original German text, Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, was written by the German politician and poet Johann Franck (1618—1677) in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War. It expresses an intimate relationship between the individual believer and his Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus, ascended into heaven, is still present as our food in this “wondrous banquet.” He is the fount, from whom our being flows as we receive Him and are filled with Him. He feeds us and transforms us into His likeness so that we become His joy and boast and glory before the heavenly court.

Christ the lord is risen today (VICTIMAE PASCHALI) is a translation by Jane Elizabeth Leeson (1807-1881) of the Easter sequence, Victimae paschali laudes, attributed to St. Wipo of Burgundy (c. 1000). The Council of Trent eliminated scores of sequences in the Roman liturgy. This was one of the four that survived. Leeson first joined the charismatic Catholic Apostolic Church (Irvingites) and later became a Roman Catholic.

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG) is a translation by Robert Campbell (1814-1868) of the seventh century Latin hymn, Ad regias agni dapes, which was sung by the newly baptized at Easter when they were first admitted to communion. Our victorious King through His death and resurrection has caused the angel of death to pass over us. We are redeemed by His blood, which opens Paradise to us where we will live forever.  The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea into the promised land by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus through His death brings us through the wilderness of this life by feeding us with Himself, the true manna that comes down from heaven.

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Thomas Sunday

April 28, 2019

8:00 A.M. Said Mass

10:00 A.M. Sung Mass

____________________

Common

Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena

____________________

Anthems

Luca Marenzio (1556-1599)

Quia vidisti me, Thoma, credidisti: beati qui non viderunt, et crediderunt. Alleluia.

Because thou hast seen me, Thomas, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. Alleluia.

Italian composer and singer Luca Marenzio (ca. 1553-1599) was considered by many Renaissance musicians to be the chief archetype of the expressive 16th-century Italian madrigal style. The text of this motet is from John 20: 29 – the Antiphon for the Feast of St Thomas, the great doubter. Marenzio’s madrigalian style of text painting is well served here. Note the homophonic emphasis given to the text “beati qui non viderunt” (blessed are they that have not seen).  The motet concludes with an imitative and joyful  “Alleluia.”

__________

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594)

Haec dies quam fecit Dominus: exultemus et laetemur in ea, alleluia.

This is the day which the Lord hath made: let us be glad and rejoice therein. Alleluia.

_____________________

Hymns

 O sons and daughters (FILII ET FILIAE) is a translation by John Mason Neale (1818-1866) of the hymn O filii et filiae by the Franciscan Jean Tisserand (died 1494). It recounts the appearance of the Risen Christ to both the women on Easter and to the disciples in the upper room. We are addressed in the stanza How blest are they who have not seen / And yet whose faith has constant been, / For they eternal life shall win. Although we have not seen the Risen Lord with our bodily eyes, we see Him with the eyes of faith, especially in the Eucharist, and are loyal to Him.

Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise (EISENACH) is a poem by John of Damascus, translated by John Mason Neale.

That Easter day with joy was bright (PUER NOBIS) is a translation also by John Mason Neale of the Latin hymn Aurora lucis rutilat, probably by St. Ambrose (330-397). Augustine said that Ambrose set popular hymns to the meter of Roman marching songs to propagate orthodox Catholic theology, because the Arians were using hymns to propagate error.

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

EASTER SUNDAY

April 21, 2019

9:00 A.M Sung Mass with Festal Procession

__________________

Organ Prelude

XVIII Elevation. Tierce en Taille, Mass for the Convents, F. Couperin

_________

Organ Postlude

Fanfare, Jacques-Nicholas Lemmens.

_________________

Common

Messe pour le Samedy de Pasques, Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704) was born in Paris and traveled to Italy to study with Giacomo Carissimi. Upon his return to France, he became the maître de musique to the Duchess of Guise and eventually Sainte-Chapelle, one of the most important church musician positions in the country. Unlike Lully and other composers that focused on opera and the court, Charpentier wrote a great deal of very good church music; sadly, most of is unknown and unrecorded, although you can certainly find excellent recordings of his popular Messe de minuit pour Noel, Te Deum, and Litanies de la Vierge. The Messe pour le Samedi de Pâques was composed in about 1690 and is one of the few that is short and doesn’t require additional instruments. Even so, with its ornaments, uneven eighth notes (a kind of swing) and upbeat rhythms characteristic of the French Baroque, it’s just a lot of fun.

_________________

Anthems

Healey Willan (1880-1968)

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear upon the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come. Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.

Here is the Stanford Chamber Chorale.

The text for today’s offertory anthem “Rise up my love, my fair one” is taken from that strange and beautiful book dwelling almost exclusively on romantic love, the Song of Solomon. Although the origin of this book is obscure, perhaps coming from the ancient Israelite marriage liturgy, it was read very early on as an allegory of God’s love for Israel and in the Christian era as Christ’s love for the church. “Rise up my love, my fair one,” can be heard equally plausibly as Christ offering redemption to the sinner or as the blossoming of new hope through forgiveness at a turning point in a romantic relationship. Healey Willan (1880-1968) was born in England and attended a choir school where he studied harmony, counterpoint, and organ. From an Anglo-Catholic background, he became an authority on plainchant in English translation and many of his compositions have chant-like melodies with free meter.

__________

John Taverner (1490-1545)

Dum transisset Sabbatum, Maria Magdalene et Maria Jacobi et Salome emerunt aromata ut venientes ungerent Jesum. Alleluia. Et valde mane una sabbatorum veniunt ad monumentum orto iam sole.

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. Alleluia. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.

Here is Alamire.

“Dum transisset Sabbatum” is a setting of a matins responsory for Easter. It is the best-known motet by the great John Taverner (1490-1545), one of the most important English composers of his era. Taverner was the first organist and master of the choristers at Christ Church, Oxford (founded in 1525 as Cardinal College by Wolsey). Taverner’s music has several characteristics we typically associate with late medieval music on the continent. There are flowing lines with very long melismas that can obscure the text. There is little sense of harmonic movement or direction. The music is constructed on plainchant, with the cantus firmus in the tenor. There is little imitation that is so pervasive in the music of the high Renaissance on the continent (and in the later music of Tallis and Byrd). Listen for the particularly English texture with soaring high treble lines in the top voice and very low notes in the bass. This is what the best church music sounded like in pre-Reformation England. It captures a sense of sacred space and repose from the noisy and insistent world we live in.

_________________

Hymns

#91 The strife is o’er, the battle done (VICTORY) is from a 17th-century Latin hymn, translated by Francis Pott (1832-1909). The Latin text begins‘Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia./ Finita iam sunt proelia.’ It is found in a Jesuit book, Symphonia Sirenum Selectarum, published in Cologne in 1695. VICTORY is a free adaptation by William Henry Monk for the first edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern of the ‘Gloria’ in Palestrina’s Magnificat Tertii Toni .

#86 Hail thee, festival day (SALVA FESTA DIES) The refrain comes from the 20^th couplet of Venantius Fortunatus’ (c. 540—c. 600) long Latin poem (110 lines!) celebrating the conversion of the Saxons by Felix, Bishop of Nantes (c. 582): Salve feste dies toto venerabilis aevo. Venantius, who traveled around the Germanic kingdoms of Europe as a wandering minstrel, devoted his life to the cause of Christian literary elegance.  As poet to the Merovingian court, he became a friend of the mystic Queen Radegund, and he later became Bishop of Poitiers. The poem was translated by George Gabriel Scott Gillett (1873-1948).

#96 The day of resurrection (ELLACOMBE) is from a Greek hymn by St John Damascene (ca. 655 – ca. 745). It was translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866).

#85 Jesus Christ is risen today (EASTER HYMN) is from Lyra Davidica (1708). It is a translation of part of an anonymous Latin hymn, ‘Surrexit Christus hodie.’

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of teh Chair of St. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

The Solemn Vigil of Easter

Saturday

April 20, 2019

9:00 PM

_____________

Common

Missa de S. Maria Magdalena, Healey Willan

________________

Anthems

 Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-1736)

Surrexit Christus vere de sepulchro, alleluia.

Christ is truly risen from the grave, alleluia.

__________

Peter Philips (1561-1628)

Surgens Jesus, Dominus noster stans in medio discipulorum suorum dixit: pax vobis. Alleluia. Gavisi sunt discipuli viso Domino, Alleluia.

The risen Jesus, our Lord, standing in the midst of his disciples, said: Peace be with you. Alleluia. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Alleluia.

__________________

Hymns

At the Lamb’s high feast we sing (SALZBURG) is a translation by Robert Campbell (1814-1868) of the seventh century Latin hymn, Ad regias agni dapes, which was sung by the newly baptized at Easter when they were first admitted to communion. Our victorious King through His death and resurrection has caused the angel of death to pass over us. We are redeemed by His blood, which opens Paradise to us where we will live forever.  The LORD brought Israel out of Egypt through the sea into the promised land by the blood of the Lamb. Jesus through His death brings us through the wilderness of this life by feeding us with Himself, the true manna that comes down from heaven.

Come, ye faithful, raise the strain (GAUDEAMUS PARITER) is from a  Greek hymn attributed to St John Damascene (ca. 655- ca. 745), and was translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866).  The hymn is notable for its beautiful linking of spring with the resurrection, and for its use of the crossing of the Red Sea as a type of the liberating work of Jesus Christ. It is based on the Song of Moses in Exodus 15.

Mount Calvary Church

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of S. Peter

Anglican Use

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor and Celebrant

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Maundy Thursday

April 18, 2019

7:00 P. M.

Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The Maundy

Procession to the Altar of Repose

Stripping of the Altars

Prayer Vigil until Midnight

____________________

Common

Missa Dixit Maria, Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)

Here is the Kyrie, sung by the Ensemble Vocal Européen, Philippe Herreweghe conducting.

“Missa Dixit Maria” is based on a popular motet by the German composer Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612). Hassler studied with Giovanni and Andrea Gabrieli in Venice, two composers who were pushing the boundaries of the Late Renaissance style and developing sonorities and textures that we associate with the early Baroque. Hassler brought this Venetian style to Germany, though to some extent his influence was lessened by the fact that he was a Lutheran in a heavily Catholic area. Listen for how Hassler uses the material from this motet in different ways to create music appropriate for each section of the mass ordinary.

____________________

Anthems

Ubi caritas et amor, Ola Gjeilo (1978-  )

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor. Exultemus, et in ipso iucundemur. Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum. Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ’s love has gathered us into one. Let us rejoice and be pleased in Him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God. And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

Here is the Central Washington University Chamber Choir.

“Ubi caritas” is a setting for women’s voices of an ancient hymn used as an antiphon to accompanies the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday. Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978) moved from his native Norway in 2001 to the United States to study composition at Julliard; he still makes his home in New York City. He is one of the most frequently performed living composers in the choral world. “Ubi caritas” was one of Gjeilo’s first choral pieces, influenced by the famous Duruflé motet, though unlike Duruflé, who incorporated the ancient plainchant into his polyphonic setting, Gjeilo’s motet is not based on any pre-existing musical material.

__________ 

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

O sacrum convivium, in quo Christus sumitur; recolitur memoria passionis ejus; mens impletur gratia; et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur.

O sacred banquet, wherein Christ is received; the memorial of his passion is renewed; the soul is filled with grace; and a pledge of future glory is given to us.

Here is Chanticleer.

“O Sacrum Convivium” is a eucharistic prayer that liturgically functions as an antiphon for the Magnificat for vespers on the feast of Corpus Christi. The word ‘convivium’ translated as ‘banquet’ also has the sense of ‘shared living’ that we find in the English word ‘communion.’ Along with the gifts of grace to the soul and a foretaste of heaven, one of the blessings of the eucharist is a renewal of the community as the Body of Christ. This motet by Victoria for four equal voices conveys this sense of unity. Perhaps this is because the higher three voices occupy the same space musically–the same pitch range–moving in close harmony, each with its own role and yet inseparably connected.

____________________

Hymns

Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness (SCHMÜCKE DICH). The original German text, Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, was written by the German politician and poet Johann Franck (1618—1677) in the aftermath of the Thirty Years’ War. It expresses an intimate relationship between the individual believer and his Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus, ascended into heaven, is still present as our food in this “wondrous banquet.” He is the fount, from whom our being flows as we receive Him and are filled with Him. He feeds us and transforms us into His likeness so that we become His joy and boast and glory before the heavenly court.

And now, O Father, mindful of Thy love (UNDE ET MEMORES) was composed by Anglican High Churchman William Bright (1824—1901), He was Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford, and then worked in Scotland, where his views on the Reformation caused him to be ejected by the Bishop of Glasgow. He then returned to Oxford.  It is based on the Roman Canon. The hymn remembers the love of Christ in dying for us (verse 1); relates it to our confession of sin (verse 2); prays for others (verse 3); and culminates in the moment of receiving the bread and wine (verse 4).

Now, my tongue, the mystery telling (PANGE LINGUA)  is a translation of the Pange lingua, which was written by Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274) as the hymn for Vespers of the newly established Feast of Corpus Christi. Aquinas had been invited in 1264 by Pope Urban IV to produce a liturgy for this festival, and this hymn belongs to that provision.  It is patterned on the processional hymn Pange lingua, written by Venantius Fortunatus (530-600).

From the Benedictional of St. Aethelwold

Mount Calvary Church

A Roman Catholic Parish

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of S. Peter

Eutaw Street and Madison Avenue

Baltimore, Maryland

Rev. Albert Scharbach, Pastor

Dr. Allen Buskirk, Choirmaster

Palm Sunday

April 14, 2019

8 A.M Said Mass

10:00 A. M.  Sung Mass

Breakfast in the undercroft following the 10:00 A.M. Mass

__________________

From the Sarum Ritual

“I exorcise thee, O creature of flowers and leaves, in the name of God the Father almighty, and in the name of Jesus Christ His Son our Lord, and in the power of the Holy Ghost. Henceforth all power of the adversary, all the host of the devil, all the strength of the enemy, all assaults of demons, be uprooted and transplanted from this creature of flowers and leaves, that thou pursue not by subtlety the footsteps of those who hasten to the grace of God. Through Him who shall come to judge the quick and dead, and the world by fire. R. Amen.”

__________________

Common

Mass of the Quiet Hour, George Oldroyd (1887–1951)

To enhance the drama of Holy Week, the organ returns today after a long hiatus during Lent, accompanying the hymns and the mass ordinary, a setting by English composer George Oldroyd (1887-1956) entitled “Mass of the Quiet Hour.” Composed in 1928 and dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury, this mass setting is his best-remembered work and is one of the more popular Anglican communion services. It features lush, Romantic harmonies rarely heard at Mount Calvary as well as some more ancient elements. Listen for the entrance of the choir at the opening of the Sanctus; the first two phrases seem to swirl and swoop like incense. The harmony of these phrases (parallel first inversion triads) invokes a centuries-old English tradition of improvised three-part harmony known as “faburden.”_

___________________

Anthems

Erbarme dich, J. S. Bach

Erbarme dich, mein Gott, um meiner Zähren willen! Schaue hier, Herz und Auge weint vor dir bitterlich.Erbarme dich, mein Gott.

Have mercy, my God, for the sake of my tears! See here, before you heart and eyes weep bitterly. Have mercy, my God.

Here is Julia Hamari.

The aria Erbarme dich comes from Bach’s majestic St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244); it reflects the solitary heartache Peter feels upon recognition that he has betrayed Christ three times as prophesied. The melody aches with the remorse of betrayal. The music is set in 12/8 time, suggesting the Baroque dance rhythm of the siciliano. The voice is accompanied by the violin in what violinist Yehudi Menuhin called “the most beautiful piece of music ever written for the violin.” This aria is one of the most moving songs in what Bach considered his best work.

__________

Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)

Pueri Hebraeorum vestimenta prosternebant in via et clamabant dicentes: Hosanna Filio David, benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.

The Hebrew children spread their garments in the road, and cried out, saying: Hosanna to the Son of David: blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

Here is La Columbina.

Pueri Hebraeorum by Tomas Luis de Victoria, a setting of the antiphon that accompanies the distribution of palms, captures the energy and excitement of the throng of people welcoming Christ in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The voices enter one at a time—a common strategy in Renaissance polyphony, used here to convey the size of the crowd. Listen for the wonderful musical gesture at “vestimenta prosternebant in via” in which the crowds lay their garments on the road as a royal welcome; the music slows and drops in pitch, depicting their bowing down to lay down their garments and perhaps bow to Christ as King. The climax of the piece is the shout of Hosanna that comes from the whole choir in a homophonic texture (all at the same time).

____________________

Hymns

#62 All glory, laud and honor (ST. THEODOLPH) was written by St. Theodulph of Orleans in 820 while he was imprisoned in Angers, France, for conspiring against the King, with whom he had fallen out of favor. It was translated by John Mason Neale. The text is a retelling of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The medieval church re-enacted this story on Palm Sunday. The priests and inhabitants of a city would process from the fields to the gate of the city, following a living representation of Jesus seated on a donkey. When they reached the city gates, a choir of children would sing this hymn, Gloria, laus et honor, and the refrain was taken up by the crowd. At this point the gates were opened and the crowd made its way through the streets to the cathedral. Today we praise the “Redeemer, King” because we know just what kind of King He was and is – an everlasting King who reigns not just in Jerusalem, but over the entire earth. What else can we do but praise Him with glory, laud, and honor.

#71 Ah, Holy Jesus (HERZLIEBSTER JESU) is a German hymn for Passiontide, written in 1630 by Johann Heermann.

#64 Ride on, ride on in majesty!  (WINCHESTER NEW) was written by the Anglican clergyman and Oxford Professor of Poetry Henry Hart Milman (1791–1868). The text unites meekness and majesty, sacrifice and conquest, suffering and glory – all central to the gospel for Palm Sunday. Each stanza begins with “Ride on, Ride on in majesty.” Majesty is the text’s theme as the writer helps us to experience the combination of victory and tragedy that characterizes the Triumphal Entry. Jesus is hailed with “Hosanna” as he rides forth to be crucified. That death spells victory: it is His triumph “o’er captive death and conquered sin.” The angelic powers look down in awe at the coming sacrifice and God the Father awaits His Son’s victory with expectation. Finally, Jesus rides forth to take his “power … and reign!” On the Cross He has defeated death and when He comes in glory to reign He will destroy it forever.