Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Four New Settings Approved for Liturgical Use

We just heard from the USCCB that these Mass settings have been approved for liturgical use:

I link my favorite portions:

Free Glory To God using the new ICEL translation (Roman Missal) from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

ENGLISH CHANT MASS • Richard Rice • CREDO (Creed) from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

9 Replies to “Four New Settings Approved for Liturgical Use”

  3. Decisions decisions! Finally, the right "dress" for the right occasion! I have often said that there is different music for different occassions just like there are different dresses for different things.. And you don't wear a sundress to a formal occasion! The mass is a formal occasion! These are Gorgeous! Thank you all. May your blessings be abundant for sharing this talent!

  4. I'm curious… what is the process for getting settings "approved"? Does this mean that there are some settings that won't be approved? What is the criteria for that?

    If it's just a stamp and every composition coming out of OCP, GIA and WLP will be "approved" regardless of form, style, text or whatever, then why bother?

  5. Interesting you should ask. The legislation has always been there but the enforcement is getting more strict and we can speculate why. I think it has to do with the desire to approach greater uniformity in the Roman Rite, as least as regards the text. that much at least should the best, and hence the interest in having music pass through a legislative filter. I have opinions on this, wouldn't you know, but I'm not sure they are worth much at this stage. There will be plenty of room for commentary after the Missal goes into effect.

  6. Jeffrey;

    Does this mean that there may actually be an attempt to have a standard for what music is permissible, at least for the Ordinary? That would be long overdue it seems! Is there any way to find out if particular settings have been approved? Do the Big Three have to have Mass Settings approved before they can be offered for sale? So many questions that are connected here…

  7. The relationship between music and words is always going to be problematic. Strauss's wonderful opera "Capriccio" is much taken up with this subject. Few would argue that Schubert's "Du bist die Ruh" is greater than Ruckert's original poem, although the same composer's masses are not regarded as suitable for liturgical use because of the way he plays fast and loose with the text (to be fair, this wasn't crucial at the time they were written, since the celebrant would have read the full thing). Tennyson once remarked "Why do these damn musicians make me say something twice when I only said it once?".

    Pius X's 1903 motu proprio, though well intentioned, surely went too far in banning the masses of Haydn and Mozart (I except the latter's unfinished C Minor mass with its multi-movement Gloria.) There had to be a reaction agaist the 19th century operatic style, but the first time I heard the Sanctus from Gounod's Messe de Ste Cecile at the London Oratory I was bowled over and rushed out to buy a record of it. It can even be argued that some of the extended melismas in Gregorian chant were an opportunity for the cantors to show off their virtuosity and are an over-embellishment of the text.

    I, for one, would love to hear Beethoven's Missa Solemnis in the liturgical context for which it was actually written (Solemn Pontifical EF). Liturgical "experts" tend to be puritanical and minimalist when it comes to music, and it would be a shame if fine composers like James MacMillan were required to seek official approval for their work.

  8. "Does this mean that there may actually be an attempt to have a standard for what music is permissible, at least for the Ordinary?"

    I think this is the push, yes.

    "Is there any way to find out if particular settings have been approved?"

    If they are published by the big three, they are approved (some form of them anyway). The primary issue here is words, not style.

    "Do the Big Three have to have Mass Settings approved before they can be offered for sale?"

    Yes, so far as I know, and while the rule is not new, the new translation has ignited a new interest in at least having some uniformity in the text.

  9. The WHITE LIST of SAINT GREGORY rides again!

    And in the back, the BLACK list: with everything they sang at my parish growing up: The old Saint Basil's Hymnal and those barbershop quartet Masses from McLaughlin and Reilly! My favorite: James A Korman's Mass of the Blessed Sacrament.

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