This Sunday our schola will enjoin the congregation in singing both at the Offertory,
and in singing THE Offertory.
As we know, the gospel for the Feast is the account of Dismas, the “good thief”, acknowledging and defending Christ against the taunts and mockery of the other crucified thief and centurians. It’s interesting to note that Dismas recognizes Jesus as Messiah and true King, despite the legalistic placard that Pilate deemed be noted above our Lord’s head on the cross, with “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.” Jesus responds with a different metaphor, “…this day you will be with me in Paradise,” something considerably more than an earthly deliverer.As we all know, Jacques Berthier’s most familiar composition is likely the musical refrain “Jesus, Remember Me” that congregations world-wide have taken up as easily as any melody ever written. But upon reflecting about this most modest of songs, and its mustard-seed size potential and power, I also remembered that there might just be a kinship between the narrative of the gospel and the actual Offertorio text, excerpted from the verses from Psalm 2 in particular:
Ask and I shall bequeath you the nations, put the ends of the earth in your possession.
Those of us who regularly use the Simple Choral Gradual Propers by the great Richard Rice have likely noticed that he sets his homophony most often in F Major. So, it occured to me that by alternating some repetitions of the Berthier with the Rice Offertory Antiphon links the Old with the New Covenant. So, that’s what we’re going to do this Sunday. I’ll let you know how I think it succeeded or not.
Okay, official post-script- IT WAS GREAT! We alternated three repetitions of the Berthier ostinato, and then interpolated a verse/refrain of the Rice Offertorio. The congregation seemed to be in step with our mp/mf/forte pyramid-crescendo for each of the reps of the Berthier and then we seemlessly moved into the “fauxbourdon” verses of the Rice via the common F Major tonal center. But the neat little shift to G minor of the Rice antiphon provided the ear some measure of refreshment before cadencing back in F Major, and resuming the Berthier. I love synchronicity.
It worked so well at our schola Mass, we repeated it at the ensemble Mass as well with just classical guitar single rolled underpinning. Sweet.
Charles, this is a gorgeous painting. By whom?
@Charles Culbreth: This is awesome. Sounds like something I would do, but also something that the Church really needs at this time of musical and liturgical crossroads. Think it would work at a "Life Teen" mass?
@Paul F. Ford: I think the painter is Titian.
Sorry, Paul, missed your question. Yes, Titian.
Anon, I've never experienced a "Life Teen" Mass, don't know if there's musical protocols.
That said, I have high school kids in both my schola and ensemble, and we use the Berthier every Good Friday for a huge procession throughout the city, which the Youth Group take leadership. Those kids take up the Berthier with obvious intensity. I'm disposed to think they'd be able to "get" the easily acquired Rice settings as well. And many of those I suspect could be integrated into many modern songs if the keys, texts, and tempi were complimentary. Why not?
A nice idea – I'm glad it succeeded. Something similar happened here: a combination of the Berthier refrain with chant verses from the Vespers hymn for the feast, Te Saeculorum Principem. (Hear how the chant sounds here) A magical combination.
We also used the Berthier refrain last Sunday, during the Communion procession, with verses from Psalm 29, the Proper for Communion. All I did was create a simple chord progression and melody for the verses, ending on the dominant of Eb major which led right back to a 4-part refrain of "Jesus Remember Me." Its great how well Taize material can work in both traditional and contemporary settings.