Author: Adam Bartlett

Posted on by Adam Bartlett

More Choral Propers from Frank La Rocca

Composer Frank La Rocca is continuing his magnificent project in English Choral Propers with three new pieces for Lent, Holy Week, and Easter – all of which are available for free download for a limited time from Illuminare Publications.

You can preview, listen to, and download them here:

Gradual “Suscepimus Deus”, in Notre Dame Organum Duplum (between 1245-1255 AD)
The choral and polyphonic proper tradition dates back well into the Middle Ages, and has long standing in the history of the liturgy. It is less common to hear many of these masterpieces sung today, it seems, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, the mere idea of preparing a substantial piece of choral music and only having the opportunity to sing it once a year is certainly intimidating to music directors and singers alike.
Secondly, choral music in the Ordinary Form of the Mass often gets relegated to a Post-Communion motet, or perhaps an Offertory motet, as congregational music is sung virtually everywhere else.
Both of these challenges are easily overcome, however.
In response to the first problem, we can remember that the rubrics of the Graduale Romanum allow for a single proper antiphon to be sung seasonally, anywhere within that season, if pastoral needs might require it. Now, many of us know very well that a permission based on “pastoral needs” often opens a door for wild abuse, and for the selection of music to be based upon personal preference, rather than upon a genuine pastoral need. Not having enough time to properly prepare a new setting of the weekly propers with your choir, on the other hand, is a genuine pastoral issue. In this case, nothing would prohibit a choir from singing La Rocca’s choral propers many times within a season, especially if they are replacing other more ambiguous music. They also very easily could be sung as motets in the customary way.
In response to the second problem, we should keep in mind that the singing of choral music that does not set the text of the liturgy itself really is not singing the Mass, but singing at Mass. If we truly intend to restore the regular singing of the texts of the liturgy itself, as they are found in the liturgical books, then we should not continue to perpetuate the problem of singing texts that are essentially alien to the liturgy under normal circumstances. Don’t let me be misunderstood: The current, established practice of singing motets is legitimate, and allows for the broad use of many of the treasures of the sacred music tradition. However, how much better would it be if we made a fundamental shift in our approach to choral music and spent time learning choral settings of parts of the Proper of the Mass? In this way we can help further the development of sung liturgy and weaken our dependence upon inserting texts into the Mass that, all things being equal, do not belong there.
In this respect, Frank La Rocca is giving the English-speaking Church an inestimable gift. Please feel free to make use of these new offerings, and share your feedback. The texts of the Proper of the Mass are the future of liturgical music. When we look around today we see signs of this everywhere. Let’s thank Frank for his wonderful contribution to sacred music, and urge him on to continue setting the texts of the Proper of the Mass!
    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    Presentation of the Lord: Free English Chant Downloads for This Sunday

    This year we will experience liturgical feasts and solemnities in an unusually powerful way. Unless we are regular daily Mass goers, most of us rarely encounter the Presentation of the Lord, the Solemnity of SS. Peter and Paul, the Triumph of the Cross, the Feast of All Souls, and the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

    But this year these all fall on a Sunday, and therefore trump the the Sundays in Ordinary Time that would otherwise be celebrated.

    This Sunday, for example, will not be the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Church universal will instead celebrate the Presentation of the Lord, and will have an opportunity to engage parishioners in the iconic and ancient blessing of candles and procession before Mass.

    The 3rd Edition of the Roman Missal offers some of the chants for the procession, both in Gregorian chant and in a few English chant adaptations.

    Illuminare Publications is happy to offer a digital edition for free download, that contains all of the chants for this liturgy, including the ones that the Roman Missal leaves out.

    Additionally, you will find the full Proper of the Mass in simple English chant settings, utilizing the new translation of the Roman Missal, in both cantor/choir and accompaniment editions.

    You can download them here:

    PRESENTATION OF THE LORD (free download)

    Cantor/Choir Edition        Accompaniment Edition

    This is an example of the pre-publication releases that are available weekly from Illuminare Publications. These editions interface completely with the Lumen Christi Missal, and are samples from forthcoming titles in the Lumen Christi Series. Learn more »

    For the latest updates on this exciting project, you can visit illuminarepublications.com, or signup for the Illuminare mailing list.

    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    O Magnum Mysterium, Frank La Rocca

    The O magnum mysterium is a one of the most beloved ancient Christmas texts in the Christian tradition. It is properly found in the liturgy as a responsory for Matins of Christmas, but through the choral settings of Victoria, Palestrina, Poulenc, and – perhaps most popularly in our time – Morten Lauridsen, it has become a standard part of the Christmas choral repertoire, especially for Midnight Mass.

    Composer Frank La Rocca has now given the Church a setting of his own, which powerfully penetrates the mystery of the incarnation. It is not overly flashy or florid, but is pregnant with mystery and humility, much like text which it carries. His O magnum surely will surely be regarded among the greats for years to come.


    O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum, 
    ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in praesepio! 
    Beata Virgo, cujus viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum. Alleluia.

    O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament,
    that animals should see the new-born Lord, lying in a manger!
    Blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy to bear Christ the Lord. Alleluia!

    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    New Choral Propers in English from Frank La Rocca


    The name Frank La Rocca should not be new to those who are following the recent renewal in Catholic sacred music. If you have not heard any of his music, here is a taste, compliments of Rudy de Vos and the Oakland Cathedral Schola Cantorum:

    La Rocca’s journey is not too dissimilar to that of a few of his contemporaries. The story goes like this:

    A composer who was trained as an academic modernist reaches a point of crisis and withdraws to silence and soul-searching, reflecting deeply upon that which is true, beautiful and good, and then re-emerges having undergone a transformation of faith, aesthetics and compositional language that is deeply rooted in the timeless beauty and ancient origins of Western music.

    This journey of Frank La Rocca’s was recently recounted by the Washington Times where he is placed within the context of some of the great living composers of our day: Arvo Pärt, and James MacMillan. We also should add to this list other modern composers of sacred choral music such as Morten Lauridsen, Eric Whitacre, and Ola Gjeilo.

    La Rocca undoubtedly deserves to be situated among these, but in an even more distinctive way: The majority of the work of those just listed is sung in concert performance settings, with some exceptions. Frank La Rocca’s aim is to not only write for concert and performance choirs, but most especially for choirs that sing in service of the sacred liturgy.

    He has proven this intention with two new SATB, a capella pieces that set the proper Communion Antiphons in English for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and for the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass.

    His choral propers Behold, a Virgin Shall Conceive (Ecco virgo) and In the Splendor of the Holy Ones (In splendoribus) can now be downloaded freely as part of an introductory offer at illuminarepublications.com.

    Dr. La Rocca set these two particular texts as a starting point in what he hopes can be a larger scale compositional project, setting the proper antiphons of the Mass in English in his distinctive choral style. These two introductory settings are relatively simple in style, in an SATB arrangement, and are well within the capacity of established parish choirs.

    There is still time to get these in the hands of your choirs for use this Advent and Christmas season. Although they would most properly be sung in the proper placements, both of these pieces can also be sung as choral motets throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons.

    To learn more about Frank La Rocca’s exceptional and important work, pick up his latest recording, In This Place, and subscribe to his YouTube channel. I guarantee that you will not be disappointed.

    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    The Case for Disposable Liturgy

    It’s that time of year again.

    Parishes all across the country are faced with the annual decision of whether to cancel their disposable missal subscriptions, or to renew it again “for just one more year”. 

    Almost everyone knows that these subscription missals are not only of extremely poor quality – often getting beaten up, dogeared, and virtually torn apart by regular use in a matter of months – but that they are also at least 75% more costly to their parishes than permanent, dignified, long-lasting books for the pews.

    Why do 3 out of 4 parishes continue to participate in this cycle of waste, degradation of the liturgy, and disrespect for the Word of God and the liturgical texts? The latest mailer from the leading disposable missal publisher makes the case very compellingly for why the majority of parishes today choose disposable liturgy.

    Firstly, one of the most striking and utterly ironic features of this mailer – recently sent out to every parish in the country – is that it is very attractive: It is glossy, in full color, and printed on heavyweight paper. It is eight pages long and has very little text on each page, featuring instead a substantial amount of beautifully printed photography. The irony in this brochure is that the quality of this advertisement, which is instantly bound for parish trash cans after a single glance, is ten times the quality of the annual newsprint publications which it is promoting. Perhaps it is not ironic at all, but instead is a clever bit of marketing. Holding this beautiful, heavyweight promotional booklet certainly creates the illusion of quality products.

    Next, we find the most important selling point, seemingly seeking to instill fear into the minds and souls of pastors: What if your needs change? How will you respond?

    The pitch continues with the repetition of several key words and points that highlight the benefits of disposable missal programs: diversity, confidence, changing needs, fresh, flexibility, versatile, evolving, etc., etc. 

    Let us ask ourselves for a moment – are these the words that should be used to describe the liturgy of Catholic Church? 

    For each of them we can find a counterpart that better describes the true nature of the Church’s liturgical worship: universality, stability, catechesis and formation, timelessness, tradition, common to all, constant, etc.

    Which words better describe the authentic nature of the liturgy to you?

    Continuing on, the main selling point in this pamphlet couldn’t be more clear than the narrative found on the first page:

    “Having a missal program that adapts to your changing needs, celebrates faith with an unmatched repertoire, and keeps you confident – knowing you always have the latest approved texts and music in hand – is invaluable.” (Emphasis as in original).


    “Invaluable” is perhaps one way to put it. “Exorbitantly expensive” is another.

    What might be helpful to pastors and music directors in assessing the true value of these products is a simple cost analysis between the leading disposable missal program and the leading permanent missal for the pew. This is simply an objective, dollars-and-cents comparison, apart from any means of instilling emotional or psychological distress.

    A typical parish might maintain a subscription of 500 copies of the leading disposable missal program. The hard, published cost of this is $3,775.00 per year plus an annual shipping charge of approximately $800 per year. The total cost for this parish per year for this subscription is $4575.00.

    This price is certainly lower than the cost of virtually any hardbound book, and it surely can be an attractive number when considering only the limits of a strapped annual budget.

    But it is not the first year that breaks the bank for parishes. It is the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth… the tenth, even more.

    After just three years, this parish will have spent $13,725.00, and will nothing to show for it other than the necessity of having to renew a costly subscription for yet another year. After 10 years of this, the total cost will be at an astonishing $45,750.00!


    If the same parish, however, makes the switch to a permanent missal for the pew, it will break even with the leading disposable missal subscription in the middle of year three!

    Put a different way, many parishes fear that they have to make a commitment of at least ten years in order to get the full value out of a permanent missal. This is not true. In fact, the cost of a three year subscription is greater than the cost of owning a permanent missal for three years.

    This means that if you cancel your disposable missal subscription and purchase the Lumen Christi Missal instead, you will break even in three years, and potentially save your parish a whopping $34,475.00 over the course of a ten year period.

    Thought of another way, if your “needs change” in three years time you can throw your permanent missals away, resubscribe to a disposable missal, and never have lost a cent.

    When we look at the truth behind disposable missals we can see that a projected sense of security, flexibility and versatility is far from being “invaluable”. It is indeed extremely expensive. And what do parishes actually get in return? They get virtually the same newsprint, paperback missal sent out to them year after year with nothing more than a change of dates, with the addition of a few new obscure hymns, and a new cover. Truly, not much more changes than this.

    There is an alternative, however. It is a hardcover missal with a gold embossed cover, has a sewn binding with two ribbons and is printed on the highest quality paper. 

    It is the Lumen Christi Missal and it is ready to help you communicate to your parishioners the permanence, timelessness, universality and beauty of the sacred liturgy. At the same time it can save your parish thousands of dollars.

    If you make the switch from a disposable missal before this Advent, you can save 10% on your total order (use coupon code advent2013). 

    The liturgy is not disposable – it is eternal. You can help shift the expectations of your parish from the fear of constant change and vulnerability that is fostered by the leading disposable missal publishers, and instead focus it on a sense of stability, permanence, and timelessness with one single change.

    The choice to make the switch has never been easier.

    Learn more at www.illuminarepublications.com.

    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    Full Immersion in Semiology

    Alexis Kutarna (check out her blog Oh, for the Love of Chant) has spent the past week at St. Meinrad Archabbey at the feet of the inestimable Fr. Columba Kelly, OSB, student of Dom Eugene Cardine, in pursuit of the art of Gregorian Semiology.

    I believe that Alexis already has two or three music degrees, and is currently completing graduate studies in liturgy, so she is certainly well-primed for the intensity of Dom Kelly’s pedagogy. Here are a few of her newly found insights after just one week with him:

    1) The secrets in the signs from Laon and St. Gall (the other notations in the Graduale Triplex) are SO much more expressive than square notation (and certainly than modern notation!) We need to consult them, understand them, and FEEL them to be able not only to do justice to the Latin chants but to express the meaning of the texts, to make music, to enjoy the chants, and to pray. Metering our chant cannot have the same effect. Anyone who says plainsong is boring may be right – if it really is just plain song. Let’s make it CHANT. 

    2) We need to be able to be clear with our diction and not be afraid to pause the appropriate lengths in our public speaking as well as our public canting. This is not metered or unnatural hanging pauses though, these are pauses expressive of the meaning of the text, or of natural breaths. 

    3) Latin is not (gasp) the only way. Chant CAN be incredibly well-done in the vernacular. It doesn’t work by forcing English to fit the Gregorian melody just because you think you have to preserve that tune intact. No, you have to respect the natural accents and flow of the English language also. It works perfectly if this is thought through. If you don’t believe me, come to St. Meinrad Archabbey and see, and certainly check out one of the many sources of English chant propers for the Mass (most are FREE!). We do, however, need to get something going and widely available in French and in Spanish too – this is where it is going, and we will lose out to bad music if we don’t work diligently on these tasks. 

    4) It is incredibly sad that more people can’t experience this. Yes, definitely go to one of Fr. Columba’s workshops. But I mean that people aren’t hearing this is their parishes. It CAN be done. It can be done WELL and BEAUTIFULLY. We need to show people. If they hear it, they will get it. Of course, good and faithful liturgical praxis otherwise is also necessary. 

    5) I now know even more how much I don’t know! I need to do this again. That is one smart monk!!!

    Here’s the full post.

    I have said it before, and I will say it again: Anyone who is serious about Gregorian chant must find a way to learn from this 82 year old master. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime.

    Posted on by Adam Bartlett

    Sung Liturgy in Ordinary Parish Life

    Over the past few years we have witnessed a groundswell in sung liturgy, and in the renewal of sacred music in parish life. This has been taking place in parishes, cathedrals, seminaries, universities and institutes, religious houses, and elsewhere, both here in the U.S. and abroad. This movement has not been reserved to specialists, but has become a popular one. With the implementation of the new translation of the Roman Missal in 2011, the foundational song for the liturgy in chanted form found a home on every altar and in every sacristy throughout the English-speaking world.

    Those who have followed Chant Cafe over the past few years have witnessed the development of enterprising resources such as Simple English Propers, among many others. These projects which have come from such humble beginnings have not just been niche or esoteric in their scope, but have begun to find a home in many places in the ordinary, day-to-day events of Catholic life. We continue to receive reports from parishes and cathedrals around the country, notes from Europe, and even words of thanks from Rome. It’s all very hard to believe, and it is certainly not something we ever would have imagined.
    Still, even after all of the progress that has been made, when we step back and take an inventory of our current situation we begin to realize how much more work still needs to be done in order to make sung liturgy a regular part of ordinary parish life.
    In the parishes that have achieved and maintained any regular practice of sung liturgy so far, there is typically an extremely dedicated, faith-filled, and talented leader at the center of it. This may be a full-time music director, a part-time coordinator, or even a committed volunteer. This individual has to work extraordinarily hard not only to teach, catechize and train cantors, choirs, organists, members of the faithful, even parish staff and clergy, but also to pull together and execute sung liturgies week after week. It is true that this task is easier than it was five years ago, but still, it is a monumental task.

    Just last week I read a note from a colleague in my diocese who went on vacation and planned to fly back home on Saturday night in order to direct his music program on Sunday morning. Well, his flight was delayed twice and finally cancelled, which would have been cause for a typical music director to begin scrambling for a sub. But his situation is different. He wrote:

    In order to sub for me you have to read neumes, be able to sing in Latin, come up with accompaniments to chants and hymns on the fly, dabble your way through 3 books and a binder and keep the nice choir ladies on key…. so I couldn’t just call in some AGO-sub-lister. So what does an organist do? He flies into Los Angeles at midnight, rents a car, then drives through the night and makes it home just in time for his 7am Mass with no sleep.

    This, my friends, is dedication. And — somewhat unfortunately — it is the kind of dedication that is currently needed to successfully sustain a program of sacred music in a parish today.

    And this brings me to my next observation.

    When we assess the musical programs in the majority of parishes, we do not find this kind of superhuman music director. In fact, in most parishes we see a mishmash of volunteers, perhaps a few stipended musicians, and maybe a part-time coordinator. Truly, parishes with full-time directors of music are the exception, not the norm.

    Most of these parishes rely upon pre-packaged programs of liturgical music from the major commercial publishers that give them everything that is needed to get through weekend liturgies. These resources are utterly relied upon from week to week. There is the hymnal/missal for the pew, accompaniment books for the accompanist, and the cantor and choir editions for the singers that correspond to the books in the pews, et cetera. Everything is in place. All that is needed is for the musical leader of the Mass to select four songs from the planning guide, pick out a Mass setting, put the numbers on the board, and they’re ready to go.

    We all know the drill very well. What makes us uneasy about this is not the drill itself, but it is the music in the popular commercial liturgical products that we know so often lacks dignity, doesn’t set the liturgical text, has strong associations with (often dated) popular music, and is a far cry from what we might describe as sacred music.

    So far, we have been very blessed to have begun reaping the fruits of the chant revival, and new publications in recent years have helped make this possible. There are heroic music directors and dedicated volunteers among us who perform miracle after miracle — Sunday after Sunday, in order to help foster a culture of sacred music and sung liturgy in their parishes.

    But we also have to realize that in order to make this happen in ordinary parishes we need to have a comprehensive program of sacred music that is packaged like the programs from the big commercial publishers. We need the complete package: Books for the pews, books for the choir and cantor that match, and accompaniment editions for it all.

    And most importantly this program of sacred music needs to be born of the mind of the Church, organically developed out of the Church’s timeless tradition, a reflection of the priorities of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, beautiful, sacred, dignified, and able to sung every week by ordinary parishes with limited resources.

    I would like to introduce you to a solution to these needs:

    Meet the Lumen Christi Series from Illuminare Publications.

    The Lumen Christi Missal is already being used in many parishes across the country, and hundreds rely upon the Illuminare Score Library every week for free downloads for the cantor and choir, and for organ accompaniments.

    The Lumen Christi Hymnal, Lumen Christi Simple Gradual, and Lumen Christi Gradual are all on their way and will begin shipping in early 2014.

    Sung liturgy cannot be reserved to the domain of specialists, or the dedicated few, but must be shared in by all. The Lumen Christi Series is ready to help you make this a reality in your parish.

    Click here to learn more. You can follow the Illuminare Publications blog or subscribe to the mailing list for future publication announcements and updates.