Cappella Sistina Gives Free Performance in London

The Sistine Chapel Choir - choir to the Pope - last night gave a concert in London, entitled "Super Fundamentum Apostolorum (Upon the Foundation of the Apostles) - A Journey through the Liturgical Year with Traditional Music from Papal Celebrations".

Well, with remarkable speed, the Catholic Church in England and Wales, through one of her humble functionaries, has already provided pictures of the event:

The Most Reverend Massimo Palombella, Maestro di 

Cappella Sistina, is greeted by the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, 

Archbishop of Westminster

See many more pictures here.  All pictures © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

Italy news UK reports that "Cinque minuti di applausi ininterrotti è il premio che il numerosissimo pubblico ha tributato al coro del Vaticano" (The sizeable audience showed their thanks for the Vatican choir's performance by applauding for five whole minutes).  The choir apparently sang a selection of Gregorian chants, and motets by Palestrina and Perosi. 

And a blogger - who was present at the concert - reports: 

"Mgr Massimo Palombella [present director of the Cappella Sistina] addressed those present – the Cathedral was packed and many had to stand throughout the concert. After praising Westminster Cathedral Choir and its director, Martin Baker, Mgr Palombella said that the Pope desired a greater collaboration between his choir and the choirs of Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. It seems that the Holy Father had been impressed by the music he had heard in London during the 2010 Papal visit. In fact, Palombella went on to say, through an interpreter - Richard Rouse, who organised last year’s bloggers conference at the Vatican - that the Holy Father had “pushed” the Sistine Chapel Choir to collaborate with the English choirs. He also said that the Pope had expressed a desire to see ecclesiastical music used as a means of fostering true ecumenical ventures – Benedict XVI has invited Westminster Abbey Choir to sing during the Papal Liturgies for this year's Feast of St Peter and St Paul."

Will there be a video to follow?

Westminster Cathedral ...

... is a striking building in the bustling heart of London.  For one arriving by train into Victoria station, or strolling through Green Park and past the Palace having purchased one's essential comestibles from Fortnum & Mason, the sight of its tower rising out of the city-scape in so marvellous a fashion is a tantalising foretaste of the majestic sub-stratum.

View of Cathedral bell tower from near Buck House

If you have not been able to take a tour of the Cathedral, then fear not because an hour-long video has been produced of a guided tour in 2011 given by the Administrator of the Cathedral, Canon Christopher Tuckwell.

I think you will agree that, even amongst the manifold architectural treasures in London, the Cathedral is well worth the visit.  For those resident in London, the Telegraph suggests paying a lunch-time visit to ascend the tower and take in the view.

For those seeking spiritual comfort, the Cathedral is a great sanctuary of quiet, where one can sit in prayerful repose, unencumbered, if fleetingly, by worldly concerns - the quiet only punctuated when its cavernous spaces are filled with the glorious sounds of its choir singing the praises of God, during the week this usually being on the dot of 5 pm for Vespers (in the Lady Chapel) followed by a solemn choral Mass at 5.30 pm (in the main Sanctuary), and at 10.30 am for Mass on Saturdays (Latin Novus Ordo) and Sundays (Latin-English Novus Ordo) (Vespers being at the earlier time of 3.30 pm on Sundays).

O truly beautiful chant ...

... worthy alone to be sung on this blessed night.

It is not yet commonplace for major liturgies in metroploitan cathedrals to be webcast live and then made available for viewing "on-demand". But St. Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne appears to be blazing the trail - at least as far as the Antipodes is concerned.  Click here to watch this year's entire Easter Vigil.  The video is illuminating in various respects.  For example, this is the first Easter Vigil since the implementation throughout the English-speaking world of the new translation of the Roman Missal - and this meant many changes to the text of the prayers of the Vigil.  Then, we hear the new Exsultet - a real triumph of the new Missal.  Then we hear more chant - the Archbishop chanted almost everything!  Preface 1 of Easter with its two quilismas - excellent!!  This is a great example of how well the Novus Ordo Mass can be celebrated, and how the new Missal really assists in that endeavour. 

Sydney's Easter Vigil was stunning too - the music list may be viewed here.  And from The Australian newspaper this wonderful photo from the Mass of Easter Sunday morning:

Exsultet (Praeconium Paschale) - Resources

There are already plenty of resources available online to assist deacons, priests and cantors in preparing to sing the Exsultet in English from the 2010 Roman Missal. 

One method which I consider may be helpful is to listen to the Latin original (from the 2002 Missale Romanum) to get a feel for how it should sound in practice (given that the 2010 English version is closely based on the beautiful Latin tone).  And here is a great recording from the Easter Vigil at St. Peter's last year, presumably taken from the 2002 MR:

You can follow along by downloading this Latin version from the 1970 Missale Romanum (I haven't compared it to the 2002 version - there may be some minor differences). 

Then, you can practice by downloading the English 2010 version of the Exsultet in sqaure notation (this has apparently been prepared by a parish in Birmingham, UK, and was brought to my attention via the Chant Cafe).  Alternatively, download the Exsultet in modern notation exactly as it appears in the CTS Roman Missal by clicking here - this resource is made available by the Liturgy Office of England & Wales on the Roman Missal UK website.  You can find other reosurces for the Holy week liturgies there too.

Brisbane abuzz with news of new bishop

“With few illusions about myself or the task that awaits me in Queensland, but with trust in the Lord who sends me, I pack my bags and head north once again.”

The next Archbishop of Brisbane - the capital city of the state of Queensland - will be the Most Reverend Mark Coleridge, biblical scholar, competent liturgist and previous Archbishop of Canberra-Goulburn (Canberra, although the Australian capital, is a much smaller city than Brisbane). 

It is fascinating to see how much media interest there has been in this new appointment - as much in the mass media as in the Catholic press. 

His credentials are impressive: chaplain to Bl. Pope John Paul II; member of the Pontifical Council for Culture; chairman of the Roman Missal Editorial Committee of the International Commission for English in the Liturgy; chairman of the International Commission for the Preparation of an English-language Lectionary; chairman of the Australian Bishops' Commission for Liturgy; doctorate in scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute; and the list goes on. He is, in fact, a compelling and influential preacher. 

I have already posted the Archbishop's comments on the new translation of the Roman Missal - the speech he gave in Perth in 2010 is particularly interesting.  I thought it might also be apt to quote at length from his 2008 "Pentecost Letter on the Liturgy": 

“In this next phase of the ongoing journey of liturgical renewal, some things are clearly important.  Among the more important are the following:

• a strengthening of the sense of the nature and importance of ritual and symbol and of the distinction between the sacred and the profane;
• a deeper inculcation of silence into our worship, so that there is a richer and deeper interplay of silence and words, silence and music;
• a right balance between continuity and discontinuity with the liturgical forms and traditions of the past;
• a body of liturgical texts which pass on the full wealth of the liturgical, spiritual and theological heritage found in the Roman Missal;
• liturgical music which nourishes rather than substitutes for prayer;
• an effort to ensure that beauty in worship opens us more deeply to the mystery of God; and
• a focusing of the different and complementary roles presumed in Catholic liturgy (and ecclesiology), so that the identity and function of the ordained and non-ordained are clearly seen.

Much has been achieved in the journey of liturgical renewal since the Second Vatican Council, but there is still much to be done.  Without abandoning the gains of recent decades, now is the time to take stock comprehensively, with our eye firmly fixed on both pastoral need and liturgical tradition in the way presumed by the Council.  

At times when my own spirits have flagged in what I am doing to help the Church move through this next phase of liturgical renewal, I have thought to myself that what we are doing – what we are all called to do now – is to prepare an Upper Room where the Lord can celebrate the Passover.  In the Gospel, Jesus asks, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples” (Mark 14:14); and in shaping the liturgy we are providing the Lord with an answer – “a large room upstairs, furnished and ready” (v. 15).  The room must be large because all the disciples will gather there: the liturgy is for everyone.  Moreover, in all our efforts to renew the liturgy as the Church requires, we are seeking to ensure that the room is “furnished and ready”.  Much has been done to prepare the room, but there is still much to be done to ensure that it is fully furnished and ready for the feast.  

The Passover is also the Wedding Feast of the Lamb who has taken to himself his Bride, the Church.  We are planning the banquet which celebrates the marriage of heaven and earth.  In all the work now being done on the Missal, we are providing the Church with words.  We are looking for the right words to place on the lips of the Bride as she speaks in love to the Bridegroom.  But it involves more than words, however important they may be.  We are looking for rituals and symbols, for songs and gestures, for buildings and furnishings, vestments and vessels, all of which will be worthy of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.”

According to the archdiocese of Brisbane, the new Archbishop's principal areas of focus will be "liturgy, teaching of faith to the young and of encouraging vocations to the priesthood and religious life."

I have said before that the Church in Australia is in a great state of flux at present, and the ramifications of this appointment will no doubt be profound. 

Mendelssohn in Melbourne, and Byrd too

Melbourne boasts one of the finest church buildings in Australia - William Wardell's splendid bluestone Cathedral of St. Patrick, in the Gothic Revival style.  See here for a history of the Cathedral. 

The Cathedral is also home to an excellent choir, the existence of which is largely due to happenstance.  According to the National Museum of Australia, the Vienna Mozart Boys Choir had been touring the United States, the Pacific and Australia from December 1938 to September 1939. 

They became stranded in Perth [Western Australia] when the ship on which they were to return to Austria was requisitioned.  Germany had just invaded Poland and Australia had entered the Second World War.  Dr Daniel Mannix, then the Archbishop of Melbourne [Victoria], offered that his parishioners would provide foster care in return for the boys forming a choir at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.  The boys soon started school and attempted to learn English … Remaining in Australia … likely saved their lives, as they came of age during the war and would have been conscripted into the German army.  Only one returned to live in Vienna after the war. 

Even today the Choir’s roots in the German choral tradition are evident.  At the 11am Solemn Mass for the fifth Sunday of Lent the choir sang Mendelssohn’s Richte mich Gott. 

They also sang the Kyrie and Agnus Dei from Byrd’s Mass for five voices.  Incidentally, so did the choir of Westminster Cathedral.  Here is a video of that choir singing the Agnus Dei at the Papal Mass in 2010. 

The whole of that Mass may be viewed here – every ‘liturgy planner’ should so do. 

Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral Choir will be singing the Byrd Agnus Dei for Palm Sunday. 

Abbey Choir to Sing in Rome for Feast of SS Peter and Paul

At the Pope's invitation, the Choir of Westminster Abbey (C of E) will sing with the Sistine Chapel Choir for the Papal Mass on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.  Read the story here.  The Mass will be televised. 

For the 2010 Order of Service for the festal Mass at St Peter's, click below (in three parts):

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3 

The Abbey choir is not the first high profile choir to sing in the Vatican Basilica on this Feast. Who could forget this rather lavish affair in 1986?