A Choral Mass for Lent – Sundays at Noon

by admin | Feb 28, 2017 | Adult Education, Christian Formation, Events, Liturgy, Music, Parish Life, The Latest

Two choral Masses will be featured during the season on Lent at noon – one ancient and one modern. Sundays one, two, three and five will utilize a setting known as the Missa Tornacensis – Tournai Mass.  Sunday four (Lætare) will feature the Berliner Mass by the Estonian composer, Arvo Pärt.

Dating from the first half of the fourteenth century, the Tournai Mass is often considered by musicologists to be the first unified setting of the mass ordinary. It was common practice in the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries to compose polyphonic settings of single movements of the mass ordinary—such as a lone Gloria—or else larger segments thereof—such as the Sanctus  and Agnus Dei  together. This Tournai Mass is instead among the earliest extant examples of a complete setting of all five parts of the mass (plus the Ite, missa est), copied together into a signle manuscript found in Tournai, Belgium.

While the mass was clearly conceived by scribes as a single cycle, however, differences in notation across the various movements indicate that the Tournai Mass was not composed by a single person or even at one time. Rather, the mass was likely the work of several thirteenth- and fourteenth-century composers, later compiled by scribes into a complete cycle with sufficient stylistic consistency. Even so, the Tournai Mass stands as a milestone in the history of liturgical music; Guillaume de Machaut seems to have closely modelled his fourteenth-century mass (the first by a single composer) on the Tournai model, and by the mid-fifteenth century, mass composition would surpass the motet as the primary vessel for composers’ musical innovation and achievement.

Ordinary Splendor

by admin | Jan 24, 2017 | Adult Education, Christian Formation, Events, Liturgy, Music, Parish Life, The Latest

As Catholic Christians, we have been called through our Baptism to evangelize the world.  One of the best ways to encounter God, who is the True, the Good, and the Beautiful, is to experience the true, the good, and the beautiful found within our culture.  God can be found in art, literature, music, film, science, drama, dance, and nature.

In fact, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once wrote, “The only really effective apologia for Christianity comes down to two arguments, namely the saints the Church has produced and the art which has grown in her womb.  Better witness is borne to the Lord by the splendor of holiness and art which have arisen in the community of believers than by…apologetics…”[1]

Last June, Barbara Nicolosi, a screenwriter from Los Angeles, gave a talk on the importance of the arts in the Church.  This event was a trial balloon to see if this type of event would be of interest to our parishioners.  Overwhelmingly, the feedback we received is yes, our parishioners would like more!

To this end, we will be launching a series of cultural events here at Prince of Peace, known as Ordinary Splendor, in the hopes of evangelizing ourselves and our neighbors through culture.  Our hope is to have between 6-8 events during 2017.  Ordinary Splendor will help us draw closer to the Lord through encountering his radiance and benevolence in various artistic mediums.

We are very excited to announce that our first event will be on Friday, 3 February, at 7.30p, when Ordinary Splendor presents The treble choristers of the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, New York City, as they tour the Southeast.  The Saint Thomas Choir School house, nurtures, and educates the boy choristers of the world-renowned choir of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue.  Through rigorous musical training and highly individualized classroom instruction in a familial, Christian environment, the school instills in its students the intellectual skills and ethical values that will enable them to embrace life with confidence, responsibility, and joy.  A reception will be held after the concert.  You do not want to miss this exciting event!

Tickets are $20 and are on sale now.  For tickets, please contact Alan Reed at alan.reed@princeofpeacetaylors.org or 864-331-3904.

If you would like to volunteer to help with this event or any of the Ordinary Splendor events in the future, please contact me at angela.calabro@princeofpeacetaylors.org or 864-331-3903.

Angela Calabro

Director of Catechesis and Evangelization

[1] Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI), The Ratzinger Report, p. 129.