Music for Easter-6-B (May 21)

Prelude:           Trio: Tambling
Processional Hymn: 466: The Master Came To Bring
Kyrie:             Deutsche Messe: Schubert/Proulx
Gloria:            Deutsche Messe: Schubert/Proulx
Readings:          563
Offertory:         335: Seek Ye First
                   (11) Jesus came that all: Knoxville Harmony
Sanctus/Mem/Amen:  Deutsche Messe: Schubert/Proulx
Agnus Dei:         Deutsche Messe: Schubert/Proulx
Communion Hymn:    431: O Lord I Am Not Worthy
                   265: Regina Caeli
Final Hymn:        427: I Come With Joy
Postlude:          Trumpet Tune

Music Notes:


Franz Schubert (1797-1828) composed his "Deutsche Messe (D 872)"
in 1826. Richard Proulx adapted its music to English Mass texts in
1985; these easy-to-sing melodies will be used throughout the Easter
Season; please use the heavy-stock music cards in the pews (and leave
them there for the next Mass!).


At Offertory during the 11 am Mass, the choir presents a piece included
in a rare and little known book "The Knoxville Harmony of Music Made Easy:
Which is an Interesting Selection of Hymns and Psalms, Usually Sung in
Churches: Selected from the Best Authors in General Use" published in
1838 by Southern tunebook compiler John B Jackson (no dates available).


This is one of several sources of shape-note music, which has enjoyed a
continuous tradition of use in the United States, handed down since Colonial
times and still practiced at hundreds of annual singing meetings, conventions,
and local singing groups throughout the USA. This type of music can be directly
traced as a distinct musical thread before the American Revolution, through to
rural England, back to Reformation psalmody, and earlier to Renaissance polyphony.


The largest surviving branch of traditional American Shape Note Singing
uses another book of the period, "The Sacred Harp". These books have
standard five-line and four-space staffs for treble and bass clefs,
but give note heads various shapes (triangle, circle, square, diamond)
to aid in pitch identification. The complete text: "Jesus came that
all men might / perfect be in God's own sight. / Healer, preacher, teacher,
He / bought for us eternity. / What did Jesus come to say? / Words still true
for us today! / Give yourself, your heart to me. / I alone can set you free."