Dear friends/colleagues/contacts:

As in past years, I am writing to you as acquaintances or friends I have, by God’s grace, made over the years in connection with the Roman liturgy and Gregorian chant, and to invite your participation and assistance (or solicit your help in getting the word out) in whatever capacity you may be able to manage with Palm Sunday, Tenebrae, the Triduum, and Easter this year. Please forgive any impertinence in contacting you “out of the blue.” Please take a few minutes to review the following and consider giving it as wide a circulation as possible to any musically inclined colleagues in the wider Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia metro and surrounding areas.
 
Thankfully we are again blessed with having a liturgical program for the traditional Holy Week and Triduum ceremonies at Ss Peter and Paul in York, PA, in the coming week. Regrettably, following the passing in 2019 of my key collaborator and assistant, our dear friend Fr. Joseph Collins, who had been the backbone of our program (as a singer, rather than celebrant) for more than 10 years, the musical element of the liturgy has become a purely “family affair” over the last couple of years, and will be the same this year (barring a couple of extremely welcome exceptions). I certainly have no complaints because, in all humility, I think we do a more than decent job and , quite honestly, the Holy Week program we have evolved over many years is tremendously edifying.
 
That said, we would certainly welcome and benefit from collaboration and participation to any degree with chant and/or classical polyphony, especially insofar as a good portion of the Triduum liturgy (especially Tenebrae and Holy Saturday) involves lessons and prophecies best sung by a range of men instead of simply one (as is sadly too often the case!).
 
The program planned is detailed below my email signature. My hope is that some of you might find it ambitious and exciting enough to elicit some interest and a favorable response.
 
I recognize that many if not all of you will be booked with your own liturgical duties and as such would be ruled out as collaborators even in the event you were interested in taking on such a role. The hope, therefore, is that this email mind find one or other of you available due to, for example, unexpected cancellations of your own programs or some similar inability to proceed with Holy Week services at your regular venues.
 
A small stipend plus travel, lodging, and meal costs will be provided.
 
And in any event please do circulate this to any interested colleagues.
 
God bless you and thank you in advance.
 
N.B. We are also singing the Feast of the Seven Sorrows on 26 March at 0830am if anyone is looking for an opportunity to sing the Gregorian propers and sequence and a few polyphonic pieces in honor of Our Lady’s Seven Sorrows.
 
John Sharpe
john.sharpe@charter.net
(757) 645-1740 (h)
(757) 332-2074 (c)
 
PROGRAM
 
Tenebrae (6pm Wed, Thurs, Fri evenings):
--common to three nights (unless otherwise noted in section below):
all Gregorian psalms and antiphons
all Gregorian responsories
all Lessons, as follows:
----first nocturn, Lamentation tone from Liber (Oratio for 3rd Lesson Friday night) or Mozarabic tone from Solesmes book
----second nocturn, proper Benedictine tone from Laudes Festivae
----third nocturn, common prophecy tone
Benedictus & proper antiphon - Gregorian
Psalm 50 - recto
 
--specifics for each night at variance w/ above:
 
----Holy Thursday (Wed night), polyphonic responsories:
In monte oliveti - Palestrina SATB
Tristis est - Michael Haydn SATB
Ecce vidimus - Ingegneri (reprise only) SATB
Amicus meus - Viadana SATB
Unus ex discipulis - Victoria (reprise only) SATB
Eram quasi agnus – Victoria SATB
Senioris populi - di Lasso (repriese only) SATB
 
----Good Friday (Thurs night)
--Vinea mea - Palestrina (reprise only) SATB
--Tamquam ad latronem - Victoria (reprise only) SATB
--Animam meam - di Lasso (reprise only) SATB
--Tradiderunt - Victoria SATB
--Caligaverunt - Aretino (repsise only) SATB
 
----Holy Saturday (Fri night)
--Plange - Viadana (reprise only) SATB
--Ecce quomodo - di Lasso (reprise only) SATB
--O vos omnes - Victoria SATB
--Sepulto Domino - Handl (reprise only) SATB
Psalm 50: Allegri's Miserere SATB + voices for concluding verse (as available)
 
Masses:
 
Palm Sunday (9am)
--All Gregorian sung (incl. responsory Collegerunt, palm-blessing antiphons, all Mass pats - simply follow pre-1956 liber), except as noted:
--Asperges - Gregorian w/ Isaac reprise SATB
--Palm distribiution: Pueri Hebraeorum (we sing Gregorian once, then follow each setting, one for each text, with polyphony - one by Palestrina, other Victoria - both SATB)
--Motet(s) - In monte oliveti - Palestrina SATB; Ave Regina Coelorum - di Lasso SATB; O Domine Jesu Christe - José Luis de Muguerza SATB
 
Holy Thursday (1pm)
--All Gregorian sung (except polyphony as noted below)
--Ordinary IX, Credo III; Sanctus and Agnus Dei in SAB polyphony (I don't know composer - can send music sheets)
--Gradual - SATB polyphony by Yon (from hymnal) (note this isn't an extraordinary work of art but it's traditional/customary for us having done it for many years)
--Motets - Christus Factus, Anerio SATB; Domine tu mihi lavas - Cardoso SATB; Ubi caritas - Durufle; Ave Verum - Byrd SATB; Qui manducat - Merulo (SATB)
--Vespers/stripping of the altar (Diviserunt sibi) - recto
 
Good Friday (12pm)
--All Gregorian sung (except polyphony as noted below)
--Crucem tuam antiphon - possible SAB polyphonic reprise from Motecassion Codes (this is neat but difficult to pull off cleanly)
--Crux fidelis - last refrain following gregorian - Clemens non Papa (SATB)
--Vexilla regis - simple SAB alternating with Gregorian verses; final verses: polphony by Gines Perez SATB
--Motet(s) - Adoramus te (traditional, incorrectly attr. Palestrina) SATB; Adoramus te - SAB di Lasso; Adoramus te - SATB (Dubois); Vexilla regis - M. Praetorius SATB; O bone Jesu (traditional, incorrectly attr. Palestrina) SATB; Arbor decora - SAB (Palestrina); O sacred head - Latin/Gregorian, English, unison and last verse SATB harmony;
--Vespers (recto)
 
Holy Saturday (7am)
--All Gregorian sung (except as noted): Mass I (Kyrie, following litany; Gloria; Sanctus); no Credo
--Sicut Cervus - Palestrina (in place of processional tract) SATB
--Cito Euentes - M. Praetorius SATB
--Maria Magdanele - Gabrieli SATB
--Vespers: Gregorian w/ harmony for first antiphon/psalm and Magnificat antiphon; Magnificat, SAB faux bordone (traditional); antiphon (Ps 116) and magnificat antiphon reprise, Byrd SAB
 
General/extra triduum/passiontide motes as needed:
 
--Salvator Mundi - Tallis (SSATB)
--Domine Jesu Christe - Juan de Antxieta SATB
--Stabat Mater - numerous SATB settings for "filler"
 
Easter
--Matins/Lauds (2pm Sat) - all Gregorian; Benedictine lesson tones from Laudes Festivae
--Mass (9am Sun) - Byrd SAB, incl. Credo
----all Gregorian propers
----motets: Christus resurgens, SAB di Lasso; Maria Magdalens - Dulot (SATB); Regina Coeli - Lotti SATB

Speaking of SS Peter and Paul in York PA, does anybody here know if Father Philip Stark is still living?  I know he was associated with that chapel.

I assisted at his Mass on occasion, when he would come to the chapel which I attended at that time (not SSP&P), and I struck up a casual acquaintance with him, and even offered him a stipend to celebrate Mass for the departed on a couple of occasions.  I know at the time he was blind in one eye.  He would be well past 90 now.

Is this the Father Philip Stark you were talking about?:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/father-phillip-stark

Currently the priest who offers Mass at Saint Peter and Paul's is Father Waters.  He was a military caplain for the novus ordo who joined the SSPX and then left after a time and became an independent priest.  He was conditionally ordained by I think it was Bishop Williamson.

I prefer more of a pure Chant medley of songs. I guess I like music that is accessible to all. Even my grade school age girls can and do learn various chant pieces. Multi-part polyphony is an exclusive club made up of music majors and expert singers.

My girls all learned "Attende Domine" and "Parce Domine" this year, complete with the verses in between. They memorized them even!

I guess it's my Irish side that prefers more down to earth, pure melody/lyrics with a bit of rhythm, that everyone in the pub can join in and sing.

And the SSPX was big on promoting Chant among the Faithful, which I really liked about them. St. Pius X believed this way, and I found it appropriate that the Society of St. Pius X was faithful to their namesake in this department.

Let's put it this way: near my hometown, there were two SSPX chapels I attended before I moved to Texas.

Mukwonago, WI: 1.2 hours from my house, it was an independent chapel, served by the SSPX. My uncle described it best as a "country club" atmosphere. They sang a lot of polyphony, the girls dressed up in expensive clothing, etc. It was indeed very cosmopolitan.

Madison, WI: 1.4 hours away, but it was an SSPX chapel through-and-through. They were served by all the Seminary professors in nearby Winona, MN taking turns. So they were well trained in the SSPX ways, including their spirit when it comes to music and Chant. It was located in the middle of a wide-open field, and I think many of the parishioners were rural. I remember being there for a Marian feast (I think it was the Assumption) and they sang Who is She Ascends so High in 4-part -- right out of the Traditional Roman Hymnal. It was beautiful. And all the Kyriales sung during High Mass were different versions in the Liber Usualis -- Chant -- rather than polyphonic settings.

If it's a big feast day, I want to hear Mass II or Mass IX, not the "Byrd Mass". Gregorian chant settings, with organ accompaniment, are quite powerful and beautiful, and can't be topped.

Some or a lot of polyphony seems more like a performance. I don't know. I'm not dogmatic about it, I can't point to any sin or anything like that -- just that I don't like it. I guess I don't have any "music snob" in me, despite being quite the tenor vocalist myself. Maybe I'm just too Irish to be stuck up when it comes to singing. I want to share my singing, enjoy good music, and sing with others.

I guess to use an alcohol analogy, I am more of a "beer at the pub to enjoy yourself with friends" type, rather than a snooty, pretentious expensive wine connoisseur.

Yes, I too prefer just the chant ... and unaccompanied by instruments.  To me it just sounds more like prayer.

I prefer polyphony as long as it's done well.

This is where it is NOT.

 (This is where it IS)