Advent 3

Music for Sunday 16th December: Advent 3, Year C

Kathryn

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Canticle: Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-18.

Zephaniah 3:14-20 — a song of joy at the coming of the Lord, the King of Israel, who will restore the people and gather them and bring them home.

Isaiah 12:2-6 — a song of trust in God, and thanks and praise to God.

Philippians 4:4-7 — the letter writer tells the recipients (and us!) to rejoice in the Lord, to let our gentleness be known to everyone, and not to worry about anything but to pray to the Lord with thanksgiving.

Luke 3:7-18 — John the Baptist calls the crowd of people coming to be baptized a brood of vipers, and tells people what they should do: someone with two coats must give one away, tax collectors must only collect what they are meant to, soldiers must not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations but be satisfied with their wages. People wonder if he is the Messiah and he tells them that one who is coming who will baptize them with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Gwyneth Walker, I Thank You God
English text by e e cummings
SSA or SSATB and piano (or orchestra), moderately challenging, 5min 35s.
Available from Presto Classical. https://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/sheet-music/products/8102799–gwyneth-walker-i-thank-you-god
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zrq9GRMVyo
Additional comments and resources: https://www.gwynethwalker.com/ithankyo.html

It’s also Sapientiatide – the ‘O’ Antiphons start on 16th December (if you sing eight of them; if you sing only seven, they start on the 17th). There are various settings of relevant texts which are suitable:

Melissa Dunphy, O Oriens.
Latin text from the O Antiphons.
SATB a cappella, moderately challenging, 4min.
Availble from the composer’s website: http://melissadunphy.com/composition.php?id=62
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM-H9l5PtC4

Carlotta Ferrari, O Oriens.
Latin text from the O Antiphons.
SATB a cappella, moderately challenging, 2min.
Available from CPDL. http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/O_oriens_(Carlotta_Ferrari)
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP-Zl0kXN00

Music for Sunday 17th December: Advent 3 (Gaudete), year B

Kathryn

The readings for this week are
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126 OR Canticle: Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28.

Gaudete Sunday, hurrah! Rejoice!

Now it gets interesting. There’s enough imagery in Isaiah alone to last several weeks: the focus on justice and good news for the poor and downtrodden, or the rejoicing as a bride, or the earth bringing forth its shoots.

To complicate things further, you could have the Magnificat as a canticle instead of the psalm this week, or next week instead. Psalm 126 is one of the Songs of Ascents, and it’s about a harvest of (guess what?) joy and thanksgiving.

1 Thessalonians is short and sweet, rejoice in the Lord always, and some other instructions and benedictions from the letter-writer. And “the one who calls you is faithful”.

And then we have John the Baptist, again, this time as told by John rather than Mark.

If you are using the Magnificat this week, check out the Evensong page for a couple of recommendations. If you’re really going all-out for Gaudete you could also consider Isabella Leonarda’s Magnificat, but it does require two violins and a basso continuo as well as the choral parts and it lasts a good nine or ten minutes, so this is not a good substitute for the psalm at your average Parish Eucharist! Here’s a recording:

Isabella Leonarda’s Magnificat on YouTube

The hymn I wrote for last week would work well again this week, but… well, probably not if you used it last week.