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CHOIR PARTS


The following parts, if not sung by the whole congregation, are traditionally sung by a choir. The texts are invariable except for the Tridentine-period ''Agnus Dei''.


The ''Kyrie eleison'' was traditionally sung in Greek , the others in Latin . But the use of other languages, once a rare privilege given to the Slavs of Dalmatia (in present day Croatia ) who used the Old Church Slavonic language written in Glagolitic characters, is now more common than the use of Latin and Greek.

The ''Kyrie'', ''Sanctus'', and ''Agnus Dei'' are part of every Mass. Until the 1970 revision of the Roman Missal, the ''Agnus Dei'' was modified for Requiem Masses, and prayed not ''miserere nobis'' (have mercy on us) and ''dona nobis pacem'' (grant us peace), but ''dona eis requiem'' (grant them rest) and ''dona eis requiem sempiternam'' (grant them eternal rest).

The ''Gloria'' is reserved for Masses of Sundays, solemnities and feasts, with the exception of Sundays within the penitential season of Lent (to which, before 1970, were added the three pre-Lent Sundays that began with Septuagesima ), and Sundays within the season of Advent (when it is held back as preparation for Christmas ). It is omitted at weekday Masses and memorials, and at requiem and votive Masses, but is generally used also at ritual Masses celebrated on occasions such as the administration of another sacrament, a religious profession or the blessing of a church.

The ''Credo'' is used on all Sundays and solemnities. Until simplified by Pope Pius XII in 1956, the rules (some 400 words in Section XI of the ''Rubricae generales Missalis'') were much more complicated, listing, among other Masses, those of Doctors Of The Church , those celebrated during octaves and certain votive Masses.

During the Middle Ages it was common in certain uses of the Roman Rite (such as the Sarum Use ) to add Tropes to the ''Kyrie''. The tropes were essentially texts particular to a specific feast day interpolated between the lines of the ''Kyrie''. The 1970 revision of the Roman Missal has extended the availability of this practice to all Masses.

It was at one time popular, though an abuse, to replace at a Solemn Mass the second half of the ''Sanctus'' (the ''Benedictus'') with hymns such as the O Salutaris Hostia , or, at Requiem s, with a musical setting of the final invocation of the Dies Irae : "Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem."

The phrase '''' or ''Requiescant in pace''. These phrases are sung to music given in the Missal, as is the choir's response, ''Deo gratias'' or (after ''Requiescant in pace'') ''Amen''. Because of their brevity, the responses have seldom been set to polyphonic music except in early Masses such as the Messe De Nostre Dame by Machaut ). The same holds for other short sung responses, such as ''Et cum spiritu'', ''Gloria tibi, Domine'', ''Habemus ad Dominum'', and ''Dignum et iustum est''.


MUSIC


These texts were traditionally sung to Gregorian Chant . Beginning in the Middle Ages , they began to be set to elaborate musical compositions. Some of the best composers wrote Masses . They include:


While some of the later compositions (especially those of the Classical Period and later, which contained many abuses such as 'telescoping' parts or all of the texts of the ''Gloria'' or ''Credo'', or employing musical themes from secular music) are seen by many as entertainment rather than aids to religious devotion, music recently composed for the Vernacular translations of the same texts is not considered to have yet reached an even remotely corresponding standard of excellence.


NON-CHOIR PARTS OF THE ORDINARY OF THE MASS


Unlike the five main choir parts, some of the other texts of the Ordinary of the Mass were in 1970 partly revised. They can be grouped as follows:

  • The Tridentine-Mass Prayers at the Foot of the Altar, or the post-1970 Penitential Rite

  • The prayers said in connection with the Scripture readings

  • The Offertory prayers

  • The Canon Of The Mass , or Eucharistic Prayer, with its opening dialogue and its Preface, the latter of which, in spite of being variable, is included in the Ordinary of the Mass

  • The Our Father and the following prayers, leading to the priest's communion, to which since 1970 is added the communion of the people, previously not part of the Ordinary of the Mass (though the rite for it was sometimes printed after the Ordinary in missals for use by the faithful, not in the Roman Missal itself).

  • The prayer said at the cleansing of the chalice, and the concluding prayers, which in the Tridentine Mass included the reading of what was called the Last Gospel (usually, the first fourteen verses of Saint John's Gospel) as a farewell blessing.