Music for Fourth Sunday in Lent

This Sunday, often referred to as Mothering Sunday, Laetare Sunday, or “Refreshment” Sunday marks the halfway point of Lent, with twenty-one calendar dates remaining until the Great Vigil of Easter. Traditionally a Sunday where early Christians honoured the “Mother Church,” some may choose to take a break from their Lenten fasting, and the appointed antiphons and lectionary are somewhat more joyful than those of adjacent Sundays. Likewise, today’s music breaks from our Lenten focus on plainchant Mass ordinaries and reduced choral offerings, featuring some beautiful music traditionally heard at St. James’ at the halfway point from Ash Wednesday to Easter.

Before Solemn Mass, an extended prelude offers a backdrop for contemplative prayer: a meditation on a German chorale written in 2021 by Canadian composer Joel Peters. Peters creates an atmosphere of quiet, almost enthralling reflection by dynamically shading divisions of the organ to create a wave effect, pairing the comfort imparted by a German traditional lullaby with the melody of the cited chorale, whose text asks God for radical acceptance of one’s present being in the world: “not to want too much, not too want too little.. but only to be quiet.”

At communion, the choir presents one of the great choral anthems of the twentieth century, Edgar Bainton’s “And I saw a new heaven,” which sets a striking text from Revelation 21, describing a fleeting vision of heaven’s eternal promise, emphasizing that the “tabernacle of God” is with humankind; that God remains with us and protects even before we reach our eternal rest. The tenor echos the soprano’s text and melody in canon throughout much of the piece, perhaps depicting this duality of God’s eternal promise on earth and in heaven alike.

Abraham Ross

 

Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.