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The Mass
In the early Church, "Mass" meant the farewell of catechumens who had not yet received baptism after the service of the word, which served to teach. The formula "Ite, missa est - This is the dismissal" was transferred to the end of the entire service and gave it its name.
The Mass consists of the Ordinary, the five recurring parts, and the Proper, the chants, which change according to the occasion or season, thus dating back to the Roman-Franconian tradition of the Early Middle Ages.
Ordinary
The polyphonic cyclic compositions of the Ordinary began to appear only around the 15th century, curiously mainly in England. They quickly became the most important musical genre, the "cantus magnus," as Johannes Tinctoris defined it in 1495. The number of mass compositions is immeasurable, as is the variety of styles, since secular music was diligently integrated into sacred art, often to the dismay of the clergy, who nevertheless enjoyed the melodious sound.
However, not all clergy were benevolent towards music. Mozart's time restrictions imposed by Archbishop Colloredo are well known. These restrictions were one of the reasons for the genre of the short mass, which was composed with an eye on time, so to speak.
Proper
The term Proper – "the proper" – refers to the texts of the liturgy that change according to the occasion or time, unlike the Ordinary.
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Music for the Ecclesiastical Year
Unlike the civil year, it begins with Advent and ends with the preceding Sunday, called Christ the King in the Catholic Church and Eternity Sunday in the Protestant Church. Religious topics correspond to natural processes: In the dark season of winter , Christ comes into the world as light; in spring , Easter celebrates the victory of life over death; as autumn progresses, the Church commemorates transience and death.
Advent and Christmas
The music of the Christmas holidays, which broadly includes also the preparation time of Advent , varies greatly from region to region. In addition to traditional German Christmas Carols and Alpine Christmas Carols, Christmas Carols are particularly popular in England. But also South American Christmas Carols have been gaining followers.
Advent
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Easter
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Ascension | Pentecost
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Blum: Organ Pieces for Worship
Lent and Easter
Easter is the most important festival of the ecclesiastical year. Composers from all centuries have created works for Easter services. Hallelujah from the Messiah by Georg Friedrich Handel is probably one of the most impressive compositions to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
It is preceded by the period of 40 days of Lent. The theme of Penitence belongs to this period, as well as the commemoration of the Passion of Jesus, which is musicalized in Passion Settings, the Stations of the Cross, the Seven Last Words, or the Stabat Mater.
Pentecost marks the end of the Easter period. The Pentecostal sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus, one of the five sequences still used today after there were several thousand of them in the Middle Ages, is musically significant. The German version of the hymn Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist was written by Martin Luther. There are also numerous versions of the Pentecostal hymn Veni Creator Spiritus and its German version Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist.
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