Sung Settings of the Mass Ordinary, New ICEL

Anyone who has followed NLM knows of the trouble that MusicaSacra.com has had in giving away music for the new English texts for Mass. ICEL won't let us, at least not in the form of direct download links. This is why the links lower on this page are disabled.

Though the text is freely available on the USCCB website, and Cardinal Arinze specifically said that a major reason for the release of the texts is to "faciliate the devising of musical settings for the Mass," ICEL has consistently said that the CMAA may not distribute composed settings through open links. They have, however, permitted the distribution via email.

This posed a formative technical challenge for mere music geeks. No one can spend all day every day sending Mass settings via email to every parish or interested party in the world. Also, there are too many, so they can't be sent one by one but rather have to be sent in a zip file. Most automated programs don't permit attachments.

Nonetheless, Aristotle Esguerra of CantemusDomino has devised a work around. Faced with this challenge, he has a conceived an autorespond system that delivers to any in box a full set of Masses composed according to the Gregorian tradition and set to the new ICEL texts. They cost you nothing. And the means of delivery is 100% ICEL compliant. I believe that it is also true that you can get a download box for your website as well.

This way these settings can be sent to every parish in the English speaking world and choirs can begin working through them to prepare for the final approval and release of the settings. This is a wonderful way to not only do the music that the Church is actually asking for but also for every parish to save money in the future. It means, in effect, not having to replace all the music in the loft and buy new hymnbooks with the new texts.

To receive them, browse to this page. You will receive an email confirmation. Upon confirming your subscription, you will receive standalone settings of the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei; you will receive standalone settings of the Gloria and Credo, and four complete Mass settings: XII, XIII, XV and XVI approximately 24 hours later.

That's it. Please let us know your comments.

ADDED: Ok, I think the code is right now, so you can just use this form:

Plainsong Settings of the New ICEL English Translation of the Mass Ordinary

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Courtesy of
The Church Music Association of America