Ash Wednesday (2014)

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

Entrance	O God, I seek you (Marty Haugen)
Psalm	Ps 50 (Stephen Dean)
Gospel Acclamation	Glory and Praise (mcb)
Imposition of Ashes	Bless the Lord, my soul (Taizé)
Sanctus, Acclamation C, Amen	Missa Orbis Factor & Missal tones
Agnus Dei	Missa Orbis Factor
Communion	Miserere Mei (attr. G.B Pergolesi, 1710-1736)
Recessional	Our Father, we have wandered

 

Since Pergolesi died young, and at the peak of his fame, he bequeathed a powerful brand name to later composers seeking a quick route to high-volume sales. I read somewhere that in catalogues of his compositions, works actually written by him are massively outnumbered by works falsely attributed to him. I've no idea whether the brief atmospheric setting of the first verse of Ps 50 (51) that we sang tonight is authentic Pergolesi: the only recorded version I know of attributes it to him unquestioningly, but there’s scant mention of the piece anywhere else, and the only respectable-looking scholarly citation suggests that the jury is still out. No matter. It’s a beautiful and dramatic miniature which I’m glad we’ve added to our repertoire.