The music played at the opening and re-dedication of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception was chosen to lift up the mind and spirit of each individual in the congregation to God Himself, as the Second Vatican Council said it should. Cathedral choir director and organist Jacinta Jakovcevic spoke to Anthony Barich about just how it was done.
When choosing music for any feast or occasion, Jacinta Jakovcevic is always mindful of helping each person in the congregation enter more deeply into the liturgical mysteries unfolding before them.
Her task to choose and lead the performing of music for the opening and re-dedication of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, then, was not an insignificant one.
“My job is to help the people be really be prayerful during the Mass, so they come away from it having actually grown from the experience,” she said. With the music for the opening Mass, she has covered al bases of musical tastes – classical, traditional, modern, Latin and even some with a distinctly Australian flavour.
To both artists and musicians (who consider themselves artists) of the Renaissance, their work was that of evangelisation, nudging the ordinary person to think more deeply about the message and mysteries of the Eucharist.
For music, Miss Jakovcevic said, is a work of art and must be approached as such. It must be inspiring. It is appropriate, then, that the opening procession into the Cathedral will be accompanied by Music for the Royal Fireworks, by the prolific and misunderstood German composer George Frideric Handel, the architect of the renowned Messiah.
“I really thought no one can do it better than Handel. This piece is just huge,” Miss Jakovcevic said. “It’s a showstopper. It starts like fanfare, heralding the procession.
“It’s important to capture that feeling of grandeur; the sheer size of the building. This is a much-anticipated and joyous occasion, and this piece really captures that.”
The Choral Prelude to the Procession is an eight-minute canticle of thanksgiving called Festival Te Deum by English composer Ralph Vaughan-Williams who composed the music for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Choral Prelude is played by the brass section and organ, and is so grand that they are able to complement the choir’s contribution in the piece.
The opening hymn All people that on earth do dwell, a Vaughan-Williams arrangement, is apt to be performed at the opening of the Mother Church of the Archdiocese, bringing all people together as it does.
It fittingly finishes invoking the Trinity – “Praise God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, ever one!”
The piece thus encompasses many concepts of bringing people together, giving thanks to God for this much-anticipated event as the congregation “enter then His gates with praise” – for the first time.
The Mass setting, called Missa Magis, was composed by Victorian Jesuit Fr Christopher Willcock, one of the world’s leading Catholic composers of liturgical music. He wrote it last year especially for the opening and re-dedication of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and will conduct parts of it himself.
The Mass settings are extensive. Not content with just composing the Gloria, Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) and Sanctus (Holy, Holy), but also composed the Great Amen, the Memorial and Gospel Acclamations.
St Mary’s opening was be the first time the setting was performed. Miss Jakovcevic described the Gloria as “perky and bubbly”, while his arrangement of the Litany of the Saints, often sung at ordinations, is catchy. Willcock added a line to the Litany: “God here among us, show us your mercy, stay with your people, come to our help.”
Miss Jakovcevic says this was composed with the belief that if people are expected to respond – in this case with “pray for us” and “have mercy on us”, then the piece must be well-constructed, easy to sing and the aesthetics must work.
This is the case, she says, for the Litany of Saints.
To cover all bases, the Responsorial Psalm composed by local composer Christopher de Silva was chosen “to highlight our Australian heritage – a piece that people can pick up and sing and that sits well on the ear.”
After the grand opening and peppy Gloria, de Silva’s Responsorial Psalm is a sobering, reflective affair.
This variety helps the congregation to enjoy the full gamut of spiritual experiences during the Mass.
There is a common thread between the rhythm of the Gloria and the Gospel Acclamation, so that people remember how it goes. Church composers have been tying music together during Mass for hundreds of years. The anointing of the altar and the walls is a seminal time during the Mass, and requires music that justifies the occasion. As Archbishop Barry Hickey, Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton, Mgr Michael Keating and Mgr Thomas McDonald left the sanctuary to anoint the walls, Jacenta played on the organ How lovely is your dwelling place, an antiphon to accompany the important ritual by Christopher Walker.
“It’s important to have reflective pieces during the performing of such rituals so that when people watch these significant actions, it helps them understand what’s happening. These anointings, and the first time the altar cloths are laid upon the altar, are all very important occasions, and the music must reflect this.
“You’re allowing people to immerse themselves into the mystery as much as possible.”
This is also the case for the incensing of the altar and the church.
The music for the Preparation of the Gifts was also necessarily reflective as the congregation enters the truly Eucharistic phase of the liturgy. The same music was played at the closing of St Mary’s Cathedral on August 27, 2006, and later that day at the Closing Recital, which surprisingly drew over 700 people.
This was chosen to “pick up where we left off” at the closing, she said, to provide continuity between the closing and opening ceremonies.
Willcock’s Agnus Dei is also reflective, but uses a different a different pattern of tunes and rhythm that is more devotional, and thus appropriate for Communion, to emphasise a gentle, prayerful atmosphere.
The next Communion Hymn, Robert Kreutz’s Gift of Finest Wheat, was written for a major Eucharistic congress in the United States. The Communion Motet, referring to God’s perfection, returns to the traditional Latin with the Locus Iste, has only three lines that are “spun out beautifully, so that the choir can sing it unaccompanied”, Miss Jakovcevic said.
“Latin is a timeless language, and connects us to the roots of our faith; the sacred traditions of the Church. Though it’s in Latin, it’s a fantastic setting that says it the best.”
The English translation was also provided to assist the congregation, but was not sung. The Communion reflection, Eat This Bread, is a Taize hymn sung in many parishes across Australia, and is contemplative and repetitive, so people can learn it as they go along if they don’t already know it.
The inauguration of the Blessed Sacrament Chapel – the former sanctuary – is a crucial moment during the Mass, requiring something equally spiritual – the Adoro Te, written by Dom Stephen Moreno, a Spanish Benedictine monk who lived at New Norcia and bought and installed the monastic town’s church organ. Apart from its deep, mystical quality, it was chosen to recognise the Benedictines who were among the pioneers of the Archdiocese of Perth. It was played as the Blessed Sacrament was placed in the tabernacle for the first time.
The modern Recessional Hymn, Christ be our light, “really says it all”, Miss Jakovcevic said, and works well with the pipe organ and small chamber ensemble that St Mary’s choir has.
The Organ Postlude was taken from French composer Olivier Messiaen, a devout Catholic whose music is permeated by deeply spiritual themes. This Organ Postlude, Toccata from Dieu Parmi Nous – “God among us” – was taken from a cycle of nine pieces on the birth of Christ, called La Nativite De Seigneun. This piece is the culmination of that cycle.