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Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

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Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral

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The Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral has served the community for almost 200 years St. Patrick's Old Cathedral became a parish church on May 25,1879.
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Patrick's Old Cathedral is located at the corner of Prince Street and Mott Street in the SoHo / Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan. The corner stone of St Patrick's Old Cathedral, the city's first Cathedral Church, was laid on June 8,1809. It was dedicated on May 14, 1815, and on that day the New York Gazette described the cathedral as "a grand and beautiful church, which may justly be considered one of the greatest ornaments of our city." Patrick's Old Cathedral was the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the current Saint Patrick's Cathedral located on 5th Avenue and 50th Street opened in 1879. Both cathedral churches share the same Board of Trustees, overseen by Archbishop Timothy Dolan. In 1966, St. Patrick's Old Cathedral was one of the first sites to be named a New York City landmark by the New York City Landmarks Commission. Access the weekly bulletin: https://oldcathedral.org/bulletins

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Saturday Evening Vigil Mass:
5:30 pm English

Sunday Mass Times:
9:00 am (Spanish)
10:30 am (English)
7:00 pm (English)

Weekday Mass Times:
Mon-Fri: 8 am (Spanish) & 12:10 pm (English)
Sat: 8:00 am (Spanish)

to make a tax-deductible contribution visit: https://oldcathedral.org/support-the-basilica

10/24/2026

About the music: For the 30th week in ordinary time, the theme is love--of God and of neighbor--and the mercy and humility that flows from that love. The propers for this Sunday come from Lent, as this Sunday was added to the calendar after the Vatican II reforms. The beautiful Gradual is from Psalm 27, Unam petii ("One thing I ask from the Lord"); this psalm, which begins "Dominus illuminatio mea" (the Lord is my light) is related to our organ prelude, based on the hymn "Liebster Jesu" (photo: Psalm 27, from 15th-century Les Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry, Folio 92v; Musée Condé, Chantilly).
The Offertory motet by the Spanish master Morales was popular and published four times. It is an extensive and varied three-voice setting that makes expressive use of descending chords, voice pairings, and homophony. As the text becomes more tranquil, the mode changes, and the piece ends with a hopeful Phrygian cadence. Morales was in the Papal choir for a time, but stayed in Spain for most of his life. He concentrated almost exclusively on sacred music unlike his contemporaries, and counted Guerrero among his students. The piece comes from a collection of three-voice motets published in Nuremberg in 1560, found in the British Library.
At Communion, we have Poulenc's gorgeous setting of "Ave verum," the 13th-century Eucharistic text attributed to Pope Innocent (which Pope Innocent we don't precisely know). Poulenc returned to the Catholic faith in the 1930s; this deeply expressive setting was composed in 1952. It is marked "très doux et très lié" (very sweet and smoothly connected), though it has moments of chromaticism and abrupt dynamic shifts. This work is followed by the Vater Unser by Arvo Pärt, the great Estonian composer. Eschewing serialism in the late 60s, he delved deeply into medieval and Renaissance polyphony and Gregorian chant, and converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity from Lutheranism. He began writing in a minimalist style, sometimes referred to as "holy minimalism," shared with composers such as John Tavener, though he developed his own compositional technique of tintinnabuli. The work is dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2011 appointed Pärt a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture. As a meditation on the theme of the Gospel, we'll also sing John Ireland's hymn "Love Unknown"; Ireland studied composition at the Royal College with Stanford, and when he taught there, counted among his students Benjamin Britten.
On the Erben, we have two works by German Romantic master Max Reger. The prelude is the setting of "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier," Op. 135a, No. 14. It is part of his collection 30 Kleine Choralvorspiele (30 Short Chorale Preludes), Op. 135a, written in 1914. Unlike his more massive organ fantasias, this piece is deliberately clear and expressive. The setting is based on the famous chorale melody by Johann Rudolph Ahle (1664), traditionally used as a prayer for illumination before a service or sermon (it roughly translates, "Dearest Jesus, we are here, to listen to Your word"). The postlude is the Gloria in excelsis, Op. 59, No. 8, based on the incipit of the Gloria from Mass IV. The "12 Stücke" or Twelve Pieces of Op. 59 is in the tradition of the "Organ Mass," and this piece corresponds to the Gloria of the Ordinary. The rapid changes in dynamics are handled on the Erben using its "composition pedals" (machine or Georgian stops), which now actually work post-restoration. On the Great, there are three pedals (piano, mezzoforte, forte) which push in or pull out stops, resulting in three levels of sound on the Great manual. Written in the key of D major/B minor, it is highly chromatic and exciting, making for a profound exploration of the text, ending in a hybrid plagal/authentic cadence at the end! Please note, on November 10, 7PM, Cardinal Dolan will be coming to bless the Erben, and Bishop O'Hara "Awaken" the Erben, within a Solemn Vespers. Stephen Tharp will be the featured organist, with the Basilica Schola and Chamber Orchestra led by Jared Lamenzo.

10/17/2026

About the music: The texts of the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time lead us to find God in all things, and to live in hope and peace. Our Offertory, "In te, Domine, speravi" (In you, Lord, I have hoped), is the closing fugue of Mozart's Te Deum K 141, which he wrote in Salzburg in preparation for his first sojourn to Italy in late 1769 (lasting 15 months, pictured, the organ of San Tomaso Becket, Verona that he played; photo: Andrea Bertozzi). The work's structure is modeled after Michael Haydn's Te Deum, but displays Mozart's early mastery of counterpoint. The solidity of this fugue and its grand orchestration fits the text from the celebratory Te Deum, often sung at coronations and the signing of peace treaties.
At Communion, Bach's "O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht" (O Jesus Christ, my life, my light) is described as a "motetto" on its title page; like his cantatas, it has an independent instrumental accompaniment, so it is not heard alongside his 6 better-known vocal motets. Written for a funeral in 1736/7, it was originally scored for special curved funeral trumpets (known as litui), cornetto, and three trombones, suggesting it was used for a procession. Later, he re-scored the accompaniment to include woodwinds, strings, and continuo. The melody comes from a chorale later used by Mendelssohn in his Oratorio St. Paul, and is known as the tune BRESLAU.
After this motet, the choir sings a piece from the Taize Community, a monastic community that attracted youth throughout France. Berthier was trained first by his parents who were both accomplished musicians, and later studied at the Ecole Cesar Franck.
The choral Kyrie and Agnus Dei is by the great German Romantic Josef Rheinberger, from his 1882 Opus 151 Missa "St. Crucis". Of his 22 Masses in various styles, this is one of six he identified as his most significant; it is in an imitative, a ca****la style that is neither strictly Caecilian nor preoccupied with the New German School of composition represented by Wagner. Rheinberger was made a knight of the Order of St. Gregory by Pope Leo XIII in 1880 (to whom his Opus 109 Mass was dedicated).
The organ music this week comes from a member of the great English Wesley dynasty, Samuel Wesley's Voluntary in D, No.1. These spirited late Georgian organ pieces fit well on our English-inspired 1859 Hall & Labagh chancel organ and our 1868 Henry Erben grand organ. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was sometimes called "the English Mozart." A child prodigy, his talent was recognized early on, and over the years he wrote anthems, symphonies, and concertos. Samuel Wesley was also a conductor and a well-known organist and improviser, even meeting and playing for Mendelssohn in his later years. Interestingly, in 1784, Wesley privately converted to Roman Catholicism, though his uncle, John Wesley, founded the Methodist church.

10/10/2026

About the music: For the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, with its references to the lavish banquet to come, the Offertory motet this week is the Esurientes movement from Francisco Guerrero's Magnificat Sexti Toni. It was published in 1563 by the Leuven (Belgium) printer Pierre Phalèse as part of a set of Magnificats in the Church modes. The text recalls the banquet referenced in Matthew's Gospel this week, as well as the month of the Rosary in its Marian theme. Guerrero was an amazing talent; he spent most of his career at the Cathedral of Seville (pictured, eastern facade with La Giralda belltower at ~343ft!); photo: Maria Jose Carmona Gonzalez). He only managed to go to Rome for two years, but later traveled from Damascus through the Holy Land, and recounted his adventures in a popular book that likely inspired Cervantes. Guerrero lived between Morales and Victoria, during the great flowering of polyphony on the Iberian peninsula; his music spread across Europe and Nueva España, and was performed for centuries thereafter in both hemispheres.
The Communion motet is Palestrina's "Tua Jesu dilectio," a short gem for three voices, published in 1586 in his "Diletto spirituale canzonette a tre et a quattro voci," Rome, No. 13. The text, from 12th-century abbot and mystic St. Bernard of Clairvaux, comes from the larger hymn, "Jesu dulcis memoria," which we chanted last week. To follow this piece, I have programmed a lovely setting of Psalm 23 by English Cathedral organist Charles Hylton Stewart, who served Rochester Cathedral and St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle in the early 20th century. Psalm 23 is the appointed responsorial psalm this week, and since we are singing the Gradual, thought we should include that relevant text as well.
For organ music, the prelude is by Brahms; the Bach-like chorale prelude Schmücke dich ("Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness") is from his great Opus 122 collection of chorale preludes, written at the end of his life. It is a lovely vehicle to show off the Erben's famous flutes. The Fugue that is the postlude comes from Belgian-born César Franck, from his famous "Prelude, Fugue, et Variation." Franck’s improvisational powers were well-known, and some were fodder for his Six Pieces he completed between 1859 and 1862, from which this piece comes. Exploiting the power and colors of the Cavaillé-Coll organs to the fullest, he established the distinctively French school of symphonic organ music. The piece, dedicated to Camille Saint-Saëns, is famous for its alluring, arching melody and classical form--a transparent and exciting fugue. One of the great masterpieces for the organ, it was actually originally scored for piano and harmonium, and this is an arrangement of that work.

10/04/2026

About the music: This Sunday's readings emphasize the need to trust and hope in God, the maker of all things "from eternity to eternity," as the Gradual says in its text from Psalm 90. Fittingly, the opening hymn is "All Creatures of Our God and King," the words of St. Francis, whose feast is this week on 4 October. It has special significance this year, on the 800th anniversary of the his death; Pope Leo XIV designated 2026-2027 a special Jubilee Year in honor of St. Francis (sheep of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral; photo: Amanda McFee). Also, this Sunday we mark the beginning of the month of the Rosary with Victoria's sublime Ave Maria. Beginning with the incipit of the antiphon, it is a deeply expressive setting in three sections, employing imitative polyphony as well as homophony. The text "in mulieribus" employs increasing numbers of voices leading to the invocation of the Holy Name; the next section, at "Sancta Maria," is antiphonal, and liveliness is added with syncopation and changes of time signature (perfection is represented by 3; peccatoribus by duple time). It has some particularly intriguing harmonic twists. (Since no contemporary source for the motet exists, some have speculated it may have been written later.)
At Communion, the Schola sings a setting of the Eucharistic text "O sacrum convivium" by Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, made a Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. Director Emeritus of the Sistine Chapel choir, he was first made Deputy Master of the choir in 1952 on the advice of Lorenzo Perosi, whom he succeeded in 1956. His deep knowledge of polyphony shows through in this lovely motet, which has a clarity of line that evokes, rather than copies, Palestrina.
Our Kyrie and Agnus Dei are from Monteverdi's 1641 collection "Selva morali e spirituale," published two years before his death. Monteverdi ushered in the baroque with his inventive harmonies, forms, and the "secunda prattica", and this collection can be thought of as an encapsulation of all he had done thirty years prior at St. Mark's in Venice.
With the changing season, I wanted to try the "Entrée de Polimnie" from Les Boréades by Jean Philippe Rameau (1683—1764) again. It comes from the last opera of the French baroque master, who only began composing opera when he was 50. He was known for his "Treatise on Harmony," and the suspensions in the piece seem like an effortless blend of art and science. I've been attempting to register this piece many different ways on different instruments, and the flutes on the Erben are exceptionally elegant. For the postlude, we hear a portion of Mozart's unfinished keyboard suite: the grand Intrada and Fugue in C "Phrygisch" (K. 399/K 385i) from about 1782. The title comes from the Phrygian mode, with its characteristic flat second, which makes the piece quite a contrapuntal feat. The influence of Handel and Bach, as well as the French overture—which Mozart encountered at diplomat and polymath Baron von Swieten's Sunday salons—cannot be denied, yet Mozart's unique genius shows through.

09/26/2026

About the music: As the Feast of San Gennaro comes to a close on Mulberry Street, we have a Nor'easter--stay safe and cover your cannoli! This week we welcome the brilliant composer and organist Iris Lan to play the prelude and postlude on the Erben. She will play a movement of Hindemith's Sonata No. 1, composed in 1937, around the time he published his musical treatise Unterweisung im Tonsatz (The Craft of Musical Composition). His neoclassical style used varied meters and tonal centers within the context of traditional forms. For a postlude, Iris plays Bach's Chorale Partita on the hymn "O Gott du frommer Gott" (O God, Thou Righteous God). A chorale partita is a fusion of the ornamented chorale and the secular form of a partita, or set of variations. Bach uses a variety of techniques and rhetoric in his variations, including his own interpretations of French styles, and influences from Böhm, his teacher, who composed sets of variations on chorales.
At Offertory, we sing a setting of the proper text from Psalm 136 by French baroque master Marc-Antoine Charpentier. Charpentier shows his mastery of tension in this setting of "Super flumina Babylonis," one of the Bible's most moving texts (pictured: organs mentioned in the psalm, in 13th century iconography from Paris, BnF latin 11560, f. 36r, via Cristina Raurich's fascinating article "silenced organs"). This work evokes the flow of the river, the weeping, and the remembering by a people in exile (the Israelites were exiled to Babylonia after having fled from Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar II took the city in 586 B.C.). After withdrawing from law school, Charpentier spent a few years in Rome, likely studying with Giacomo Carissimi. Working for a series of influential French personages, Charpentier was finally appointed maître de musique for Sainte-Chapelle in Paris in 1698, a royal post he held until his death in 1704.
At Communion, we will sing a new motet for the Schola, a setting of the 12th-century mystic, composer, and Doctor of the Church, St. Hildegard Von Bingen's "O pastor animarum," composed by Frank La Rocca (b. 1951). Born in New Jersey and educated at Yale and U.C. Berkeley, La Rocca is a composer of contemporary art music, primarily sacred choral music, as well as an educator. Chant, Renaissance polyphony, and the work of other contemporary composers influence his choral music.

09/13/2026

About the music: This Sunday, the readings focus on God's mercy and the call to forgiveness. The Offertory motet this week comes from the Votive antiphon for peace, "Da pacem Domine" (Give peace, O Lord, in our time) in a setting by Claudin de Sermisy, who shaped the musical world of 16th-century France as the master of the Parisian chanson. This 3-part motet, published in Pierre Attaingnant's 7th book of motets, is chordal and airy, and follows the rhythm of the text with subtle canonic moments--a contrast to the dense and complex Flemish polyphony of the time. Serving the monarchy much of his life, he traveled with François I to Italy--he was among the musicians chosen to perform at the Field of the Cloth of Gold in 1520, the historic meeting between King François I and England's King Henry VIII. He also had a long connection to Sainte-Chapelle (pictured: altar and 13th cent. stained glass); photo: Jean-Christophe BENOIST), where he served as cleric, canon, and eventually choirmaster.

At Communion, we sing the Tollite Hostias from Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio, which the Schola has performed large portions of over the years now! He composed this delightful cantata in 1858 when he was only 23 years old, finishing it in less than two weeks so it could premiere at Christmas at the Church of La Madeleine, where he was organist. The Latin text, from Psalm 96, translates to "Bring offerings and come into his courts. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." The choral score was prepared by the famous organist Eugene Gigout and published in 1863. It was dedicated to Clémence de Grandval, later Vicomtesse de Grandval, a female French composer of the Romantic era--a composer of stature and popularity in her time, though some of her works were published under pseudonyms. The second Communion motet was written by Thomas Tomkins, the last representative of the English school of composers after William Byrd. Born into a musical family, by 1621 he was organist in the Chapel Royal under Orlando Gibbons, whose role he assumed in 1625 after Gibbons' death. This contrapuntal anthem, in three parts, was published in 1668 alongside others in a compilation (Musica Deo Sacra) by his son Nathaniel. The text comes from the penitential psalm 51, highlighting this week's emphasis on God's mercy and forgiveness.

The Communion hymn comes from a supplement to Kentucky Harmony (1820). The modal, pentatonic style suits the text. The Kentucky Harmony is a shape note tunebook, published in 1816 by Ananias Davisson. It was the first Southern shape-note tunebook, and the supplement of 1820 contained a sampling of revival hymns, and more than one third were printed in three parts only. The text comes via Rosamond E. Herklots (b. Masuri, India, 1905; d. Bromley, Kent, England, 1987), who wrote these words in 1966 after digging out weeds in her garden and thinking how bitterness, hatred, and resentment are like poisonous weeds growing in the Christian garden of life.

On the Erben, the music comes from France as well, in "La Castelmore" by Claude Balbastre from his Pieces de Clavecin from 1759--a remarkable collection of late baroque keyboard works that epitomize French elegance. The postlude is subtitled Air Champêtre (country air), and the minor prelude Air Gracieux; the title is likely derived from a patron or friend's name. Born in Dijon in 1724, Balbastre went to Paris in 1750, and studied there with Pierre Février, whom he succeeded as organist of the Saint Roch church. Rameau helped Balbastre when he settled in the city, and quickly introduced him to Parisian musical circles. Balbastre eventually became organist of Notre-Dame Cathedral and of the Chapelle Royale. He was also harpsichordist to the French royal court where he taught Queen Marie-Antoinette, and was organist to the future King Louis XVIII. This is the only French piece from an important early American keyboard music collection assembled by Francis Hopkinson. Hopkinson, well-known to Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, and others, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a member of the Constitutional Convention. It is possible that this piece came to Hopkinson via Jefferson, whose children studied with Balbastre during their years in Paris!

09/06/2026

About the music: Music for the 23rd Sunday in Ordinary time begins with the well-known hymn "God is Love," to the stately tune ABBOT'S LEIGH; Cyril V. Taylor composed it in May of 1941 while working for the Religious Broadcasting Department of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); "Abbot's Leigh" was Taylor's parish. The text originally used the Austrian national anthem for its tune, hence the switch. This is followed by the Introit "Justus est Domine," from Psalm 119: "You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right; treat your servant in accord with your merciful love."
This week, the emphasis on charity and love continues in some other Schola favorites including Harold Friedell's "Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether," composed in 1949. Friedell was a towering figure in sacred music as organist, choirmaster, teacher, and composer. He studied organ with Clement Gale and David McK. Williams, and was long associated with Saint Bartholomew’s Church. He was also faculty at the influential Union Theological Seminary School of Sacred Music.
Another Schola favorite at Offertory is Cantate Domino by Giuseppe Pitoni. Pitoni was a Roman composer of the baroque era who held most of the important positions in Rome, and he wrote widely on music and theory. After intensely studying Palestrina's works, he developed a complete mastery of counterpoint. Extremely prolific, he wrote 325 masses, 800 Psalm settings, and 235 motets, including music for the Masses and Offices of every Sunday and holy day for St. Peter’s. He was also for 35 years the producer of major concerts for the chapter of San Lorenzo in Damaso for the music-loving Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, whose extensive circle of artists included Arcangelo Corelli, George Frideric Handel, both Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Bernardo Pasquini, and Filippo Amadei. In this piece, we imagine singing in a large, reverberant Roman church, paying attention to dynamics and phrasing. This music can be very exciting; I'll accompany on the Erben, but we will also engage in a little antiphonal work.
We will finish up this week with the Schola anthem "Create in me a clean heart" (Psalm 51) by hymnodist and theologian Johann Freylinghausen.
The joyful prelude comes from the great Spanish monastery near Madrid, El Escorial (pictured, photo: Yvon Fruneau), where the composer Padre Antonio Soler was chapel master and organist. A multi-faceted talent, he wrote more than 500 vocal pieces, authored scholarly treatises, and invented and built his own instruments. He is now known mostly for his 120 keyboard sonatas, of which this is number 84; he studied under Domenico Scarlatti, whose influence can be heard. The postlude is a Toccata written by French organ virtuoso and composer Michelle Leclerc. She studied with Langlais at the Schola Cantorum, and improvisation with Pierre Cochereau; she was titular organist at the Cathedral of Sens, and taught at the Schola Cantorum and the National Conservatory of Orléans.

08/29/2026

About the music: This weekend is the last before the Schola returns for its 2026-2027 season. For people interested in joining the Basilica's Schola Patriciana, accompanied by the restored 1868 Erben Organ (!!), now is the time! This year, a new Vespers Schola option will be available too. Contact [email protected] for more information.

This week we return to the Missa Orbis Factor ("Maker of the world", or Mass XI) for the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, etc.). Parts of the Mass are likely 1,000 years old, perhaps older. This Mass is commonly used during Ordinary Time.
With this Sunday's emphasis on prayer and discipleship, the Offertory motet is "Let my complaint come before Thee," with text from the end of Psalm 119, set to music by the famed English Renaissance composer, organist, and music theorist, Thomas Morley. A student of William Byrd, Morley composed sacred music in English and Latin alongside his significant contributions to secular music: he brought the Italian madrigal to England, and even set Shakespeare to music. This is a wonderful verse anthem that sets the text directly and cleanly; the organ will help make the contrasts of solo and tutti sections characteristic of verse anthems.

For Communion, we have a mellifluous setting of Psalm 42 (Sicut cervus/As pants the hart for water brooks) by Gounod, first published in 1868/9 (the same year as the Erben). In his sacred music, Gounod, best-known today as the composer of the opera Faust, really began to explore chant-like melodies alongside modern harmonies and contrasting textures. This work displays the influence of his study of Palestrina and polyphony while he was in Rome, after winning the Paris Conservatoire's famous Prix de Rome. After Gounod finally decided not to take Holy Orders, it was Pauline Viardot who helped Gounod begin composing for the opera (Pauline was the sister of the famous Madame Malibran, who sang here in 1826). Though largely homophonic, and with dynamic markings, the influence of Palestrina's more famous setting of Sicut cervus shows through.

On the mighty Erben, the prelude is the Italianate A minor Adagio from Bach's famous Toccata, Adagio, and Fugue, BWV 564. The dramatic and emotional leaps in the melody are undergirded by the steady pulse of the pizzicato bass in the pedal, reminiscent of the Italian concerto style prevalent at the time. The mysterious "Grave" ending, with its dissonant and distant chord clusters, or "durezze," shows Frescobaldi's influence. However, Bach's employment of dureeze in context truly inspires awe. The postlude is a fugue in A minor, written in 1869 by none other than the great Gabriel Fauré, from his early organist days, when he was employed at the Church of Saint-Sauveur in Rennes (pictured; photo: Édouard Hue). It became the third piece in his collection 8 Pièces brèves, Op. 84. The fugue starts as a traditionally, with imitative voice entries (beginning with the subject in the alto); after some episodes and modulations, the fugue concludes with an enlivening stretto that leads to an extended, expressive Romantic conclusion in A major.

08/23/2026

About the music: This week, Pope Leo XIV reflected on sacred music at his Wednesday General Audience. Pope Leo highlighted that, in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, “the musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art." Sacred music, he said, is "part of the liturgical action and is not merely a decorative part of the celebration." So, with Pope Leo's reflection in mind, it is fitting that our Offertory this week is "Tu es Petrus" by the great Claudio Monteverdi. The text is based on this week's Gospel from Matthew Chapter 16, "You are Peter, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven." This text is found in liturgies for Saints Peter and Paul (June 29) and The Chair of Peter (Feb. 22), both celebrated with special reverence in Basilicas. One way St Patrick's Old Cathedral fulfills its role as a Basilica is by being a beacon of excellence in sacred music, maintaining a choir, and shining a light on gleaming music from the Church's immense musical treasury. This particular three-voice setting this week is an example of the "prima prattica," published in 1582 when Monteverdi was only 15. The gifted young Monteverdi studied with Marco Ingengneri at the Cathedral in Cremona; he then left and later obtained a post at the Gonzaga court in Mantua, where he composed his first opera L'Orfeo, the monumental Vespers of 1610, and forming the groundwork of the "seconda prattica." (Pictured: the 1565 Antegnati in Santa Barbara, in the Ducal Palace, Mantova; photo: Umberto Forni). After Giovanni Gabrieli's death, Monteverdi assumed the role of maestro di capella of San Marco in Venice, where he stayed the rest of his life. Music continues in the comments. ⬇️

08/16/2026

About the music: Our music for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time recalls the faithful perseverance of the woman in the Gospel of Matthew. At Offertory, Psalm 42 ("Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks") is set to music by the English Baroque composer and organist William Croft, who is best known for his hymn tune ST ANNE ("O God Our Help in Ages Past"). Croft was educated as a choirboy at the Chapel Royal under the renowned composer John Blow. He later served as the first organist for St. Anne's Church, Soho and worked at the Chapel Royal, where he was appointed joint organist alongside Jeremiah Clarke, eventually taking over as Master of the Children and Composer to the Chapel Royal. In 1708, he succeeded John Blow as organist Westminster Abbey, a post he held until his death. This short anthem doesn't have a primary source, but rather comes from the collection "Harmonia coelestis or The Harmony of Heaven imitated," published in London in 1780.

The French Romantic composer Ernest Chausson composed the Communion motet "Ave verum" in 1883; it comes from his Opus 6. He had a long friendship with his teacher César Franck, as well as Massenet, and this piece reflects their influences. Though his musical output was small, his compositions were much admired by Debussy and others. The tune of the Communion hymn, "In Christ There Is No East or West," was written by English composer and organist Alexander Robert Reinagle. Of Austrian descent, he was a well-known teacher and a compiler of hymn tunes. His uncle was a noted musician and composer who met the young Mozart, and was influenced by Haydn and Clementi while in England. Based on the popularity of his music in the United States--his music was known to Washington, Jefferson, and others--Reinagle (the uncle) came to America. Music continues in the comments. ⬇️

Address

263 Mulberry Street
New York, NY
10012

Opening Hours

Saturday	4:15pm - 4:45pm
Sunday	9am - 6:45pm

Telephone

+12122268075

Website

http://www.oldcathedral.org/

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