Miserere – featuring works of the Renaissance Masters Palestrina, Victoria, and Di Lasso paired with works by living Catholic composers including 3 World Premieres (Daniel Knaggs, Frank La Rocca, Mark Nowakowski and Jeffrey Quick).
March 11th, 11 a.m. Pacific. Mission Dolores Basilica, San Francisco
Continue your Lenten journey to Christ with Archbishop Cordileone and mystical musical prayers from the gorgeous Dallas-based 20-voice Band of Voices choir, the renowned Dr. Alfred Calabrese conducting in his choir’s West Coast debut.
Registering today helps us plan for the hospitality afterward. (Pizza from Mozzerela di Buffala: bring the kids). If you can’t come, please register to join us virtually via EWTN which will live broadcast the service.
The March 11 Lenten prayer service features sung prayers, with works by Victoria, di Lasso and the works of living Catholic composers Frank La Rocca, Daniel Knaggs, Jeffrey Quick, and Mark Nowakowski, including three world-premieres.
The theme of the Miserere Lenten prayer service? His Mercy:
Fear and trembling came over me,
and darkness fell over me:
have mercy on me, O Lord, have mercy on me,
for my soul trusts in you.
Please register today to join us in person or virtually March 11 at 11 a.m.
Program
1. Confitemini Domino (Psalm 136:1-26- chanted in Latin)
Praise the LORD, for He is good:
for His mercy endureth forever;
2. Popule meus, Tomas Luis de Victoria, c.1548-1611 (edited by Daniel Knaggs)
3. Popule Meus, Daniel Knaggs, b.1983 (Commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, world premiere).
Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hangs the Salvation of the world.
Come, let us adore.
My people, what have I done to you? Or how have I grieved you? Answer Me.
Because I led you out of the land of Egypt, you have prepared a cross for your Savior.
4. Timor et tremor, Orlando di Lasso, c.1532-1594
5. Timor et tremor, Jeffrey Quick, b. 1956 (commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, World Premiere)
Fear and trembling came over me,
and darkness fell over me:
have mercy on me, O Lord, have mercy on me,
for my soul trusts in you.
6. Ad te levavi oculos meos, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, c.1525-1594
7. Ad te levavi oculos meos, Mark Nowakowski, b. 1978 (commissioned by the Benedict XVI Institute, World Premiere)
Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters; And as the eyes of a maidservant to the hands of her mistress; So do our eyes look unto the Lord our God until he have mercy on us.
8. Miserere mei, Orlando di Lasso, c.1530-1594
Miserere mei, Domine
Have mercy on me, O Lord
9. Miserere, Frank La Rocca, b. 1951
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy.
And, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my iniquity.
Wash me yet more from my iniquity, and cleanse me from sin.
For I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.
Create a clean heart in me, O God: and renew a right spirit within my bowels.
Meet the Living Composers
Daniel Knaggs is an internationally recognized Houston-based composer. In 2022 alone his works were performed in Singapore, Australia, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, Italy, England, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Portugal, the Czech Republic and throughout the United States. He loves evoking vivid imagery in his music, and focusing his efforts into ongoing projects such as his 50-year Ave Maria Project (2005-2054) and his “After” Motets Project. Among his many awards are the 2019 Noël Minet Prize (Germany) and the 2012 David Maria Turoldo Composer Competition (Italy).
In addition to composing, Daniel Knaggs is the artistic director of the new Poland-based choir, Ensemble Invocatio, which he founded in 2022. He can be reached at https://danieljknaggs.com/ Knaggs
Frank La Rocca is the composer-in-residence at the Benedict XVI Institute. His recent work Mass of the Americas was hailed as “Perhaps the most significant Catholic composition of our lifetimes.“ (Michael Olbash). In September 2022, the recording of the Mass of the Americas with the Benedict XVI Choir (Richard Sparks, conducting) debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts in in traditional classical music. Frank La Rocca’s other commissions for the Benedict XVI Institute include the Missa Sancti Juniperi Serra, the Requiem Mass for the Homeless, and the Messe des Malades: Honoring Our Lady of Lourdes. His work can be found at FrankLaRocca.com.
Mark Nowakowski’s works represent a modern merger of bold expression and mystical contemplation, Slavic pathos and American individualism. His work has been commissioned and performed internationally including the Kronos Quartet, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Silesian Quartet, Orkiestra Camerata Stargard, Stowarzyszenia Mozart, Vox Musics of Sacrement, the choirs of St. John Cantius, and of the Shrine of the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C and the Cracow Brass Quartet. Gramophone Magazine called Blood, Forgotten, Mark Nowakowski’s debut album on Naxos, “at once fierce, haunting and mystical.”
He currently serves as composer-in-residence for His Majesty’s Men and directs the Vos Omnes Virtual Choir. He wrote the film score for Mass of the Ages and Discovering Tolkien. Mark Nowakowski can be reached at: http://current.marknowakowski.com/
Jeffrey Quick‘s music is print-published by Lorenz and CanticaNOVA; his sacred works are available at cpdl.org, while secular works can be purchased at newmusicshelf.com He retired as assistant music librarian at Case Western Reserve University in 2020, and directs the schola cantorum of St. Sebastian Church in Akron Ohio. His first premiere by the Benedict XVI Institute was Versa est in luctum performed by the Archbishop’s Schola in San Francisco on March 5, 2022. More information is available at jeffreyquick.com
This is a concert, not a prayer service. Really no different in essence than a Hillsong concert pretending to be prayer, just a different style of music.
You do not understand. Sacred Music has been written, all through the centuries, for Church use– not for perfornance. Secular choirs have also perforned sacred works of our Church in concerts. Composers– like Palestrina — were usually church organists, and choir directors, as well as composers — and wrote for the Church, daily, and their works were needed for use in the Mass, Divine Office, and other liturgical functions. Some famous Catholic composers, including Palestrina, were also talented Boy Sopranos, and served as choristers in the Church, when young. Palestrina was Director of Music for the Pope at St. Peter’s Basilica, for awhile. One of my beloved favorites, besides Palestrina– was Tomas Luis de Victoria, also of the Renaissance– a Spanish priest, who was also a Boy Soprano chorister when young, and an organist, choir director, and composer of exquisitely beautiful Sacred Music for the Church.
Has AB Cordileone canceled all TLMs in parish churches yet? He’s supposed to. There are rules to follow. Don’t criticize the German bishops for not following Catholic rules if traditionalist bishops in America also are flouting Catholic rules.
Have you read the motu proprio? You’re supposed to. There are precepts to follow. Don’t criticize the Archbishop for “not following Catholic rules” if cafeteria Catholics can’t properly read the document that said rules belong to.
Our rich Catholic Tradition is very ancient, holy and very great, and deserves tremendous respect. Our Abp. Cordileone has many excellent opportunities for the beautiful and holy Latin Tridentine Msss, as well as beautiful and holy, reverent Masses in the Novus Ordo, Byzantine Rite, Dominican Rite, etc.
My Archbishop, Cordileone, is certainly distinguishing himself as a promotor and preservationist of sacred music. May that be his legacy, and may other bishops follow his lead in this regard.
Thank you Archbishop Cordileone, Benedict XVI Inst. (Maggie Gallagher, Musicians, production team), EWTN and all others involved in producing this beautiful Lenten prayer service. God bless you all!