The Schola Cantorum of Annunciation Catholic Church serves the regular 11:00am Sunday Mass (Latin, Ordinary Form) as well as Masses on certain high feasts. It gifts Annunciation’s principal liturgies with the finest exemplars of sacred music.
The Schola’s repertoire consists firstly of the Roman Rite’s rich repertoire of liturgical song called “Gregorian” chant (after Pope St. Gregory the Great). This tradition of monophonic chant is the basis of all music in the Western world and is the unique inheritance of Christians of the Roman Rite. (Listen to a famous example of Gregorian chant.) The Schola sings Gregorian chant normally for the processional Propers of the Mass: introit, offertory, and communion. They also join the congregation in singing one of the Gregorian settings of the Ordinary.
Gregorian chant gave birth to sacred polyphony, the practice of writing multiple melodic lines to be sung together. This musical style developed over many centuries and famously culminated in the music of two of history’s greatest composers: G. P. da Palestrina and J. S. Bach. Sacred polyphony as well as later musical styles which developed out of the sacred polyphonic tradition—particularly the great Anglican choral repertoire—find a happy home in our repertoire each Sunday in addition to Gregorian chant.
Interested singers are asked to audition before joining. You should have a love of choral singing and be able to match pitch, read music (including basic sight-singing), and blend with an ensemble. Rehearsals are currently on Wednesday evenings from 7:15-9:15pm, and warmups are at 10:30am on Sunday mornings.
This selection of recordings from our polyphonic repertoire allows Schola members to review their music away from rehearsal or merely to enjoy hearing high-quality renditions
of these pieces between rehearsals. Prospective members are encouraged to
look over this list and to listen to a recording or two to familiarize themselves
with this beautiful music that is our “daily bread”.
Please note that none of these recordings features the Schola itself; each recording has been found freely available online.
We are grateful to St. Benedict’s Monastery in São Paulo, Brazil for providing notation and recordings for nearly the entire Gregorian Mass Proper. This is an invaluable resource for Schola members who wish to practice the chants of the Proper!
The Schola accepts new members year-round; please contact the Director of Music, Felipe Gasper, at music (at) annunciationcc (dot) org for information about joining.