Welcome Bishop Felipe de Jesus Estevez

Yesterday, April 27, Pope Benedict XVI named the successor to the Diocese of St. Augustine's Bishop Galeone: auxiliary bishop of Miami Felípe de Jesús Estévez. And so you ask, what does this have to do with the music of the Florida Schola Cantorum?

Well, it's true, our primary venue isn't even in the Diocese of St. Augustine; we're down in the Diocese of Orlando. That said, our base, i.e., the place where live and rehearse, is Gainesville, which is in His Excellency Jesús Estévez's new diocese. And there's no question some of our members have been itching for a place up in Gainesville where we could sing, even if only from time to time--a proposition to which His Excellency will likely be a bit more amenable than his predecessor, given Pope Benedict's marked tendency to appoint Extraordinary Form-friendly bishops. Well, a lot of this is up in the air right now but we'll see. As the FSC has observed, you can certainly do a decent Ordinary Form Mass with chant and polyphony--we did one in Jacksonville not 1.5 months ago--however, we're a bit cozier in the EF, given that has been chant's home for hundreds of years.

With a new venue in Gainesville--hey, I'm just dreaming--then we'd be able to spread knowledge and appreciation of chant to a wider area, in this case North Florida. When you've got such good things going on with chant and sacred polyphony, all you want to do is spread the goodness around! On that note, we'll keep the goodies coming with a three-part Mass setting by Lotti this coming Low Sunday. It'll "just" be the guys this weekend.

Don't forget to whip out your copy of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in honor of "Quasimodo Sunday"! Speaking of Quasimodo Sunday, if anyone can figure out what the first line of the introit really means, that'd be great. "As newborn babes desire the rational milk without guile, alleluia..."

Before there was 2% and skim, there was Rational milk!

Happy Easter from the FSC

Happy Easter, everyone!

It was truly a very happy Easter vigil for the Schola. The 4 pm Easter vigil Mass at Queen of Peace saw perhaps its highest attendance ever--a sound estimate put the numbers at 400--and it appears to have outdone the Ordinary Form Mass at 8 pm! We had the opportunity to perform Haydn's Kleine Orgelmesse (Little Organ Mass) for the second year in a row, which was certainly a great joy. Musically, this Easter vigil was quite the treat for the parishioners, not just because we performed the lovely Haydn Mass, but because the Priestly Fraternity permitted John, our bass singer, to perform a beautiful Loeillet piece on his oboe during communion. As such, the FSC once again demonstrated its diversity of talent and adaptability, delving into both instrumental and, in this case, classical period repertoire.

I dare not forget Father Remski's commenting in his sermon that the FSC is the best Extraordinary Form choir in Florida. We were thinking more along the lines of the Southeast but, hey, we're grateful for the accolade. Look out Tallis Scholars!

Well, with Easter Mass now done and the university school year wrapping up, the Schola's pace will also begin to wind down as a number of our members go home for the summer. Given the diminished numbers, summer tends to be a time to focus on less ambitious (but nonetheless lovely) polyphonic works as well to hone in on our chant execution. Happy summer to our singers going home for vacation!

And a very happy and blessed Easter to all!