How do you mark the season of Advent in your music? Do you use the same piece throughout the season? Do you repeat hymns? We find that we can’t fit in all the Advent hymns that we know, even doing some of them at the carol service, so it’s always a juggling act as to what we leave out. Advent really seems to have inspired composers in recent years. When compiling the Liturgy Planner I found more and more beautiful songs, mainly scripture based. Advent would need to be twice as long in order to do them all!
As I did last year, I’m going to look at each of the four Sundays of Advent as each of them has its own characteristics as well as being part of the wider season. I’ll then look at the season as a whole and see what was most popular. This year, however, I will include what was being sung in other places in England too.
1st Sunday of Advent
Today’s readings focus on the second coming and the need for us to stay wake, waiting for the Lord to come.
So, what did we sing?
- Sung on 9 occasions – Like a sea without a shore
- Sung on 8 occasions – Abba, Abba Father
- Sung on 5 occasions – O Jesus Christ remember
- Sung on 4 occasions – Christ be our light; Hark a herald voice; In bread we bring you Lord; O come, O come Emmanuel;
And the rest of England
- Sung on 14 occasions – O Jesus Christ remember
- Sung on 13 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 12 occasions – Abba, Abba Father; Like a sea without a shore
- Sung on 8 occasions – Hark a herald voice
- Sung on 7 occasions – Wait for the Lord
2nd Sunday of Advent
The second Sunday of Advent is the first of two Sundays that focus on John the Baptist, with John telling his followers that there is someone following him who is more powerful than he was and who would baptise with the Holy Spirit.
- Sung on 10 occasions – On Jordan’s bank
- Sung on 6 occasions – Like a sea without a shore
- Sung on 5 occasions – O comfort my people; Our God reigns
- Sung on 5 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
And the rest
- Sung on 21 occasions – On Jordan’s bank
- Sung on 10 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 9 occasions – Hark a herald voice is calling
- Sung on 7 occasions – Like a sea without a shore; The voice of God
- Sung on 6 occasions – Come thou long expected Jesus
3rd Sunday of Advent
John the Baptist again, this time with the Gospel coming from the beginning of John’s Gospel where the men sent by the Pharisees ask John who he is.
- Sung on 10 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 6 occasions – On Jordan’s bank; God’s spirit is in my heart
- Sung on 4 occasions – Christ be our light
- Sung on 3 occasions – Guadete; Hark a herald voice; The angel Gabriel; Wait for the Lord
The rest of England
- Sung on 12 occasions – God’s spirit is in my heart; O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 9 occasions – Tell out my soul
- Sung on 8 occasions – Like a sea without a shore; My soul is filled with joy
- Sung on 6 occasions – Hark a herald voice; Our God reigns
This Sunday is Gaudete Sunday, so called because the Entrance Antiphon starts with the word that means rejoice. So one might think that the carol ‘Gaudete’ might be appropriate to sing this week. Or maybe not when you actually look at the words. The carol says ‘gaudete Christus est natus’ (Christ is born) whereas the Entrance antiphon says ‘Rejoice the Lord is near’. There is a difference.
The psalm on the this Sunday in Year B is the Magnificat so Magnificats were sung in many settings, not always as the psalm unfortunately.
4th Sunday of Advent
And so we get to the fourth Sunday and we start looking towards Christmas. Mary is now prominent in the readings
- Sung on 18 occasions – The angel Gabriel
- Sung on 10 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 9 occasions – Holy virgin by God’s decree
- Sung on 4 occasions – My soul is filled with joy
Elsewhere in England
- Sung on 35 occasions – The angel Gabriel
- Sung on 30 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 12 occasions – Holy virgin by God’s decree
- Sung on 7 occasions – Long ago prophet knew; Tell out my soul
- Sung on 5 occasions – My soul is filled with joy; When the angel came to Mary
No doubt about what to sing this morning then! There were fewer streams this week as some places either rearranged their Masses because it was Christmas Eve or, in some cases, simply had no morning Mass at all!
Advent as a whole
Looking at what I’ve written so far, I suspect you may be forgiven for saying that you know what is coming.
- Sung on 29 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 22 occasions – The angel Gabriel
- Sung on 19 occasions – Like a sea without a shore
- Sung on 15 occasions – On Jordan’s bank
- Sung on 10 occasions – Hark a herald voice is calling; Holy Virgin by God’s decree; Our God reigns; Wait for the Lord
- Sung on 8 occasions – Abba, Abba Father; Christ be our light
- Sung on 7 occasions – In bread we bring you Lord; Come thou long expected Jesus;
- Sung on 6 occasions – Blest are you Lord God of all creation; God’s spirit is in my heart; Take our bread
- Sung on 5 occasions – All that I am; Gather us in; My soul is filled with joy; O comfort my people; O Jesus Christ remember
And the wider country
- Sung on 65 occasions – O come, O come Emmanuel
- Sung on 40 occasions – The angel Gabriel
- Sung on 28 occasions – Like a sea without a shore
- Sung on 27 occasions – On Jordan’s bank
- Sung on 23 occasions – Hark a herald voice is calling
- Sung on 17 occasions – Come thou long expected Jesus; Wait for the Lord
- Sung on 16 occasions – Tell out my soul
- Sung on 14 occasions – O Jesus Christ remember; My soul is filled with joy
- Sung on 13 occasions – Blest are you Lord God of all creation; God’s spirit is in my heart; Holy Virgin by God’s decree; In bread we bring you Lord; ; Our God reigns
- Sung on 12 occasions – Abba, Abba Father; all that I am; Christ be our light
- Sung on 11 occasions – Gifts of bread and wine; The voice of God
- Sung on 10 occasions – Advent Litany; My soul in stillness waits; Take our bread
The majority of places were singing songs that were definitely Advent songs though there were some that eked out with more general purpose items. It’s really noticeable how many ‘offertory hymns’ appear in the lists. There’s nothing anywhere that says you need to sing about the bread and wine being brought and offered. We know it’s happening – it doesn’t need highlighting. That place in the Mass is a good one to sing something that really reflects the readings, especially if it refers to what has been said in the homily.
But, overall, in the vast majority of places, you would know it was Advent by the music. Fortunately, the number of places who sang Christmas carols were few though I really do find it sad that it is done at all. If we can’t keep Advent separate from Christmas in church where can we keep it separate?
A few places marked the season of Advent by using the same piece of music on all four Sundays. There are a lot of pieces that have verses specific to each of the Sundays and this repetition really does make the season different from the Sundays of Ordinary Time. Many of these hymns can be found in my list of Advent music suitable for use during the whole of Advent.
Music, Liturgy and ME 