Can anyone please recommend some easy and short SATB mass settings? Something without too challenging harmonies, or unison plus a bit of harmony?

Or is there somewhere in London where you can browse for such things? None of the mainstream music shops seem to stock such things.

Many thanks,

David.

If I remember correctly Richard Shepherd has mass settings that do exactly what you are looking for. Very simple, very melodic and very pretty. I think it is the Wiltshire service.

Have a look on the RSCM website for more information about services: http://www.rscm.com/

Have you thought about asking someone in a large church in your area if you could browse their library?

I got a lot of help when I started the topic "gloria for the congregation" - not exactly the same as your question, but you may find some overlap.

Go classic and do something like Darke in F - its approachable for a congregation, traditional harmony, and the agnus dei is pretty much just a bass solo for the first half!

Which rite are you using?

Yes, I was wondering that - and do they need to be congregational as well as SATB ?

Yes! Darke in F is lovely and very straightforward.

Yes, I agree, Darke in F is lovely (it's one of our regular settings - did it a couple of weeks ago).

There's also Harris in F, and a Sumsion one (possibly also F!) which I'd probably rate among the more straightforward ones, although of the top of my head I can't remember whether the range of some bits ( eg the gloria) is suitable for the congregation.

For the Common Worship text there is the Dom Gregory Murray New People's Mass which started life in 1948 at a Latin setting and has gone through several incarnations. It is like a hymn tune, so the choir sing harmony and the congregation sing the top line. This is one of the best written settings of the Common Worship text.

The BCP words have been set many times in this way. Try one of the settings by Percy Whitlock; there are a couple by Martin Shaw and many others have written similar works, including a neat one by the late Reginald Hunt. There are also splendid unison settings by Stanford, Parry and Bairstow that provide an alternative to Merbecke.

I do not know of any music shops that stock this sort of thing nowadays. Almost all of the scores are authorised reprints.

Barry Williams

Many thanks everyone for your responses and suggestions so far. We use rite B (mostly) and the choir sing the kyrie and agnus dei without the congregation. The rest is with congregation, but is usually Merbecke irrespective of what the choir is singing for the kyrie and agnus dei. What I'm after is some straightforward settings of the Kyrie and Agnus Dei for choir only - with the possibility at a later date of introducing new tunes to the congregation for the gloria, sursum corda, sanctus and benedictus.

I'll certainly look at the settings you have all suggested so far - many thanks for that - and no, I hadn't thought of asking to look through the music library of a large church so shall do so.

David.

or would that be Common Worship Order 2 in Traditional Language?

Sorry, I'm a liturgist! But Rite B is so much easier to type...

I'm sure there's medication available for that nowadays!