Choir sheet"Sed nomine tua da gloria"
Schola cantorum
 & The Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU

Some Schola members try out new (used) robes.

Time for an update!

Please forgive our tardiness in getting this updated. We'll do an overhaul of this page before the start of the academic year. In the meantime, enjoy the historical information here as a taste of what we do.

SBH

SBH (a.k.a. "The Red Book") has Returned

The "real" Red Book has returned to chapel worship at the Sunday 7:00 p.m. mass.  The Service Book and Hymnal, which was released in 1958 and replaced by the Lutheran Book of Worship in 1977, featured some very pretty SATB harmonies in the liturgies and the hymns.  Amongst the music, one finds examples of Anglican and Scottish chant as well as the periodic German harmonization.  We used this a few years ago, and it proved very popular.

We can always use more singers in the ad hoc schola (choir).  Right now, women, especially altos are needed.  If the voicings are well balanced, we'll move toward doing some of the elements a capella (which would be appropriate for a chapel, after all).  If you like to sing, consider joining the Schola (choir) on an ad hoc basis for a couple of weeks.  Practice are Sundays, starting promptly at 6:00 p.m..

Coming Up...Latin Lent?

We're starting to plan for the second semester.  What should we do?  Is there interest in a weekly Latin liturgy?  What about Passiontide?  What about the Easter Octave?  There are so many possibilites.  What do you think?

Being Noticed

This one caught us by surprise.  Check out Gary Penkala's article, "A Curious Little Choir," on the CanticaNOVA Publications blog: (http://www.canticanova.com/articles/misc/art7bo1.htm).  The article was forwarded to us by Dr. Jonathan Neiderhiser.  CanticaNOVA Publications specializes in "new traditional music" for the Catholic church.  Samples of musical scores are available at http://www.canticanova.com.

Schola practiceAbout the Schola cantorum

Early music has a place on the modern college campus!  The Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU launched the Schola cantorum in Fall '05 to provide musical support for the weekly mass and selected other liturgies at the Chapel of Christ the King (a.k.a., the Lutheran Campus Chapel at WVU).  It also provides a place for those with an interest in (or even passion for) early music to get together and make music.  As such, the Schola cantorum is committed to the reintroduction of early sacred music in its liturgical context.

Founding director, Jonathan Neiderhiser, was a D.M.A. candidate in conducting in WVU's College of Creative Arts.  He has since completed his studies and is teaching in the Dakotas.  He was the Vogelsong Kapellmeister at the Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU, a position underwritten through a generous grant awarded in memory of The Rev. Fr. Edward Vogelsong by his family.  Fr. Vogelsong was one of the "Five Vicars" who served the Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU prior to the calling of the first full-time campus pastor.

Ad completorium (FSSP)If you would like to order a fantastic little book, which includes all the elements of compline (in the Latin Gregorian chant), according to the 1960 breviary, click on the picture.  P.s., it is really inexpensive.  P.p.s., Schola members, your copies have arrived.

Schola members sing most Sunday masses at the Chapel of Christ the King.  Those joining especially for one of the highlight services are not required nor expected to sing the Sunday masses, though they are welcome to do so if they so desire.  Thus far, our highlight services have included the following.

  • In Spring '06, the Schola sang a full Latin mass, using the mass ordinary Orbis factor and the propers of Judica.
  • December 6, 2006, the Schola led the "St. Nicholas Vespers: A Latin Evening Prayer for Advent," an ecumenical worship service organized by interested Lutherans, Anglicans, and Roman Catholics.  Nearly 140 people attended the service in the Lutheran Campus Chapel.
  • As a Holy Week offering for the whole community, the Schola cantorum, prayed Compline for Passiontide, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, April 2-4, 2007. These Latin liturgies provided our community a Gregorian chant experience, facilitated by a 45-minute session on the basics of Gregorian offered prior to each service.
  • Advent 2007 featured the return of compline on the three Fridays of Advent (December 7, 14, 21).  36, 36, and 21 attended.  Prior to the complines, an optional introduction to Gregorian chant was offered for interested members of the public.
  • Beginning with Lent 2008, the Schola sang the first setting of the Service Book and Hymnal (1958), last hymnal in ELCA Lutheranism to use 4-part vocal music as the basis of the liturgy, every Sunday night.  To pull this off, we started a second "section" of the Schola.  Over a dozen interested choristers, nearly all of them born ten years after the SBH was replaced, sang the liturgy throughout the rest of the semester.
  • The Schola Cantorum led three Complines for Passiontide on Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, and Holy Wednesday in 2008.
  • The SBH returned for Reformation Sunday and All Souls' Day 2008.
  • Advent compline was offered in December of 2008.Find us on facebook
  • Passiontide compline was offered in April of 2009.
  • Advent compline was offered in December of 2009.
  • A compline on Quasimodo geniti was offered in 2010.
  • For Reformation Day and All Saints' Sunday 2010, the Schola led the assembly in Luther's Deutsche Messe.

Are you an interested vocalist or instrumentalist?

Contact Chaplain Riegel (Schola@LutheranMountaineer.org or 304-296-5388) or, for those on facebook, join the Schola cantorum fbGroup.

Do you want to know about upcoming special Schola events?

There are a couple of ways to do it.
  • Bookmark this website and visit from time to time.
  • Join the fbGroup.  Members of the fbGroup will get e-mail notices.
  • Follow us on twitterFollow the Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU on twitter.  Just text message "follow lcmwvu" to 40404 from your cell phone.  If you have a twitter account, you can use the twitter web interface (click here or on the bird).  Unfortunately, you'll get all the tweets from the Lutheran Campus Ministry, but, if we get a large enough following, we might just start a special account for the Schola.
  • Subscribe to the LutheranMountaineer eNewsletter.  Again, you'll get other news about the Lutheran Campus Ministry, but it is worth it.

[ Return to the Lutheran Campus Ministry at WVU HomePage ]

Kyrie (Orbis factor)