Dedication Anniversary Mass and Cantata

October 5, 2019

A Solemn Mass commemorating the 33rd Dedication of MMGC Church was presided by Bishop Jesse Mercado at 6 in the evening. The bishop’s homily centered on three important words lived out by the Blessed Mother: Fiat, Magnificat, Stabat. A program honoring the past parish priests was held after the Mass. This was followed by the Cantata, Ave Maris Stella.

Composer’s Notes:  ON WRITING AVE MARIS STELLA
Oliver Neil Rodriguez
Coordinator, Ministry of Liturgical Music

I was asked to write a cantata in honor of Our Lady of Good Counsel around May 2018, when the parish of Mary Mother of Good Counsel in Parañaque was celebrating its 39th anniversary. I was given a book, The Virgin of Good Counsel: A History, by George Dillon, DD (1884); a year to complete the work; and nothing much else. The rest was up to me. It was quite frightening as the longest work I have written prior to this commission was Of Thankfulness and Mission, a ten-minute medley of songs composed by the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres in celebration of the 110th Anniversary of SPC presence in the Philippines.

As life would have it, my work schedule went from a-little-too-busy to rather unmanageable. The months passed in a blur and, by February 2019, the only major development in the work was the idea for its structure, including the decision to use text from traditional Latin hymns for some of the choral songs. It was not until June 2019 that much actual writing was done. With the October premiere looming, the songs were released to the performers as they were written. The sung parts were completed August 12, 2019. The piano accompaniment was finalized on the first day of September.

The biggest challenge in writing Ave Maris Stella was the text. The absence of a libretto was both a blessing and a curse. It meant that the process would be rather slow because I needed to do a lot of research, absorb a copious amount of information, reflect on them and turn them into songs. But its absence also meant that I could shape the work anyway I wanted. Perhaps more correctly, its absence allowed the work to go where it wanted to go. In the process, I found that there are times when what comes out as songs are worlds away from what I had planned them to be. Interacting with the material, there were a lot of surprises: moments when it was clear that I wasn’t in control and the songs were writing themselves.

THE WORK

Ave Maris Stella recounts the miraculous story of the icon now known as Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy. The opening movement, “Ave Mater Maris Stella”, conjures an image of a heaving sea with waves splashing on rocks punctuated by cries of help to Mary, Star of the Sea. It paints a picture of Genazzano in 1436, where, a crumbling church, while literally threatening to fall, says more about the people’s lack of faith than the quality of its construction. “Mother of Us All” brings us forward to 1467 and shows us the caretaker’s widow, Petruccia, represented by a mezzo-soprano, dealing with her hopes and doubts concerning her dream to see the church repaired and enlarged. Her singular goal is reflected in the singular musical motif used throughout the song. The chorus presents a moment of meditative supplication in “Alma Redemptoris Mater”, as they ask the Loving Mother of the Redeemer to assist a fallen people who strives to rise again.

In the “Salve Maria”, the chorus joins the highest angels of heaven in singing praises to the Blessed Virgin Mary as they recount the miraculous arrival of the image of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Genazzano. Apart from the anonymous hymn text, thismovement also uses text from the book of Psalms and the book of Revelations. Those who have studied the icon of Our Lady of Good Counsel believe that the image captures that moment after the presentation of Jesus at the temple. “Our Lady of Paradise” contemplates that moment. The soprano soloist represents Lydia Vernini, one of the thousands who have made a pilgrimage to the shrine to pray before the image of Our Lady. “Inviolata” reflects on the seeming perfection of the image which runs parallel to the thought that Mary alone remains inviolate. The main melodic materials in this movement are eventually inverted. The movement also pivots on itself structurally. This creates a musical mirror horizontally and vertically that allows us to meditate on how we compare with the Blessed Virgin Mary and ask for her assistance in becoming more like her in purity. By limiting the movement to two related musical materials in a seemingly constant state of transformation, the “Inviolata” evokes the stillness of one contemplating the Image while it changes before his/her eyes – an experience attested to by a good number of pilgrims to the shrine. The people of Genazzano have this idea that the image came to them from heaven.

The arrival of the Albanians “Giorgio and De Sclavis” stir emotional reactions from the people as they recount their magnificent journey from Scutari to the shrine in pursuit of Our Lady. In “What Miracles”, Giorgio and De Sclavis, represented by a tenor and a baritone respectively, reflect on the possible reasons why the image of Our Lady brought itself out of Albania and into Italy. The idea for this movement was one of the first that came to me, but the movement itself was the last to be written. “Sub tuum  praesidium” is constructed using layers of ostinati that surround the central poem, O bella mia Speranza, written by St. Alphonsus Ligouri, himself a devotee of Our Lady of Good Counsel. The effect is that of a seemingly never-ending procession of pilgrims.The constant repetition also evokes the idea of prayer requiring persistence.

“As a Little Child” shows Petruccia on her deathbed. The church at Genazzano now complete, thanks to the “alms unspeakable” from the pilgrims, her words to those who mocked her before ring true: that she will not die until the church was completed. The main idea of the text is from Pope Leo XIII’s prayer As a Little Child, elaborated with concepts from a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus Ligouri and the old Sicilian hymn O Sanctissima. The musical material is derived from the opening sequence of “Mother of Us All.”

The work concludes by quoting lines of the Hymn to Our Lady of Good Counsel as sung in the parish of Mary Mother of Good Counsel in Parañaque. The lines quoted, “in all doubts, I fly to thee for guidance, Mother, tell me, what am I to do?”, lead us to Giorgio and De Sclavis asking Our Lady to lead them in their mission, whatever or wherever their mission would be. The chorus picks up this idea by appropriating Petruccia’s words for themselves – that “we will proclaim that all our lives are blessed by your embrace” – leading to a return of the “Ave Mater Maris Stella”. While still tumultuous, it is not without much hope as the whole company rises from the sea and into glory.

Deo gratias!

With grateful acknowledgement to Chris Cabe for these pictures.