Lamb of God

- Johannes Somary / Adrian Batten

Use: General
Required Resources: congregation, SATB choir, organ
Language: English

Many times during festive Masses when there are concelebrants, a lengthy "Lamb of God" is needed to cover the time when the consecrated Hosts are distributed to the concelebrants. Tropes are no longer an option (many contemporary Mass settings notwithstanding) and simply repeating the text, "Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world: have mercy on us" more than twice seems awkward. One effective way to cover this time is to have the congregation sing a simple setting and have the choir continue on with a polyphonic setting.

We offer this scheme in Johannes Somary's Lamb of God, which is paired with an English setting by Adrian Batten. The very simple congregational music is accompanied, and the text is the three-fold format found in the Sacramentary. After a two measure bridge, modulating from D Major to e minor, the SATB choir sings the Batten motet, either a cappella or accompanied on a quiet manual.

The Batten piece has very comfortable ranges (soprano: E-D, alto: A-A, tenor: E-D, bass: A-B) and in addition to being sung as an extension of a congregational setting, could easily be sung as a motet on its own.