Dr. Paul Weber conducts the Chamber Orchestra in Christ the King Chapel |
STEUBENVILLE, OH—A new sacred music arrangement by a Franciscan University professor will premiere during a Pontifical High Mass on February 2 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Dr. Paul M. Weber, associate professor of music and director of the program in organ at Franciscan University of Steubenville, received the commission to write a new arrangement of the Nunc Dimittis—the Canticle of Simeon—from Nova Southeastern University.
Weber's piece, written for a small, four-part choir with organ accompaniment, will be conducted by Dr. Edward Schaefer during the Pontifical High Mass at Nova Southeastern's Conference on the Music of Charles Tournemire, an iconic 20th-century French organist.
Weber described his composition, saying, "The Gregorian melody that normally carries this canticle constitutes the basic kernel for the piece. Overlapping and imitating one another, the four parts use the chant as a vehicle for the song, each building upon one another until the climax, when Simeon refers to the Christ Child as the 'Glory of Israel.'"
The Pontifical High Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski of Miami in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and will be streamed live at www.livemass.net.