Announcing the Feast: The Entrance Song in the Mass of the Roman Rite by Jason J. McFarland (review)

Not limited strictly to an investigation of the introit, but drawing more widely from tradition to encompass “a variety of musical forms and models” past and present (159), Jason McFarland’s book Announcing the Feast stands both as a readable and informative treatment of the historical development and ritual function of the entrance song for Roman Catholic Eucharistic liturgies. Especially through an application of his proposed method to the entrance antiphon for the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper of the Triduum, McFarland demonstrates the breadth of solutions available to liturgical musicians striving for well-informed liturgical, pastoral, and musical judgment in the exercise of their ministry. The present work is a revision of McFarland’s dissertation, written under the direction of Msgr. Kevin Irwin.

McFarland’s method, intentionally following the theoretical framework articulated in Irwin’s Context and Text (xxxvii), is explicated in the first part of the book. “The Entrance Song in Its Historical Context,” provides a solid foundational survey that is both appropriate for non-academic musicians and for academic liturgists. For the musician, McFarland helpfully demonstrates the necessary reminder that the history of liturgical practice in general and liturgical music in particular is not nearly as neat or uniform as many have presumed or might hope. For the academic McFarland admirably renders the status quaestionis pertaining to the history of music, particularly attending to those areas of research in which past assumptions have been challenged. In “The Entrance Song of the Roman Rite in Recent and Contemporary Ecclesiastical Documents,” McFarland offers a precise overview of how the entrance song has been, and is, officially described by the church in its ritual legislation. Moreover, this chapter provides a richer setting for interpreting the variety of liturgical laws and the textual foundations of the liturgy, based on important conciliar principles relating to music, such as the importance of singing in the liturgy and the active participation of the faithful in the liturgy. McFarland helpfully points to the distinction between active participation and external participation (106, 133), developed especially in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Sing to the Lord. Ultimately, McFarland argues that “a wholesale return to the medieval introit/psalm form is neither possible nor desirable; at the same time, composing new entrance songs that ignore the proper texts altogether is to ‘cheat the people’” (116).

The second part of Announcing the Feast attempts a synthesis of the material in the previous chapters: how do liturgical history and liturgical law encounter each other, and how does one evaluate the models for the entrance song that emerge from their intersection? McFarland provides, in “Models of the Entrance Song,” an overall description of the five options for the “entrance song” that are drawn from the tradition of the church, focusing on musical and textual sources, performance practice, and functional strengths and weaknesses: 1) the proper antiphon and verses of the Graduale Romanum, 2) the proper or seasonal antiphon and verses of the Graduale Simplex, 3) alternative musical settings of the proper antiphon and verses, 4) musical settings of texts other than the proper antiphons and verses, and 5) the spoken proper antiphon of the Roman Missal. He also offers at least one example for each of the first four models pertaining to Nos autem gloriari, the entrance antiphon of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, thus preparing for his test case. Especially important is McFarland’s assistance regarding sources enabling employment of these models throughout the liturgical year. It is in “Toward a Theology of the Entrance Song at Eucharist,” that McFarland activates the material from the three prior chapters. At the very least, the initial portions of this chapter (157–168) should be required reading for all involved with liturgical music ministry, including priests, deacons, and choristers; these individuals, especially, should understand the purpose of the entrance song and appreciate...