I SING OF THE MAIDEN Sung by the A Cappella Choir of St. Rose Priory Presented by the Catechetical Guild of St. Paul Side 1 I Sing of a Maiden (Folk Song) Drop Down Dew Ye Heavens (Gregorian Chant) Behold, a Virgin (Gregorian Chant) Ave Maria (Vittoria) Magnificat (Quinn) Maria Walks Amid the Thorn (German Carol) Lo, How a Rose (Practorius)

From the first haunting lines of the introductory folk song, I Sing of a Maiden, to the last chord of Mozart's Ave Maria, the music on this recording moves in harmonious progression with the spoken narrative of Mary's life. Her life has challenged the imagination of the world's poets and musicians throughout the centuries, and they have responded, sounding her praises in folk songs, in Gregorian chant, and in the rich harmonics of polyphony. Yet, so great arc her graces, so great is her dignity in the universe, that no single song or group of songs can alone pay adequate tnbutc to God's Mother and ours. This recording presents the life of Mary in a new way - doctrinally and artistically. Her story 1s told through the media of the spoken word and of song - utilizing a variety of vocal forms to highlight the joys, the sorrows, and the glories of the Virgin's life unfolded by the narrative.

Beginning with the expectation of God's Chosen People, where the plaintive chants of longing - Drop Down Dew Ye Heavens and Behold, a Virgin - give musical expression to the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, the story moves rapidly to the climactic moment of the Incarnation, embodied in the full and glorious harmonics of Vtttoria's Ave Maria. But although the Maiden of Nazareth carried within her the Son of God, her life remained simple and unchanged. The calm and unhumed rhythm of a chant-like Magnificat and the sixteenth-century German carol, Maria Walks Amid the Thorn, convey this untouched simplicity, bringing us to Bethlehem where these early stages in Mary's story culminate in the chorale, Lo, How a Rose by the Renaissance master, Praetonus. Side 2 Stabat Mater (Gregorian Chant; Chorale by Nanini) Regina Caeli (Lotti) Mary is Assumed (Gregorian Chant) Recordare (Gregonan Chant) Ave Maria (Mozart)

Side Two begins with the sorrows of Mary. The poem Stabat Mater, the verses of which are sung in the traditional chant alternating with the harmonization by Naniri, forms the setting for these sorrows, sorrows which gave way eventually to the overwhelming joy of the Resurrection, expressed m the tnumphant jubilation of Lotti's Regina Caeli .

Mary's story continues even to our day; after her assumption - Mary is Assumed - the Church prays to the Virgin in her official chant - Recordare. And daily there is raised to Mary the unending Ave Maria of the faithful, the eternal significance of which is so strikingly portrayed in this work of Mozart.

The performers on this recording are members of the Dominican Order, known officially as the Order of Preachers. The Order is traditionally devoted to Mary, and ascribes to her the initiative for its foundation by St. Dominic in 1216. Tradition also attributes to her the distinctive black and white Dominican habit. The Order was instrumental in first spreading devotion to Mary's Rosary, especially by preaching. In this presentation the Dominicans of St. Rose Priory continue their seven-century-old tradition of presenting the truth of Chnst and of His Mother.

The A Cappclla Choir of St. Rose Pnory 1s directed by Malachy Quinn, 0 P. The script was written by Benjamin Russell, O P., and Thomas Aquinas O'Meara, O.P , and is narrated by Cyril Dwiggins, O.P. Soloists are: Boniface Perry, O.P.- I Sing of a Maiden and Mozart's Ave Maria; Angelus Boyd, O.P.-Gregorian Chants-; and Isidore Metzger, O.P. -Magnificat. I Sing of a Maiden and Regina Caeli, were arranged by Malachy Quinn, 0 P. The productton coordinator was Jude Johnson, OP. (cum permissu superiorum)