The Wednesday following Quinquagesima Sunday is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Some time before, the choirmaster should have made any necessary preparation for the Commination Service (or Penitential Office, as it is known in the American church) which is appointed for use on Ash Wednesday.
Lent is a season of fasting and abstinence, patterned after our Lord's forty days of fasting in the wilderness. Actually there are forty-six days from Ash Wednesday to Easter since the sign Sundays which intervene are regarded (like all Sundays) as feast days, and therefore are not to be included among the forty fast days.
Every Anglican hymnal contains a section devoted to Lenten hymns and a list of other hymns suitable for the season. These, with the lessons, collects, epistles and gospels should furnish the choirmaster with a reliable guide as to the type of anthem to choose. it might be remarked that Lenten music, although solemn, need not be doleful.
The penitential character of the season is generally maintained on Sundays in Lent, even though the are not fast days. If daily services are held, a slightly brighter note may be introduced on Sundays (avoiding music of a triumphal nature, of course); but where services are held only on Sundays, the solemnity of the season should be strictly observed, since there is no other opportunities for Lenten devotions.
In the English and Canadian churches, the collect for Ash Wednesday is used daily in addition t the collect for the day from the Fist Sunday in Lent (sometimes called Quadragesima) until Easter Even; but in the American church, only until Palm Sunday.
The Wednesday, Friday and Saturday after the First Sunday in Lent are Ember Days, when again the clergy, candidates for the Holy Orders, and church workers in general are remembered. In the Canadian church, the consecutive readings in the Table of Lessons may be continued uninterrupted, or those listed under Proper Lessons for Special Days may be used; in the American book, Ember Days are provided for in the Psalms and Lessons for the Christian Year. In both the Canadian and American churches the same collect, epistle and gospel as used for Ember Days in Advent are read. In the English church the collect, epistle and gospel for the previous Sunday serve for the entire week.
In olden times, the Fourth Sunday in Lent was known as Mothering Sunday, from the theme of the epistle for the day, and the traditional name is still retained in localities. It was the custom for members of the family who had left home to return and spend this day with their parents, much as Mothers' Day is now observed in Canada and the United States. Hymns referring to the Church or Jerusalem as the mother or home of the faithful are appropriate.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent, called Passion Sunday, brings the shadow of the Cross. Hymns and anthems should be meditations of the passion of Christ, and of His approaching sacrifice.
The Sixth Sunday in Lent, known as Palm Sunday, commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. All Anglican hymnals designate suitable hymns.
Following Palm Sunday is Holy Week, a very busy time for organists and choirs of most parishes.
For Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of Holy Week, epistles and gospels only are provided in the English and Canadian books, the collects being those of Palm Sunday and Ash Wednesday. The American book provides a collect for each day which is followed by the collect for Palm Sunday.
Good Friday has three collects, and Easter Even (Saturday) one. There are followed by the collect for Ash Wednesday in the English and Canadian churches, but by no additional collects in the American church.