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Lectionarium tenebrale - Work in progress
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Good Friday Communion at the Vatican: source?
At the Good Friday liturgy at the Vatican with Pope Francis, the first mode antiphon Diviserunt sibi (Ps. 22 [21], 19) was sung as Communion Antiphon, with verses from Psalm 22 (21):
Here's the musical score of the antiphon:
![image]()
"They divide my clothing among them, they cast lots for my robe". It's a wonderful text to be used as an antiphon on Good Friday, and - though the liturgical books only suggest using Psalm 22 (21) without giving specific texts for any antiphons – this might form a good example to follow.
However, I wonder where this particular chant comes from. So far, I could only find the same text set to another, eight mode melody, used as second antiphon ad matutinum in I nocturno of Feria sexta in Passione et Morte Domini (Good Friday), see Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae (1957), p. 201:
![image]()
Where did the Vatican take its antiphon from? Is this a new composition, just like we saw at the opening Mass of the Year of Faith? Any ideas?
Here's the musical score of the antiphon:
"They divide my clothing among them, they cast lots for my robe". It's a wonderful text to be used as an antiphon on Good Friday, and - though the liturgical books only suggest using Psalm 22 (21) without giving specific texts for any antiphons – this might form a good example to follow.
However, I wonder where this particular chant comes from. So far, I could only find the same text set to another, eight mode melody, used as second antiphon ad matutinum in I nocturno of Feria sexta in Passione et Morte Domini (Good Friday), see Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae (1957), p. 201:
Where did the Vatican take its antiphon from? Is this a new composition, just like we saw at the opening Mass of the Year of Faith? Any ideas?
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Lectiones III et IV Vigiliae Paschalis melismatim decantandae
This is very late but I will post anyway.
The lessons for the Paschal Vigil in the EF, when chanted by cantors, were traditionally chanted "juniores ante seniores." The most experienced cantor, therefore, sings the final lesson. In the pre-1955 Holy Week rites, this corresponds to Lesson XII (incipit: Nabuchodonosor). There existed a tradition that an attendant increase in the complexity of the modulation must accompany the increase in the seniority of the lector.
The beloved Dominican book typesetter, Holger Peter Sandhofe, left us an example of such melody for Lesson XII. However, since the Paschal Vigil lessons have been shortened from 12 to 4 by Maxima Redemptionis, the tone finally retired to the archives. In a rare occasion last year, we were able to chant Lesson XII, and this year, we applied the beautiful modulation to Lesson IV.
With this, we also used a melismatic melody for Lesson III to balance the lessons (2 tonus propheticus, 2 tonus melismaticus). Lesson IV has the longest melisma, but Lesson III has the widest ambitus.
See attached.
The lessons for the Paschal Vigil in the EF, when chanted by cantors, were traditionally chanted "juniores ante seniores." The most experienced cantor, therefore, sings the final lesson. In the pre-1955 Holy Week rites, this corresponds to Lesson XII (incipit: Nabuchodonosor). There existed a tradition that an attendant increase in the complexity of the modulation must accompany the increase in the seniority of the lector.
The beloved Dominican book typesetter, Holger Peter Sandhofe, left us an example of such melody for Lesson XII. However, since the Paschal Vigil lessons have been shortened from 12 to 4 by Maxima Redemptionis, the tone finally retired to the archives. In a rare occasion last year, we were able to chant Lesson XII, and this year, we applied the beautiful modulation to Lesson IV.
With this, we also used a melismatic melody for Lesson III to balance the lessons (2 tonus propheticus, 2 tonus melismaticus). Lesson IV has the longest melisma, but Lesson III has the widest ambitus.
See attached.
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Online class tonight, 8:00pm, CDT
Lots of people say they can't read square notes...what could be easier than this? https://www.eprof.com/456-reading-gregorian-notation-ii
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Need music for Extraordinary Form solemn baptism
I really need a copy of the music for Extraordinary Form solemn baptism, Psalms 99 and 22, I believe. Does anyone know where I can find these hymns? Thanks.
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Queritur (EF): Communion antiphon spoken/chanted recto tono?
Everything I've always been taught/read says that the Propers (and Ordinary) which are chanted by the schola are read sotto voce by the celebrant, and I have assumed that this also means the Communion antiphon. This past Sunday (at a Missa Cantata offered for our first-Sunday-of-the-month diocesan EF stable group, Missa Cantata for the first time in months), my pastor insisted that he was supposed to have read aloud/chanted the Communion antiphon, so I should have made certain that the schola was finished chanting it by the time the missal was moved, before he began his prayers at the center of the altar. (I do understand that Psallite sapienter says that the music should conclude as soon as possible after the missal being moved; in this case, the missal was moved as he was praying at the center, while we were in mid-antiphon. I have a few new members in my schola, so the antiphon was probably not sung as quickly as it might have been, but we did finish as soon as we could.) Advice? My pastor trained at Fontgombault, so perhaps there is a different custom than the rubrics there? Or have I misread the rubrics? Psallite sapienter was not specific enough on the point, and I would really need a citation of some sort. Thank you.
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chant is the perfect musical expression of Pope Francis’s vision of humility
James MacMillan says chant is the perfect musical expression of Pope Francis’s vision of humility
The new papacy of Francis has brought great joy and renewal to the Church and a huge wave of good will from non-Catholics. What will this new Pope bring to our sacred liturgies, which are the beating heart of the Church’s philosophy of love?
Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, attended the papal inauguration Mass in Rome and spoke of the way that Pope Francis’s simplicity resonates with people and singled out “his concept of humility, simplicity and going back to values”.
What does a “poor and simple Church” need in its divine praises? Is there humility in the Americanised, over-the-top, sub-Broadway pop music, dripping with sentimentality, that now infests so much of our liturgy? Is there simplicity in the here-am-I-Lord egotism of so many of our dreadful modern hymns? How does the upholstered, fatuous and banal secularity of so much of Catholic contemporary “praise music” succeed in “going back to values”?
The dawning of a more austere period in the Church’s mission requires liturgical music of a more austere and simple design: a music that humbly deflects attention from “the music ministry”, a music that is based in Catholic heritage and values, and a music that sounds both Catholic and sacred. The good news is that we have this already, and it is the music that Pope Benedict has been urging us to rediscover over the last decade: chant.
Music for a sacred ritual needs to project sacredness. In the liturgy “sacred” means “the glorification of God and the sanctification of the faithful”. Gregorian chant gives an elevated tone of voice to the texts of our sacred praises, conveying the special character of the words and of the specific holy nature of what is being enacted and undertaken.
The chanting of the holy texts raises them up from the mundane and presents them “as on a platter of gold”, in the words of the Jesuit liturgist Fr Josef Jungmann. Gregorian chant is unlike anything from the everyday world but conveys the clear impression that there is something uniquely holy in the actions of the liturgy. Gregorian chant is holy. [As I picked up from the late Msgr. Schuler, sacred music must be sacred and it must be art. It must be artistically written and performed, but it must have both a sacred text and a sacred idiom. Gregorian chant is perfect in those criteria.]
Gregorian chant is universal as it is supra-national and thus accessible to those of any and every culture equally. It rises above those musics which are either associated only with localised cultural experience, on the one hand, and operates separately from those other musics which are associated with high, artistic, classical derivation and aspiration, on the other. Therefore, it is essentially anti-elitist and simultaneously pure. Gregorian chant is for all.
The beauty of music is a crucial element in the “edification and sanctification of the faithful”. Beauty is the glue which binds together Truth and Goodness. To paraphrase the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, without beauty, truth does not persuade and goodness does not compel. The general function of music in the liturgy is to draw together a diverse succession of actions into a coherent whole. [Not just draw them together, but draw them together in prayer raised to God. Enough of "Gather Us In"!] That is what makes Gregorian chant beautiful.
The Gregorian sound, and the practice of chanting, whether by specialist or non-specialist, gives the most perfect context for the hearing of the words of the Sacred Scripture. It provides an elevated tone of voice that takes the texts out of the everyday and confirms them as sacred.
It provides a goodness of form, which is in itself beautiful, which in turn adds a sense of delight to prayer. It takes our divine praises into the realm of the transcendent and the eternal, and it is the music’s sacred character which enables this.
There is a melodic and rhythmic freedom in chant which is hard to find in any other music. Chant not only enhances the text, but it also breaks free from the restraints of metre. It is the antithesis of rock and pop with its incessant and insistently mind-numbing beat. It embodies the ethereal and spiritual aspects of the liturgy. It is the freest form of music.
The Church would stop being the Church without its liturgy. The liturgy is the pinnacle and summit of our entire Christian life. It has to be of our highest and best, whatever the circumstances. Our liturgical music has to be more than mere utility music. Before he was Pope, Joseph Ratzinger said: “A Church which only makes use of ‘utility’ music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless … for her mission is a far higher one. As the Old Testament speaks of the Temple, the Church is to be the place of ‘glory’, and as such, too, the place where mankind’s cry of distress is brought to the ear of God. The Church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level. She must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the Creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable, and beloved.”
He went on to say: “The other arts, architecture, painting, vestments, and the arts of movement each contribute to and support the beauty of the liturgy, but still the art of music is greater even than that of any other art, because it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy, because it is so intimately bound to the sacred action, defining and differentiating the various parts in character, motion, and importance.”
The new papacy is a welcome opportunity for us to renew and revitalise our attempts at maintaining and continuing the sacred dimension of our liturgical celebrations. Let us follow Pope Francis’s example in being humble, in being simple, and in rediscovering our basic core Catholic values.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/04/if-francis-wants-a-leaner-humble-liturgy-then-we-need-sacred-music-to-match-we-already-have-it/
The new papacy of Francis has brought great joy and renewal to the Church and a huge wave of good will from non-Catholics. What will this new Pope bring to our sacred liturgies, which are the beating heart of the Church’s philosophy of love?
Baroness Warsi, the Minister for Faith and Communities, attended the papal inauguration Mass in Rome and spoke of the way that Pope Francis’s simplicity resonates with people and singled out “his concept of humility, simplicity and going back to values”.
What does a “poor and simple Church” need in its divine praises? Is there humility in the Americanised, over-the-top, sub-Broadway pop music, dripping with sentimentality, that now infests so much of our liturgy? Is there simplicity in the here-am-I-Lord egotism of so many of our dreadful modern hymns? How does the upholstered, fatuous and banal secularity of so much of Catholic contemporary “praise music” succeed in “going back to values”?
The dawning of a more austere period in the Church’s mission requires liturgical music of a more austere and simple design: a music that humbly deflects attention from “the music ministry”, a music that is based in Catholic heritage and values, and a music that sounds both Catholic and sacred. The good news is that we have this already, and it is the music that Pope Benedict has been urging us to rediscover over the last decade: chant.
Music for a sacred ritual needs to project sacredness. In the liturgy “sacred” means “the glorification of God and the sanctification of the faithful”. Gregorian chant gives an elevated tone of voice to the texts of our sacred praises, conveying the special character of the words and of the specific holy nature of what is being enacted and undertaken.
The chanting of the holy texts raises them up from the mundane and presents them “as on a platter of gold”, in the words of the Jesuit liturgist Fr Josef Jungmann. Gregorian chant is unlike anything from the everyday world but conveys the clear impression that there is something uniquely holy in the actions of the liturgy. Gregorian chant is holy. [As I picked up from the late Msgr. Schuler, sacred music must be sacred and it must be art. It must be artistically written and performed, but it must have both a sacred text and a sacred idiom. Gregorian chant is perfect in those criteria.]
Gregorian chant is universal as it is supra-national and thus accessible to those of any and every culture equally. It rises above those musics which are either associated only with localised cultural experience, on the one hand, and operates separately from those other musics which are associated with high, artistic, classical derivation and aspiration, on the other. Therefore, it is essentially anti-elitist and simultaneously pure. Gregorian chant is for all.
The beauty of music is a crucial element in the “edification and sanctification of the faithful”. Beauty is the glue which binds together Truth and Goodness. To paraphrase the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar, without beauty, truth does not persuade and goodness does not compel. The general function of music in the liturgy is to draw together a diverse succession of actions into a coherent whole. [Not just draw them together, but draw them together in prayer raised to God. Enough of "Gather Us In"!] That is what makes Gregorian chant beautiful.
The Gregorian sound, and the practice of chanting, whether by specialist or non-specialist, gives the most perfect context for the hearing of the words of the Sacred Scripture. It provides an elevated tone of voice that takes the texts out of the everyday and confirms them as sacred.
It provides a goodness of form, which is in itself beautiful, which in turn adds a sense of delight to prayer. It takes our divine praises into the realm of the transcendent and the eternal, and it is the music’s sacred character which enables this.
There is a melodic and rhythmic freedom in chant which is hard to find in any other music. Chant not only enhances the text, but it also breaks free from the restraints of metre. It is the antithesis of rock and pop with its incessant and insistently mind-numbing beat. It embodies the ethereal and spiritual aspects of the liturgy. It is the freest form of music.
The Church would stop being the Church without its liturgy. The liturgy is the pinnacle and summit of our entire Christian life. It has to be of our highest and best, whatever the circumstances. Our liturgical music has to be more than mere utility music. Before he was Pope, Joseph Ratzinger said: “A Church which only makes use of ‘utility’ music has fallen for what is, in fact, useless … for her mission is a far higher one. As the Old Testament speaks of the Temple, the Church is to be the place of ‘glory’, and as such, too, the place where mankind’s cry of distress is brought to the ear of God. The Church must not settle down with what is merely comfortable and serviceable at the parish level. She must arouse the voice of the cosmos and, by glorifying the Creator, elicit the glory of the cosmos itself, making it also glorious, beautiful, habitable, and beloved.”
He went on to say: “The other arts, architecture, painting, vestments, and the arts of movement each contribute to and support the beauty of the liturgy, but still the art of music is greater even than that of any other art, because it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy, because it is so intimately bound to the sacred action, defining and differentiating the various parts in character, motion, and importance.”
The new papacy is a welcome opportunity for us to renew and revitalise our attempts at maintaining and continuing the sacred dimension of our liturgical celebrations. Let us follow Pope Francis’s example in being humble, in being simple, and in rediscovering our basic core Catholic values.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2013/04/if-francis-wants-a-leaner-humble-liturgy-then-we-need-sacred-music-to-match-we-already-have-it/
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How much of your Sunday Mass is chanted (non-Ordinary/Proper)?
On a given weekend at your current parish, how much of each Mass is chanted? I'm not asking about the propers/ordinary, but rather the dialogues, prayers/orations, etc.
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Combining men's and womens' voices to sing Propers
I've been asked to assist with the music for an EF Mass being offered at our parish at the request of the local Juventutem group. I'm very excited about it, and am working with several people to coordinate a schola from their membership to assist in the singing Propers so that I'm not doing it all as a solo cantor.
They have limited members available to chant (only two or three women and I'm unclear as to how many men), and it has been suggested that the men and women combine to chant the Propers, rather than alternating between them (men on Introit, women on Offertory, etc.).
While I understand that performance practice dictates that chant is intended for like voices rather than unison voices, and my initial reaction was to respond in keeping with this custom, is it never the less permissible to combine men's and women's voices in this manner?
I don't wish to appear uncooperative with them, but I also don't want to make provisions where they're not permitted either by rubrics or liturgical legislation.
They have limited members available to chant (only two or three women and I'm unclear as to how many men), and it has been suggested that the men and women combine to chant the Propers, rather than alternating between them (men on Introit, women on Offertory, etc.).
While I understand that performance practice dictates that chant is intended for like voices rather than unison voices, and my initial reaction was to respond in keeping with this custom, is it never the less permissible to combine men's and women's voices in this manner?
I don't wish to appear uncooperative with them, but I also don't want to make provisions where they're not permitted either by rubrics or liturgical legislation.
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Which Gregorian Mass is prescribed for votive Mass during paschal time [EF]
Laudetur Iesus Christus!
Which Gregorian Mass is prescribed for IV-th class votive mass during paschal time (Feria post Octavam Paschae) ?
Missa I or Missa XVI?
Which Gregorian Mass is prescribed for IV-th class votive mass during paschal time (Feria post Octavam Paschae) ?
Missa I or Missa XVI?
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How did you hear about chanted liturgical music? what got you going?
I'm writing a paper in which I'm crediting online chant editions for the chant revival, and I'm suddenly realizing that I sort of take this for granted but I don't think I have any actual testimonials or even evidence to back my claim at all.
Does anyone have a personal story? I recall that Adam Bartlett told me that the first time he became interested in chant was 2007 with the Liber upload.
Can you please share?
Does anyone have a personal story? I recall that Adam Bartlett told me that the first time he became interested in chant was 2007 with the Liber upload.
Can you please share?
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discrepancies in tones for chanted readings
So, for the Gospel at least, the tone indicated in the tutorial (PDF, over on the MusicaSacra audio tab) differs a bit from the one I see printed in the Roman Missal. In particular, the response at the end ("Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ") is a bit more ornate in the tutorial, but is simpler in the Missal, using only do and la.
The author of the tutorial (Adam Thome -- and that tutorial is really cool, by the way) acknowledges that there are actually a few differing formulas for the Gospel tone. I guess I'm curious if any one of them is more definitive than the others.
The author of the tutorial (Adam Thome -- and that tutorial is really cool, by the way) acknowledges that there are actually a few differing formulas for the Gospel tone. I guess I'm curious if any one of them is more definitive than the others.
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Sequence writing
I have taken to writing sequences in the past few days, intended to be sung to "Laetabundi jubilemus" of Adam of St. Victor. People are more familiar with the melody in St. Thomas' "Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem."
Below are examples:
http://www.4shared.com/office/Y3mwiART/Sequentiae_Philippinarum_Sanct.html
Below are examples:
http://www.4shared.com/office/Y3mwiART/Sequentiae_Philippinarum_Sanct.html
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Mozarabic chant
Hi!
Does anyone here know Mozarabic chant? Or someone who knows about it? Doesn't matter if that someone speaks Spanish, I converse rather fluently in Spanish.
Thanks!
Does anyone here know Mozarabic chant? Or someone who knows about it? Doesn't matter if that someone speaks Spanish, I converse rather fluently in Spanish.
Thanks!
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Question about the the Sanctus in a Sung Mass according to De Musica Sacra
As I am helping to prepare our daughter's Baptism and Mass, I happened to discover this quote from De Musica Sacra:
This appears in the indications for Sung Masses.
My question is: is this still valid? I have seen videos of sung Masses by the ICRSS where this is not observed. How binding then is De Musica Sacra?
d) If the Sanctus-Benedictus are sung in Gregorian chant, they should be put together without interruption; otherwise, the Benedictus should be sung after the Consecration.
This appears in the indications for Sung Masses.
My question is: is this still valid? I have seen videos of sung Masses by the ICRSS where this is not observed. How binding then is De Musica Sacra?
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English Version of Henri du Mont's Mass in the Sixth Mode
This is an English version I put together of du Mont's Messe de 6me Ton if any one would like it.
Unfortunatey it's in modern (stemless) notation. If anyone would like to type-set this in neums they'd be more than welcome to. Also, feel free to critique - I haven't done many chant adaptations before.
Unfortunatey it's in modern (stemless) notation. If anyone would like to type-set this in neums they'd be more than welcome to. Also, feel free to critique - I haven't done many chant adaptations before.
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Seeking Schola or Chant Choir for Wedding Reception to perform Gregorian Chant - Michigan
Hello,
We are getting married in Michigan this summer (July) at a Catholic Church. We're really hoping to find a small choir, schola, ect
that could perform Gregorian chant at our wedding. Preferably in Latin. Before the ceremony
and maybe a little during. We can pay for travel and accommodations. Thank you very much in advance for any help with this.
email:
excal2112(at)aol.com
We are getting married in Michigan this summer (July) at a Catholic Church. We're really hoping to find a small choir, schola, ect
that could perform Gregorian chant at our wedding. Preferably in Latin. Before the ceremony
and maybe a little during. We can pay for travel and accommodations. Thank you very much in advance for any help with this.
email:
excal2112(at)aol.com
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Prefaces in GABC
I am working on a Pontifical Canon (basically an EF-Ordo Missae with the deviations used by a bishop e.g. et me, indigno servo tuo at the beginning of the canon and the pontifical blessing at the end). I finished everything up to the prefaces.
Has anybody already typeset some of them with Gregorio? I have already finished the Praefatio solemnis communis.
Has anybody already typeset some of them with Gregorio? I have already finished the Praefatio solemnis communis.
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Gregorian earworm?
I maintain that Gregorian melodies can't get annoyingly stuck in your head. My discussion partner says it should be possible. Neither of us has ever had the experience, though.
Anyone?
Anyone?
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Vespers 101
It's very confusing trying to figure out Vespers. The whole Comparison Gradual was a result of my trying to figure out the entire responsorial psalm business...GIRM, SIMPLEX, on and on....
Could someone take us under a wing and come up with a simple chart showing what goes where and what the choices are?
Could someone take us under a wing and come up with a simple chart showing what goes where and what the choices are?
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