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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Adapting Chant To The Vernacular

Guest Author · August 31, 2015

351 Steven Van Roode Gregorian Chant STILL REMEMBER the first time I heard one of Jeff Ostrowski’s Chabanel Psalms. It was in 2007, and I was immediately moved by the beauty and simplicity of his compositions. Could his modal style also be applied to Dutch responsorial psalms, of which at that time only a few were set to the official translation? I was also considering putting together a set of simple propers in Dutch, following the exhortation of two saintly Popes: “The more closely a composition for church approaches in its movement, inspiration and savour the Gregorian melodic form, the more sacred and liturgical it becomes” (Sts. Pius X and John Paul II). How should this be accomplished for vernacular texts? For my “Klein Graduale”—a Dutch adaptation of the Graduale Simplex—I found the following strategy the most fulfilling.

    * *  Klein Graduale Website • Gregorian settings in Dutch

My adaptations of Chabanel Psalms or Gregorian chants to Dutch liturgical texts are based on a couple of principles. First, I put neumes only on stressed words and syllables. The Dutch language doesn’t tolerate neumatic melodies very well, let alone rich, melismatic lines. Second, I make sure each clause of a sentence gets a single melodic line. The original Latin chants tend to divide each clause up into even smaller parts. In Dutch, this sounds clumsy. A single line of thought is best expressed by a single, fluent motion. Third, the melody should support the natural accentuation of the vernacular text. To enhance the intelligibility and clarity of the sung text, it is important that the chant follows—to a certain extent—the text’s intonation contour.

How to achieve these principles? Surely, you should keep an eye on the characteristics of the Gregorian melody. For example, searching for structure pitches helps me to capture the overall sound of an antiphon, without getting lost by elaborations and embellishments. Also, each mode has its own distinctive motives and cadences. Office antiphons in particular make extensive use of TYPE MELODIES and CENTONIZATION by putting together typical melodic figures. Additionally, I try to pay attention to the ‘musical exegesis’ of the original chant. Gregorian chant provides a spiritual commentary on the liturgical texts it carries, giving us a valuable look into how these texts functioned as a prayer in the lives of the medieval composers. This I strive to preserve.

To give you an idea of these vernacular compositions, I give two examples below. The first is my adaptation of the entrance antiphon Omnis terra from the Graduale Simplex:

“All the earth shall bow down before you, O God, and shall sing to you, shall sing to your name, O Lord.”

It’s a very simple, syllabic tune of mode 4:

SIMP INT


The second example is an entrance antiphon as well with the same (Latin) text and of the same mode, but this time taken from the Graduale Romanum. You can see it’s more neumatic, contrasting with the simpler chants from the Graduale Simplex:

GRAD INT



We hope you enjoyed this guest article by Steven van Roode.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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President’s Corner

    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Music Director Job • $80,000 per year
    Our readers will be interested in this job offering for Music Director at Saint Adalbert’s Basilica, located 40 minutes from where I live. My pastor was recently elevated to this basilica. He is offering $80,000 per year, plus benefits. I’m told Saint Adalbert’s Basilica is utterly gorgeous and contains one of America’s most magnificent pipe organs. It would be fantastic to have a colleague nearby!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Simplest “Agnus Dei” Ever Published
    Our choir is on break during the month of July. I needed a relatively simple “Agnus Dei,” so I composed this setting for organ & voice in honor of Saint René Goupil. It has been called the simplest setting ever composed. I love CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”), especially the ALLELUIAS, INTROITS, and COMMUNION ANTIPHONS. That being said, some have pointed out that certain sections of the Kyriale aren’t as strong as the Graduale or Vesperale. There’s a reason for this—but it would be too complicated to explain at this moment.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

This was first breach in the walls of a fortress, centuries old, stoutly built, strong and robust, but no longer capable of responding to the spiritual needs of the age. [N.B. the “fortress” is a liturgy which nourished countless great saints.]

— Annibale Bugnini (19 March 1966)

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