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Free Communion Antiphons!

Andrew R. Motyka · March 27, 2013

t’s Holy Week again, which means that music directors the world around have very little spare time to do important things like write blog entries. Therefore, I am copying an article I wrote for Corpus Christi Watershed 2 years ago. It’s not plagiarism if I copy my own work, right?

Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons

I had been working on the project that was to become Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons for about two years when my wife and I decided to go live with the project. I didn’t realize that within a day I would receive an invitation from Jeff Ostrowski to write an entry for Corpus Christi Watershed discussing the project. The project stems from a pastoral need in my own church for liturgically worthy yet simple music for the Communion rite in the Ordinary Form, but it originally began as an attempt to reconcile two seemingly contradictory demands of Communion music that are found in the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM).

That the GIRM puts the antiphons in the Graduale Romanum and the Missal in the first option for Communion music is well known, as is the tendency of most parishes to use the fourth option, “some other liturgical chant” (GIRM 87). Whether the order chosen in the GIRM is hierarchical or arbitrary is irrelevant in this case; it is not my job to rehash The Liturgy Wars™. What is clear from both the GIRM and almost all previous musical legislation is that Gregorian Chant is to have pride of place in the liturgy. If we are to follow the letter of the GIRM, however, #87 needs to be tempered with #86: that the Communion chant’s “purpose [is] to express the spiritual union of the communicants by means of the unity of their voices, to show gladness of heart, and to bring out more clearly the “communitarian” character of the procession to receive the Eucharist.” The proper chants found in the Graduale Romanum are, for the most part, too difficult for the average lay person to sing, yet the GIRM expresses the desire for the congregation to sing at this part of the Mass. One way to reconcile these two desires is to simplify the Communion antiphons and their music, especially placing them in a responsorial style (which they are anyway). A short, simple response is good congregational music should the communicants want to sing. They require no hymnal or worship aid for reference while approaching the Blessed Sacrament, and still keep the Word of God in the mouths of the faithful. Responsorial antiphons were surely the way to go.

Where does that leave the proper music in the Gradual? Well, one principle of music by which I live is that the closer a particular piece of music approaches the Gregorian chant proper to a particular instance of the Mass, the more appropriate it is for that moment. More specifically, if the chant itself is not being used, the music becomes more appropriate if it approaches the chant melodically and textually. Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons attempt to stay closely related to the chant in two ways. First, each antiphon is a translation of the proper taken from the 1974 Graduale Romanum. Often these antiphons have had to be abridged so to make them short enough to remember in procession without an aid. Unlike the Graduale Romanum, the English antiphons come with the full text of the psalm verses that are appropriate for the antiphon. Second, each antiphon corresponds with its mate in the Gradual not on textually, but modally. Each antiphon is set in the same mode as its Latin cousin. This allows the Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons to be used not only as a substitute for the proper chant, but also in conjunction with them. When choosing a starting pitch, make sure it uses the same final as the English setting. After singing through the chant, a cantor introduces the English antiphon, and a cantor/choir and the congregation alternate singing verse and antiphon until the reception of Holy Communion is complete. Each Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphon includes the doxology for a final verse, but in this case I omit the English doxology and sing the Latin one from the Gradual instead. Then the schola repeats the chanted antiphon. In this way, a parish can use a schola to chant the propers of the Mass and still conform to GIRM #86. Of course, the English antiphons can be used on their own if your parish is not ready to chant the Latin antiphons. These options provide a good way to get “from here to there.”

Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons can be found for free at www.communionantiphons.org. I came up with the idea for composing them from several different sources. First, Christoph Tietze’s excellent paraphrases in his Introit Hymns gave me the motivation to explore other ways of using the propers of the Mass in English and in a simple setting. Shortly thereafter I discovered the renowned Chabanel Psalms right here at Corpus Christi Watershed. It was Jeff’s own blank staff at the bottom of one psalm saying “compose your own” that got me started. I tried it and said, “it certainly isn’t Jeff’s scholarly compositional method, but I can do this,” and off I went. My later involvement with the Church Music Association of America, both online and at their conference, turned me on to the value of publishing free music online. If I truly see the value in a musical project, why should I hamper distribution by charging money for it? Lastly, the grace of God has given me both the will to continue composing this large number of antiphons, as well as the serendipitous realization of the implications of using the matching modes for each antiphon. I originally started composing in each antiphon’s respective mode just to give me a musical framework for each antiphon. It wasn’t until a few months later that I realized the possibilities of using the English antiphons in conjunction with the Latin ones.

I would like to thank Jeff Ostrowski and Corpus Christi Watershed for giving me the space to “plug” my work on their website. I also would like to thank my wife and webmistress, Julie, for supporting me through this whole thing and for patiently hearing time and time again, “how do you think this sounds?” I hope these antiphons can be of use to you and your parish. After all, did I mention they’re free?

Laudate Dominum Communion Antiphons

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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Andrew R. Motyka

About Andrew R. Motyka

Andrew Motyka is the Archdiocesan Director of Liturgical Music and Cathedral Music for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

5 April 2021 • When Girls *SING*

Covid restrictions here in California are still extremely severe—switching “two weeks to flatten the curve” into “two years to flatten the curve.” Since 2020, we’ve had police breaking into our church to check if everyone is wearing a mask…even when only 5-6 people are present! But we were allowed to have a small percentage of our singers back on Easter Sunday, and here is their live recording of the ancient Catholic hymn for Eastertide: Ad Cenam Agni Providi. The girls were so very excited to sing again—you can hear it in their voices!

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • FEEDBACK

“E.S.” in North Dakota writes: “I just wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU for all the hard work you have put—and continue to put—into your wonderful website. In the past two years, my parish has moved from a little house basement into a brand new church and gone from a few families receiving Low Masses twice a month to several families (and many individuals) receiving Mass every Sunday, two Saturdays a month, and every Holy Day. Our priest has been incorporating more and more High Masses and various ceremonies into our lives, which has made my job as a huge newbie choir master very trying and complicated. CCWatershed has been an invaluable resource in helping me get on my feet and know what to do!!! Thank you more than I can express! May God bless you abundantly and assist you in your work and daily lives!”

—Jeff Ostrowski
29 March 2021 • Condemned?

On Palm Sunday, the Passion was read. Immediately after mention is made of the betrayal by Judas, the Holy Eucharist is introduced. Is this not a condemnation of “Christians” who deny the Church teaching on the SANCTISSIMUM? Here is Matthew 26: And Judas that betrayed him, answering, said: “Is it I, Rabbi?” He saith to him: “Thou hast said it.” And whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke: and gave to his disciples, and said: Take ye, and eat. This is my body.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope’s ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God’s Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.”

— ‘His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI (11 May 2005)’

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