• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

Chasing the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Veronica Brandt · December 26, 2020

I am pleased to announce a new project – a course on Singing the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Latin. I thought it would be an easy project. However, as with just about everything to do with Sacred Music, there is so much more to it than you expect.

Way back a good decade ago, I bought seven copies of the Little Office, beautifully printed by Baronius Press, only to find out that the music contained was insufficient to actually sing the Office. My knowledge of the Roman Divine Office helped a bit, putting psalms to psalm tones but one hour remained impenetrable.

Matins.

The Invitatory was all written out, so that was fine. The hymn and psalms were just like other hours, but the Responsories were bewildering.

In the Liturgy of the Hours of 1975, Matins morphed into the Office of Readings, which makes it sound like a good bedtime storybook. And I bet the overwhelming majority of people praying Matins read it and relish the words, but it also contains the lion’s share of the Music in the Office.

When looking for the music for Matins, one is bound to come across Holger Peter Sandhofe who typeset the Nocturnale Romanum, 2002, which contains a whole lot of music for Matins for the whole year. Unfortunately Sandhofe died very young and the work is said to be “rife with transcription errors both in the musical notation and texts“. I’m not in a position to assess the accuracy, as I don’t have the sources he was transcribing, but some of the neumes he used are quite different compared to the Liber Usualis.

Fortunately there is another source: Le Petit Office de la Très Sainte Vierge, Noté en Plain-Chant, 1893 – a 92 page booklet which forms part of a larger book, Cantus Varii, 1902.

  • PDF Download – Le Petit Office de la Très Sainte Vierge, 1893

Thanks go to Jonathan Kadar-Kallen who mentioned this in his article about his own work on the Little Office.

And here is how Le Petit Office describes that piece:

Le Petit Office, 1893, page 49-50

The notation is more like what we are accustomed to from the Liber Usualis. The tune in some ways is closer to the Nocturnale. I would love to know what sources each one was working from.

And here is the piece from the Baronius Press Little Office book:

The Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2011, page 142

Which follows the Nocturnale Romanum, complete with ascending puncta inclinata and other oddball neumes. Being the first of six complicated responsories, this one is an accurate copy, but subsequent pieces get more ragged:

Even more odd is this phrase, which seems to be raised a third in a scattered way:

So, it seems that there were two hurdles to singing the responsories from the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary as published by Baronius Press:

  1. The unusual patterns of neumes employed in the Nocturnale Romanum.
  2. The typographical errors in transcribing the Nocturnale as well as possible typographical errors in the Nocturnale itself.

So, while I can’t guarantee that the French book from 1893 will be more authentic, it will be easier to sing, so I think I will join Jonathan Kadar-Kallen in working from that music rather than that printed in the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, 2011.

If you would like to see my work so far on explaining how to sing the Little Office, check out my new course Singing the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Latin on Udemy. It has been a great diversion while restrictions on singing in my area were tightened. Even if singing the Mass is deemed hazardous, we can still sing at home.

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

Follow the Discussion on Facebook

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary Last Updated: December 26, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“Today the Church has made a big mistake, turning the clock back 500 years with guitars and popular songs. I don’t like it at all. Gregorian Chant is a vital and important tradition of the Church and to waste this—by having guys mix religious words with profane, Western songs—is hugely grave, hugely grave.”

— Maestro Ennio Morricone (10 Sept 2009)

Recent Posts

  • Vespers for Easter Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
  • Hidden Gem: Ave Regina Caelorum (Steven Talley)
  • Four (4) Shimmery Hymns for Lent & Passiontide
  • “Go!” • The Word That Changed My Life Forever
  • Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.