HILDREN ARE TAUGHT about “discoveries” by people like Benjamin Franklin, Josef Hofmann, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. As we mature, we learn that a true invention is quite rare. In reality, most inventions refine, modify, or improve upon previous items. There’s a real question vis-à-vis whether composers can produce “completely original” compositions, since so much of what composers write is based upon musical ideas from other composers.
Never Been Done? For years, I wondered why nobody has ever created YouTube hymn videos with rehearsal videos for each individual voice part. In other words, why can’t you send your choir to a website where they can learn SATB parts for common hymns? Well, for several years, the Brébeuf hymnal has been filling this void! And since it’s the Brébeuf hymnal, you don’t need to worry about editors bowdlerizing (“tampering with”) the hymn lyrics. The goal is to create rehearsal videos for 700+ hymns (which would require 3,500 recordings). We are not finished … but many hundreds of rehearsal videos have been uploaded to this exciting project. (Scroll down to the section marked “rehearsal videos.”)
Example: EISENACH was released this morning:
M Rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #172.
Gloomy News: Most readers won’t click on the individual voice parts—and that makes me sad. When we post a “scandalous” liturgical video, we get 40,000 views. I wish we could get as many views for the rehearsal videos … because it’s incumbent upon us to revive authentic sacred music!
HE POWERFUL new Saint Jean de Brébeuf Hymnal is different than other (currently available) “Catholic” hymnals because it refused to mimic or “build upon” Protestant models. The Brébeuf is Catholic to its core. But that doesn’t mean that every single melody in the book had to be explicitly composed by a Catholic. (Needless to say, determining the “composer” of hymn tunes is often impossible, since many are plainsong melodies corrupted by Protestants.) It was sufficient for the Brébeuf editorial team to determine that other fine Catholic hymnals in the past ‘baptized’ a particular tune. Here are some examples of EISENACH being used by reputable Catholic editors:
* PDF Download • NEW WESTMINSTER HYMNAL
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
* PDF Download • Father Irvin M. Udulutsch (1959)
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
* PDF Download • New Saint Basil Hymnal
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
* PDF Download • Dr. Theodore Marier Hymnal (A)
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
* PDF Download • “Hymnal of the Hours” (1989)
—This 1989 “Hymnal of the Hours” was edited by Father Samuel Weber and others.
* PDF Download • London Oratory Hymn Book (1998)
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
* PDF Download • Father Selner’s Hymnal (1954)
—Rev. John C. Selner was choirmaster at Saint Mary’s Seminary (Baltimore).
Here’s a version supposedly by Johann Sebastian Bach. (When it comes to the Chorales, it’s important to remember the “authentic” harmonization—created by Bach himself—is not always available.)
* PDF Download • Johann Sebastian Bach
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
Repeating The First Section: Sometimes, editors decide to repeat the first half of the musical phrase. George Ratcliffe Woodward did that in Songs of Syon (Anglican). Sometimes Catholic editors do, too—e.g. consider this excerpt from Dr. Marier’s hymn book:
* PDF Download • Dr. Theodore Marier Hymnal (B)
—One of the many books consulted by the Brébeuf editorial team.
Hopefully, these excerpts have demonstrated that the EISENACH hymn tune was ‘baptized’ by reputable Catholic editors.
