HE OTHER DAY, I typed out for your consideration four (4) reasons why Catholic composers ought to set the Sung Propers to music rather than the Spoken Propers. It’s worth reminding folks that the Church’s authentic Gregorian Chant is what’s found in the GRADUALE ROMANUM published by Abbat Pothier from 1905-1913. To be fully explicit (for anyone who doubts this): after Vatican II, the reformers published a book called the ORDO CANTUS MISSAE, showing where singers can find the assigned chants for each Mass. First published in 1970, it doesn’t reprint all the chant (except for a few pieces created after 1965). It simply directs readers to specific pages in the GRADUALE ROMANUM, corresponding to the post-conciliar calendar.
Sometimes They Match • Those who carefully compare the Spoken Propers (i.e. those printed in the Missal for priests offering Mass in private or without music) with the Sung Propers will notice that sometimes they’re identical. An example would be this coming Sunday, the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. If you examine the authentic Gregorian version, you can verify that I’m correct when I say the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON “sung” version is virtually identical to the “spoken” version. [For the record, the Spoken Propers annihilate the ancient psalm verse married to each ENTRANCE ANTIPHON for countless centuries, even though they were often “chosen with great skill” according to Father Fortescue.]
What I Chose • For this coming Sunday (11 August 2024), which is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, I chose the Entrance Chant written by the CHAUMONOT COMPOSERS GROUP. Below is my attempt at a rehearsal video, although I’ve never claimed to be phenomenal singer:
* PDF Download • Singer’s Score (Treble Clef)
* PDF Download • ORGAN ACCOMPANIMENT (2 Pages)
Other Versions:
2011 Setting • In 2011, the Church Music Association of America released a collection called: “The Simple English Propers.” It was made available as a hard copy and also free online (licensed in the Creative Commons). Here’s the SEP setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2014 Setting • In 2014, the Benedict XVI Institute (Archdiocese of San Francisco) published a book called Proper of the Mass: Entrance, Offertory and Communion Antiphons for Sundays and Solemnities, with English adaptations by Father Samuel Weber, OSB. For reasons which aren’t entirely clear, this collection provides musical settings for the Spoken Propers, which were designed for priests offering Mass privately or without music. Here is Father Weber’s setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2023 Setting • In 2023, REV’D FATHER GUY NICHOLLS—a seminary professor and member of the Oratorians in Birmingham England—published a 173-page collection of musical settings of the ENTRANCE ANTIPHON called: “Graduale Parvum (Introits): Simple Gregorian chants for Sung Mass.” This book, which provides musical settings for the Spoken Propers, was produced under the auspices of the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music and bears a 1 March 2018 IMPRIMATUR from the Archbishop of Birmingham. Here is Father Nicholls setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
1964 Setting • The Sisters of the Most Precious Blood (O’Fallon, Missouri) published a collection of Gregorian Chant in English in 1964. Here’s their setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2012 Setting • Sometime around 2012 (?) Father Columba Kelly composed a setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time shown below.
1965 Version • The Anglicans produced a book of plainsong adaptations in 1965. Some people refer to this collection as: Palmer-Burgess. Here’s their setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2013 Setting • In the 2013, the Lalemant Propers were made available (in print and as a free PDF download). These settings are extremely simple. Below is the Lalemant setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2012 Setting • In 2012, a book called “Entrance, Offertory and Communion Chants” was published by Peter R. Johnson. Below is his setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
1984 Setting • In 1984, Deacon Patrick Cunningham published a collection called “Chants for the Church Year” dedicated to the memory of Rev. Charles Dreisoerner, a Latin professor at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas. Here is Deacon Cunningham’s setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
1964 Setting • In 1964, Father Paul Arbogast published a collection called: Complete English Propers for the High Mass for All Sundays and Principal Feasts Set to Gregorian Melodies Adaptable to Psalm Tones or Harmonized Settings under the auspices of the “John XXIII Series of Liturgical Music.” Here is Father Arbogast’s setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
2020 Setting • In 2020, Bruce Ford produced The American Gradual: Proper Chants of the Mass Adapted to English Words. Below is Ford’s setting of the ENTRANCE CHANT for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time:
Translation • It’s interesting to note the various ways translators described God’s wrath: “smolder” vs. “so hot” vs. “blaze” vs. “enkindled.”
Final Thoughts • I’ve been blessed to serve as a faculty member alongside some of the world’s experts in Gregorian Chant. On one occasion, the topic of GREGORIAN CHANT IN ENGLISH came up. One scholar (a friend of mine) said: “As far as I’m concerned, vernacular plainsong is totally worthless.” Someday, I’ll serve again with that person. I plan to ask him what he thinks of the above version by the CHAUMONOT COMPOSERS GROUP. (I personally think it’s quite beautiful.) I do realize Vatican II mandated the use of Latin, declaring it’s for the local bishop to decide “whether and to what extent” the vernacular is to be used in Mass. I’m also fully aware some people after Vatican II pretended they didn’t know what the word “whether” means (and this situation continues today). But at the end of the day “we have what we have” … and it seems vernacular plainsong will be with us for some time. Do you agree?
