MAJOR FLAW of some hymnals is placing too much weight on the shoulders of one person. For example, Nicola Aloysius Montani (d. 1948) published a hymnal in which he composed and harmonized almost every tune. An even more egregious example is Augustus Edmonds Tozer (d. 1910), who in 1906 published his “Catholic Church Hymnal With Music.” That book consists almost entirely of his own melodies and harmonizations. Moreover, Dr. Tozer himself selected all the lyrics—demonstrating something my mother would call ‘cheek’. He included this curious assertion in his PREFACE:
“I have not included the proper plain-chant melodies to the translated Breviary hymns, believing them to be unsuitable when sung to words in the vernacular.”
The Unselected Hymn • The Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal benefited from having an editorial committee consisting of priests and laymen with actual parish experience. These were not casual participants: they were zealots of their cause. An argument that lasted weeks over a single word (!!!) is burned into my memory. I can reveal that I was unsuccessful in forcing the inclusion of a German hymn (“Nun lobet Gott”) whose text is the shortest psalm: Psalm 116 Laudate Dominum omnes gentes. I was told that Americans simply don’t know that hymn. Therefore, it was excluded. Maybe someday when another edition is created we can have the fight all over again. Until then, I’d like to know whether our readers recognize this:
Mirror Image • I like that harmonization because its bass line is almost a “mirror image” or palindrome of the soprano. (Indeed, the first two gestures of the melody itself are almost a palindrome.) In my big, long seminar, I devote a lot of time to “mirror image” harmonization. Now, here’s a different harmonization—giving strength to the idea that this melody is well known in German speaking countries:
The Mystery Of Sister Pauline • The example below demonstrates that Father Aloysius Knauff included this tune in his Christ the King Hymnal (IMPRIMATUR 1954) which was published while he was assigned to Christ the King Parish in Shaunavon, Saskatchewan (CANADA)—as did the Vatican II Hymnal. Believe it or not, there’s almost no biographical information available for Father Aloysius Knauff. Nor is biographical information available for the person who helped translate the German hymns: viz. Sister Pauline, SPSF, of Saint Clare Convent, Hartwell (Cincinnati, Ohio). Nobody even knows when she was born or when she died.
The following seems to have an ‘altered’ or modified rhythm:
And here’s a very ugly copy—although the font chosen for the title is gorgeous—which would greatly benefit from being re-typeset:
The following demonstrates that Germans sometimes used the lyrics with a different melody:
That final version seems to be some sort of ‘Singmesse’ or ‘Deutsches Hochamt’—and perhaps readers could tell me more about it?
Monsignor Skeris • Many years ago, I was sent the following harmonization by Monsignor Robert Alex Skeris, who earned his doctorate in 1975 from the University of Bonn. Among other things, Monsignor Skeris was highly involved with the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae—founded by Pope Saint Paul VI—and was appointed director of the Hymnology Section at the International Institute for Hymnological and Ethnomusicological Studies (Maria Laach, Germany). I don’t know the provenance of his harmonization:
Addendum • For the record, this melody was still being published in German-speaking countries during the 1960s, as we can see by the following:
