“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)
My recent post on the repercussion has induced some to ask: “Can we just sing whatever rhythm we want for the Vatican Edition? What about mensuralism? What about Bonvin and Vollaerts?” For those of us who work in the Extraordinary Form, we must follow the rhythm of the Editio Vaticana, and this was addressed in […]
Consider the melody found in “Le Graduel Romain,” published in 1800—nine years before Napoleon Bonaparte kidnapped Pope Pius VII
Before the reforms of the “Code of Rubrics” (1961), antiphons at Vespers were abbreviated in a cool way. For example, look at this antiphon, Ecce Veniet (from Vespers on the 4th Sunday of Advent). But that tradition—as far as I know—ended in 1961, with §191 which said: “The whole antiphon is always said before and […]
Each monastery had its own particular way of singing plainsong.
Yes, these are extraordinary times—and they require something extraordinary from us.
One who translates Aquinas expects to be cross-examined by those who understand philosophy and Latin; but Bible translators are liable to be cross-examined by anybody, because everybody thinks he knows what the Bible means.
It happened during the “Mass of the Presanctified” celebrated on Good Friday, 30 March 1877.
The Solesmes rhythmic markings, which often contradict the official rhythm, do such damage to the antiphons of the Divine Office that—in my humble opinion—they should be abandoned. (In reality, this will never happen.) But sometimes, they do great damage to the melody of the Graduale Romanum, and I would offer the Offertory for the 1st […]
A curious translation which Father Lasance “borrowed” for the Ash Wednesday Introit…
The entire edition was destroyed in a fire (circa 1866) except four rare copies.
Certain Latin words are constantly mispronounced. For example, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana is supposed to be pronounced “Cármina” but people frequently pronounce it as “Carmína”—wrong! Another example: Nova organi harmonia is supposed to be pronounced “órgani” but many people erroneously say “orgáni.” A somewhat tricky word is incipit. In Latin, it would be “íncipit” while […]
The Consilium asked (15 March 1965): “Is it pleasing that the feast of the Holy Family be suppressed?” • Discussion of the First Sunday After Epiphany; the Feast of the Holy Name; the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord; the two (2) instances of different “Jubilate Deo” Offertories which repeat; “Abhinc Duos Annos” (23 October 1913); and many other items+
All of us are now closer to our moment of death than we were last year or in any time in the past.
A very interesting Missale from 1759AD has a Sequence for the Epiphany, but I don’t know where one could find the musical notation. The Seqence is called: “Prompto Gentes Animo Ferte Nunc Altissimo Honorem Et Gloriam.”
“Variae Preces” (1892) — “Cantus Varii” (1902) — “Cantus Varii” (1928) — “Cantus Selecti” (1957)
From a priest in the Midwest: “That video by Andrea Leal which explains hymn meters and hymn text exchange is informative and a truly great explanation. Thank you for sending it to me. I hope all is well with you. God bless you as we soon enter into Advent.”
When it comes to Gregorian harmonizations, this piece is surely the “pons asinorum.”
By kind permission of the Trustees of the London Oratory, we have added Mæstro Patrick Russill’s outstanding organ accompaniment for “Salve Regina” to the other versions currently available for free PDF download. Patrick Russill needs no introduction among church musicians the world over, and many consider his harmonization the finest of all.
The question of “Thee, Thy, Thou, Thine” • Speaks about whether referring to the “original version” of a hymn text makes sense • Treatment of the beautiful hymn melody called “Lafitau” and a harmonization by Claude Goudimel (d. 1572) with the melody placed into the Tenor voice+
God has a special task and calling for each and every one of us.
