Where does this Vidi aquam come from?
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    http://www.icelweb.org/musicfolder/openpdf.php?file=BaptismalWater11accomp.pdf

    Is this is a newly composed melody by some of the ICEL staff or is there an original upon which this is based?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    It seems to be reminiscent of a setting for the old ICEL Vidi Aquam. It is found at No. 103 in the Adoremus Hymnal (1st Ed.). It's only attribution is:

    Plainchant, Mode VIII, A Cistercian Monk.

    The Harmonization (in AH) was by (presumably) the same man: A Cistercian Monk.

    But whether A. Cistercian Monk is related to Thelonious Monk is anyone's guess.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    I dunno---the Adoremus 1st ed. is a rather different melody, and omits the double alleluia in the Latin original and the new ICEL version. They share some thematic and harmonic material, sure, both borrowed from the Latin. Anyway, the new ICEL is a lovely English setting, and we've used it here for two years running during Easter.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,933
    Anyway, the new ICEL is a lovely English setting, and we've used it here for two years running during Easter.


    It is lovely and I use it, too.
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    It's really grown on me!
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 331
    In Chants of the Roman Missal: Study Edition (Liturgical Press, 2011) it says regarding this chant:
    As daunting as it is to presume to compose a chant destined to be part of the official liturgical books, the committee prepared this original chant. The English chant is loosely inspired more by the principal melodic elements of Mode VIII than by the specifics of the original Latin melody. The setting of "to whom this water came" with its FA-LA-DO employs a melodic motif typical of Latin chants in Mode VIII. As befits a congregational setting, the melody of the final alleluia purposely repeats the melody of "from its right-hand side, alleluia" earlier.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen rogue63
  • rogue63
    Posts: 410
    Aha! Thanks for the info. Like I said, the committee did good work. This is one for the ages---a triumph of English-language chant.
  • JonLaird
    Posts: 242
    But whether A. Cistercian Monk is related to Thelonious Monk is anyone's guess.

    A.C. Monk and T. Monk are brothers and rivals. As far as I know, they both submitted scores for the new translation, but T's were rejected on account of the stride accompaniment not being appropriate for the liturgy.
  • JonLaird
    Posts: 242
    More seriously, I'm wondering if there was a slightly different version which circulated in a pre-publication edition of the Missal. Look at the one that is in the Vatican II Hymnal. I suppose it would be a question for JMO whether he took the melody from a draft of the Missal, or decided to modify it of his own accord. For better or for worse, this happens to be the melody my parish knows!
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