Tonus peregrinus
  • d_j
    Posts: 21
    Is this only used for psalm 113? What is the story behind this tone? Is it used in other places in the Office, or used during certain times during the liturgical year?
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    It pops up from time to time. Looking at the Antiphonale Monasticum (the current one), from the Sanctoral: at the Lauds OT canticle for Lent for the Common of Martyrs; 4th Lauds antiphon for the Common of Monks; also for the 4th Lauds antiphon for the Common of Holy Men; 4th Lauds Antiphon for All Saints. There may be a few others I've missed.
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  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Presumably you've searched and already come across this thread in the archives, mentioning Lundberg's book.
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  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    See the above thread for a link to JSBach's use of the tonus peregrinus
  • PhatFlute
    Posts: 219
    Ahh the legendary 'wandering falcon tone'. Called because the récit is wandering between two note like a falcon up and down it's prey. Bach uses wrong one in a fuga,
    Ph
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  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,939
    It would have been used at most Sunday Vespers for Ps. 113/114, except for Eastertide when, in the Roman office anyways, it changed to 7c.

    Honestly, anything but that arrangement drives me bonkers. It is an incredibly ancient custom that had no need to be changed.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen d_j
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    In the modern (post-Vatican II) Monastic Office, the practice at Eastertide is to say all of the psalmody of Vespers under one Alleluia antiphon. Monday Vespers consists of psalms 113a/113b, 114, 115 and 116 together, and 128. While during the rest of the year Ps. 113a/b use the Peregrine tone, during Eastertide the Alleluia antiphon is tone D for the entire psalmody.

    The same thing was done pre-Vatican II though the alleluia tone was different. In the 1934 Monastic Antiphonary, the tone used at Eastertide for all the psalms of Monday Vespers was 1g2. The Monastic Office is considerably older than the Roman Office that most folks here would be familiar with (the 1960 Breviary which is based on the 1910 reforms of Pius X; the Benedictine schema goes back to the mid-6th century). However I can't say for sure when the practice of using a single Alleluia antiphon in mode Ig2 was started.

    In the new Monastic Antiphonary (2005), there's now the option to chant Ps. 113a as a tropary in mode IV, at Easter and during its Octave.
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  • Thomas_Mary
    Posts: 73
    +
    Thanked by 6d_j CHGiffen M. Jackson Osborn Jackson eft94530 Chrism
  • d_j
    Posts: 21
    Thanks all. It is a beautiful tone. Does anyone use this when chanting the Office privately/outside of liturgical use for all the psalms? I thought I read somewhere that someone did so privately during Lent. I appreciate learning some of it's history, and the link that I never came across when searching for it.
  • joerg
    Posts: 137
    There's an interesting article by Ruth Steiner: Antiphons for the Benedicite at Lauds.
    She argues that the connection between the Tonus Peregrinus and psalm 113 is not original. In fact the original antiphon for psalm 113 seems to be Domus Jacob de populo barbaro (CAO 2427, Mode 8). This is also shown by the fact that the text of the TP-antiphon Nos qui vivimus comes from the end of the psalm whereas usually in the ferial office the antiphon comes from the beginning of the psalm. She further argues that all the other TP-antiphons except for Nos qui vivimus belong to the Benedicite canticle of Sunday lauds and in fact Nos qui vivimus benedicimus Dominum sounds like an echo to this canticle, too. So her hypothesis is that the TP originally was a special melody for the Benedicite canticle (somewhat like the special melody for psalm 94 in the invitatorium.)
    Thanked by 3M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen d_j
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    Very intriguing. Where is this article available?
  • d_j
    Posts: 21
    Yes thank you, and what is this special tone for Ps 94? I guess I had thought Matins was generally recto tono. I don't belive there are any readily available monastic Matins sources of chant in Latin, are there?
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Antonio Salieri set Psalm 130 (De profundis) to tonus peregrinus, for two-part (SB) choir and figured Bass. It is rather interesting: the bass is an eight-bar ground; the vocal entrances of the two parts over-lap and they come together for the Amen (SAB).

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNihOYVI_Sk
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  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    "Yes thank you, and what is this special tone for Ps 94? I guess I had thought Matins was generally recto tono. I don't belive there are any readily available monastic Matins sources of chant in Latin, are there? "
    -----

    Yes, the Psalterium Monasticum (1981, Solesmes) has the antiphons and Gregorian notation for all the psalms of Matins, for the ferial Office; it post-Vatican II but the same psalms were used in the monastic Office prior to Vatican II. To a certain extent, Liber Responsorialis can be used for feasts & solemnities; however since it was issued in 1895, the calendar will necessarily not match anything approved for current use, whether pre- or post-Vatican II. Psalterium Monasticum does have the antiphon texts for the proper of the seasons and the sanctoral, but without notation.

    Liber Responsorialis has been reissued as a facsimile, nicely bound, here:

    http://www.sarto.de/product_info.php?info=p121_Liber-Responsorialis.html

    +pax

    Michel
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    Whilst we are about the Peregrine Tone, who can identify any organ compositions based on this tone? I know only of two, one by Bach, Meine seele..., from the Orgelbuchlein, and the other by 'Bach', the marvelous BWV 733, which is now (due to some evidence that came to light in the 90s) known to be by his student, J.L. Krebs, whose counterpoint some have thought rivalled that of Bach himself. It seems that this tone is rather associated, in Lutheran tradition, with the German Magnificat. It is interesting that, so far as I know, none of the vast body of organ works on the eight tones goes so far as to add versets for our Peregrine Tone; which would seem to suggest that this tone was never used for any of the canticles for matins or vespers (at least, not alternatim wise).
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    Bedrich Smetana wrote one as well.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    Pachelbel and Buxtehude bothe wrote two settings for organ.

  • Reval
    Posts: 180
    I'm seeing a whole volume written about this, Including "87 musical examples":

    http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409407867
  • d_j
    Posts: 21
    At OraLabora, does the Psalterium Monasticum contain as well the ferial hymns and canticles? Is it in the neo-vulgate?
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    I tend to make a fair use of Tonus Peregrinus during Lent. In particular, I have a Lenten Gospel Acclamation: "Glory and praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ." which is based on the Kyrie from Orbis Factor and the acclamation is chanted to the wandering tone. I sometimes use it for Lenten Responsorial Psalms, but I also make use of Tone II.
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    Smetana wrote for the organ?
  • adamcantor
    Posts: 1
    Mozart used the TP in his Requiem: the Soprano sings it in the Introit with the psalm verse: Te decet hymnus Deus in Sion * et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem. Mozart is using the 'Germanic dialect'. In this version the first b flat becomes c: a-c-aaaa- g-b flat-a-g-f * etc. In the Lutheran church of Bach's days the TP seems to have been used for singing the Magnificat. That is why Bach makes choral settibgs for the organ and uses it both in his Deutsches Magnificat and in the Suscepit Israel of his Magnificat in D, where it is played by the Oboe.
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  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,767
    According to my memory Smetana's Meine Seele erhebt is somewhere in the 'complete' works, but I don't spot it among the piano pieces in this list. The versetti-like 6 Preludes mentioned there were edited much much later, I think. They're very short, extremely easy and quite rewarding. And when there still was a Czechoslovakia they were very cheap!
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    "At OraLabora, does the Psalterium Monasticum contain as well the ferial hymns and canticles? Is it in the neo-vulgate? "
    --------------

    Text-only for the hymns. Yes it also has the canticles, and the noted antiphons for them at least for Ordinary Time and the other seasons.

    It uses the neo-vulgate.

    Note for the hymns, Liber Hymnarius does have them for Matins (and all other hours), for all seasons, the proper and common of saints, and the proper and common of monks and nuns.
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  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,072
    Thanks for all this info: threads like this are why this forum is really a precious gift!
    Thanked by 1d_j
  • Royce Nickel
    Posts: 70
    MJO, don't miss the very beautiful tonus peregrinus setting by Samuel Scheidt in his Tabulatura Nova (1624), an organ alternatim setting. It's included in the Edition Peters single-volume issue of Scheidt's Ausgewaehlte Werke.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    RN -
    Many thanks for the reminder. I've never played the Scheidt publicly, but may include it on a future recital. I have his complete works in the Ugrino Verlag edition. I'm in the habit of always doing at least one alternatim thing. I'm doing a complete chant-based program for our Winter Chant Conference with Fr Columba in Santa Fe in February.

    In case any are interested in attending, the Conference is from Monday the 9th through Friday the 13th at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Retreat House. The recital will be on the Fisk organ at the First Presbyterian Church. Faculty includes Fr Columba, Ray Henderson, and myself. More details on St Basil's School of Gregorian Chant website. Thus far we have about 28 registrants, some from Calgary and around the US.
  • Ora_et_Labora
    Posts: 40
    What are the rules for applying the tonus peregrinus to psalm verses?
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    For my near namesake:
    What are the rules for applying the tonus peregrinus to psalm verses?


    The median is one accent, three preparation syllables; the finale is one accent, one preparation syllable. The recitation note is la for the median, and sol for the finale.
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  • mahrt
    Posts: 517
    It is clear why, even though the tonus peregrines might not be the original tone for Ps. 113, it became associated with it so closely. The character of peregrination links directly with Ps. 113, the psalm of the Exodus. Dante depicted the pilgrims crossing over to Purgatory in a ship while singing Ps. 133 unto the end. The characterization of this psalm sung in its entirety alludes to the place in the liturgy where it is sung in its entirety, and this recalls the tonus peregrinus. ;
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  • Ora_et_Labora
    Posts: 40
    OraLabora, I'm a newbie when it comes to musical theory. :-D Could you perhaps rephrase that explanation so that I might be able, in my very limited musical knowledge, to understand? Thanks!
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    Ora_et_Labora... not sure how easy that is to do. It's based around the Latin accents. The best it to see it visually. It looks complex at first but once one understands the basic rules, it becomes easier, however it really helps to memorize the structure of each psalm mode: one accent, two accents, plus the number of preparation syllables.

    This web page explains it:

    http://interletras.com/canticum/Eng/psalmody_ENG.htm
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  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    The association of the Peregrine Tone and psalm 114/113 in Catholic liturgy has very deep roots. This tone very likely had its origins in the temple worship of the Jews and is encountered to this day with this psalm amongst Yemenite Jews as well as other diasporatic Jewish communities. Dr Mahrt is quite right in his observations as to the apt pairing of this tone and psalm. The Lutherans, though, adopted this tone for the German Magnificat, Meine seele erhebt den Herrn. As such it serves as the cantus firmus of many German organ choral and alternatim settings, including the well known Fuga sopra il magnificat by Krebs, formerly attr. to Bach.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Patricia Cecilia
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    NB: David Willcocks has a very nice Anglican chant harmonization of the T.P., to be found in “The Anglican Psalter”, ed. John Scott, with Psalm 113/114.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn Patricia Cecilia
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,365
    The Scott book is one that everyone should have. It's full of the best of old chants and a goodly number of newer ones. Too, the pointing illustrates the best of modern practice, with many intelligent solutions to those places that often defy a graceful outcome.

    And, to take a cue from Felipe: try Anglican chant for Latin psalmody.
    This is most gracious and pleasing, in fact, downright enchanting!
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  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    The only quibble with the Scott is that the copyright status of many of the chants takes some digging.

    Willcocks retains the copyright for his chants, and I tried unsuccessfully to contact him for permission, but I suspect that Oxford, Novello, and the gang would be more stringent.
  • shawnk
    Posts: 57
    Would anyone happen to have the Psalm, De Profundis, pointed correctly for the Peregrination Tone? I've tried bbloomf.github.io, but the pointing generated by this valuable tool seems to contain several mistakes.

    CORRECTION:
    A friend who is very knowledgeable about the Psalms says that the pointing from the tool is correct. Mea culpa.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    @shawnk We use this tool, but for the more complicated tones it is difficult for the programme to correctly point all possibilities. So we correct the programme by directly correcting the GABC code. In one part of the programme you can click on the neume and move the pitch by changing the letter.
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  • dad29
    Posts: 2,217
    ...adopted this tone for the German Magnificat, Meine seele erhebt den Herrn. As such it serves as the cantus firmus of many German organ chorale and alternatim settings, including the well known Fuga sopra il magnificat by Krebs, formerly attr. to Bach. ...


    Bach did use it in his own Magnificat, too. IIRC as the oboe part when Mary sings her solo.
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