Sung Propers
  • John_Shipley
    Posts: 11
    At St Charles Borromeo Church in Hull, England, we managed to wrestle the Sunday Evening Mass away from the sacropop enthusiasts. Sacropop is now restricted to Sunday mornings and in the evening we have hymns that do not sound like nursery rhyme words set to nursery rhyme tunes. A recent change of parish priest has facilitated the (re)introduction of Mass VIII Gloria, Mass XVIII Sanctus and Mass XVIII Agnus Dei. We have a small choir, two of the members of which can sight read and are keen to add to their repertoire. On their initiative, a sung Creed, either English or Latin, may be in the offing shortly.

    Our organist is not a teacher and he cannot rehearse the choir other than by providing an accompaniment for them to practice to for the sight-readers or to aid memory retention for the non sight-readers. I myself am no singer or musician but I can remember some chant from years ago when I was younger and, as an altar server, I can join in with what the choir are singing at the back.

    So much for the lengthy preamble. We are looking to introduce sung propers and the organist, a former Anglican, has a preference for a publication called The English Gradual by Francis Burgess, dating back to the 1940's. The musical settings do not vary from week to week and are what I take to be (but I am no expert) psalms tones vii (introit), v (gradual), vi (alleluia), ii (offertory) and i (communion). These are in modern notation in the organist's copy of The English Gradual.

    The difficulty we are having is in finding organ accompaniments to match the propers in the The English Gradual. I have searched the internet in vain. While I have been led to alternatives, such as the excellent Simple English Propers publication and publications by Meinrad Abbey and by Fr Weber, I cannot find what I am looking for. Presumably, there must have been such organ accompaniments or was The English Gradual intended for a cappella use only and am I looking for something which never existed in the first place? Can anybody help, please?
    Thanked by 2tomjaw CHGiffen
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    this might be exactly what you need

    https://archive.org/details/psalmtonesfromsa00chur
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • ClergetKubiszClergetKubisz
    Posts: 1,912
    There's also the NOH if they end up doing the Proper from the Graduale Romanum, and require organ accompaniment for them.
    Thanked by 1Schola_ab_Oriente
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    I am quite familiar with the little blue English Gradual. It is indeed the propers in English set to psalm tones. So far as I know there was never a companion accompaniment book. (There is, though, a red companion Kyriale.) If you use this book you should be on the alert for those relatively few propers that have been moved about to accommodate the new lectionary. A Sunday-by-Sunday comparison with the Graduale Romanum will be helpful. You might prefer to use the Anglican Use Gradual, which is actually the revised successor to The English Gradual set with square notes and textually in harmony with the current GR. I know of no accompaniment book for the AUG, which is widely used in the Ordinariates and was compiled for their use. The Sarum book suggested above by Francis should be helpful to you if you believe that accompaniment is essential for your singers - although the solemn tones in the English Gradual may or may not match those in the Sarum Tonale.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,768
    The little blue book's preface includes the line "Organ harmonies to all the Tones used in this book may be obtained from the publishers" (I wonder if there was a copy somewhere in my old Lutheran loft somewhere). The Rossini propers followed the same scheme and included accmt.
  • Ralph BednarzRalph Bednarz
    Posts: 489
    I pray that your efforts are fruitful. For several years we celebrate an English Proper Mass each week. Much of what we sing is from Meinrad. A capella I store my programs here. Have a look.http://gregorianchant.weebly.com/index.html
  • Schola_ab_Oriente
    Posts: 4
    John, following the excellent comments already given, I have nothing further useful to add, but very best of luck with your efforts! I live in the south-east (England); otherwise I would be striving to join you on a regular basis...
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    The Sundays that need to be moved around come especially in a batch at the end of the year, in late fall.
  • Ted
    Posts: 202
    The ideal organ accompaniment to chant is to accompany on the spot ad lib using just the notation of the chant books. There are excellent books on this. It takes some time to get it smooth, but It is not really as hard as it seems. You may find this of interest for starters:
    http://www.ccwatershed.org/blog/2013/aug/17/essay-gregorian-accompaniment/
  • Tommy
    Posts: 6
    Try John Ainslie's English Proper Chants. We use them almost every Sunday after the opening hymn during the incensing of the Altar.
    Once you get the hang of a few different ones they all start feeling quite easy.
    Thanked by 1Paul F. Ford
Add a Comment