Memorial Acclamation
  • daniel
    Posts: 75
    Would like to teach a new Memorial Acclamation to my congregation. At present, we only sing "Dying You destroyed our death..." (Worship III number 244B). With the new Missal coming, does anyone know which ones might be included in there? Don't want to teach something that might change in a year. Thanks.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    At the parishes I serve, we sing the current Memorial Acclamation C

    'When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory' />
    (source: AAE)

    to a melody similar to the one ICEL provides for the new option most similar to the above text

    'When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again' />
    (source: ICEL)

    with plans to move from one to the other with minimal fuss.

    I use minimal organ accompaniment with these…can provide chords if desired.

    The other Memorial Acclamation options differ significantly enough from the current ones to require learning them from scratch.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    This is probably the semiologist in me speaking, but doesn't it look like the engraving of the new ICEL settings graphically indicates structural and ornamental pitches? That is to say, when multiple notes appear on one syllable, rather than being equally spaced according to usual engraving standards (which would suggest each note would have the same value as the individual syllables that come before and after them), they are forced into tighter spacing over one syllable as if to suggest the two notes together receive the value of a syllable.
  • OlbashOlbash
    Posts: 314
    I wouldn't read too much into that. It looks like something hastily prepared by someone with casual familiarity with music notation software.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Aristotle… I'll request your organ accompaniment chords here!
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Okay, and a related question: In the original Latin (yes, I know this is only in the OF Mass), the only Memorial Acclamation is "Mortem tuam…," right?

    These three settings seem to be a closer 'translation' than all but maybe one of the previous four.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    And one more, still: Is there any guide to inform us as to which option we should choose? That is (for example), is option "B" appropriate at certain times, and option "C" appropriate at others? Is it preferable to rotate among them (say, seasonally), or to pretty much just stick to one?

    Thanks again.
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    How do you get from one Latin thing to multiple English things? Or are there other Latin Memorial Acclamations out there? If so, where does one find them...?
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    How do you get from one Latin thing to multiple English things?
    My question exactly. (Thanks, Jam!)
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Olbash, that's what I thought at first but it looks more deliberate to me now. Of course, when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. Even if it was an accident, I'm going to steal the idea. :)
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    I think it's easier to sing if the notes are close together when you sing more than one note per syllable.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 966
    Or are there other Latin Memorial Acclamations out there? If so, where does one find them...?

    Here they are (from Psallite Domino - Canti per la Messa (Lim Editrice, 2007, p. 11-12)).
    Mysterium.pdf
    319K
  • DougS
    Posts: 793
    Incantu, re: "A hammer sees...", Those pics aren't "engraving," either! :-)
  • Maureen
    Posts: 674
    Now my head is hurting again. Why on earth would you take a Memorial Acclamation that boldly begins "Savior of the world", and turn it into one that ends with that phrase in such a tone, that it sounds like victory just peters out? Sheeeeeeeeeeeeesh. Also, crimanently. Bah. Fiddlesticks.

    Sorry. Rabbit hole. The more I look at the Latin, the more the translations weird me out. Though that's not the worst or anything.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    In their defense, these melodies of the Memorial Acclamations are meant to integrate with the melodies employed for the Eucharistic Prayers at the Consecration, which may be classified as Mode IV and are similar to those found in Gloria XV.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    So, smvanroode… I'm not familiar with that "Psallite Domino" source. (Perhaps I should be.) Are those Latin settings "back-translated"? That is, of those, which came first… the English or the Latin?
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,031
    The 3 memorial acclamations are in the original Latin. "Christ has died . . . . " is not, and was added by the American bishops and then approved by Rome.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    So, those original Latin acclamations are current, correct? We could start singing those right away?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Yes, the Latin acclamations are in the current Missal, so you can use them already.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Very good. And as I see, the new settings are simply more accurate translations of what's already there. (Really makes you wonder what all the fuss is about from the "just say wait" campaign… although I know this has been discussed extensively, too,)
  • JamJam
    Posts: 636
    The Latin is so simple that I can sight-translate it. Why, then, did the English come out strange? I've only got two years of Latin!
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    It's sad, but most modern people are busy, very busy, or at least pretend to be busy. No time to spend time to learn the Church prayers in the Church's language, or learn Church's music. So while the Church gave some permission to use vernacular, Latin became a rare occaion in churches. (It's unfortunate that people rather say or sing 'Christ died...' than 'mortem tuam'. It's not actually their faults. It's probably the culture, easy, convenient and quick things are good enough for everyone.)
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    I remember seeing in a program once that "Christ has died…" was indicated as the translation of "Mortem tuam…." I know this is more about lack of formation than about intellectual laziness. Either way, it bothers me.
  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    http://www.adoremus.org/396-ICELrevisions.html
  • miacoyne
    Posts: 1,805
    "...The bishops have already approved ICEL's options for the beginning of Mass that are found nowhere else in the Roman Rite and which would make it possible for the Kyrie and Gloria never to be said again. Now they intend the same thing for the Mystery of Faith. The Mass of the Missale Romanum will then be one option among many.

    Will it stop there? Clearly not. ICEL is already planning a total of twenty Eucharistic Prayers..." from the site above, and it was written 1999. I'm glad new translation is finalized now.

    But according to this site, http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal/samples-people.shtml
    it still says,
    "[People: Christ has died… a U.S. adaptation yet to be decided by Holy See]"

    with other options

    A – We proclaim your death, O Lord,
    and profess your Resurrection
    until you come again.

    or B – When we eat this Bread
    and drink this Cup,
    we proclaim your death, O Lord,
    until you come again.

    or C – Save us, Savior of the world,
    for by your Cross
    and Resurrection,
    you have set us free

    Is "Christ has died..." approved?
    (Somehow my pastor never says it in daily Mass, only on Sundays when the music director has the Haugen setting.)
  • OlbashOlbash
    Posts: 314
    I've submitted my own version of "A" for the composer's forum next week. I'd be interested in everyone's feedback. (It's part of a longer setting of most of the Mass Ordinary -- but I'm particularly pleased with how the Gloria and Mem. Acc. A came out.)

    I also have this little idea, and I'm interested to hear your opinion: Since many of us work in parishes where pastors require easily-memorized English refrain-style songs to be sung during communion, what do you think about singing these new acclamations as communion songs, perhaps paired with psalm verses? I'm thinking about what Michael Joncas did with his "When We Eat This Bread" back in the 80's. The advantage of this approach would be that, by the time the new Missal comes into use, congregations will have these new acclamations memorized.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Very late response to Mark M., but here it is:

    Memorial Acclamation C with chords [png]
  • Charles in CenCA
    Posts: 2,416
    Aristotle.
    I'm just doing this in my head, but it seems the second phrase "we proclaim your death" could be heighthened as an antecedent by using an EbMaj chord. If the dissonance of the A natural is bothersome, just move the Dminor forward, but I don't think that's necessary, and the D minor serves nicely as a sub-cadence to "Jesus." You could even increase some tension by again applying an Eb to "come in" as a sort of lower leading chord to the beautiful suspended Vsus-V of "glory." Lovely chant.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,185
    Charles, I usually embellish this in my own situation with passing notes in the inner voices (I should record it sometime). Thanks for the additional feedback!

    The Mortem tuam off which this is based is worthy foundational material. At least at this point of the Mass our transition to the new translation will be relatively painless (we stopped using the lame-duck Memorial Acclamation A soon after I arrived at my position). Now to get the priests to chant the Eucharistic Prayer…
  • papalgal
    Posts: 35
    "Christ has died" is now lame-duck as it does not show up in the USCCB website. This is great news to me. What I suggested at our liturgy committee meeting was that we phase out "Christ has died" and sing the setting found in the OP. Thank you for posting this. We sing this during daily Mass and it would be great to integrate this into our Sunday Masses.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Interesting. To prepare for the new translation, I have used nothing but Christ has died for the past 5 years, instead of introducing the other acclamations. I think one of the most difficult things to do is to "unlearn" a wrong note that has worked its way into a song. Likewise, I think it's likely to be the small differences between two otherwise similar texts / melodies that will throw people off. I call attention to the Snow version of the Lord's Prayer. Some congregations sing "for the kingdom" as s-l-d-d and others l-l-d-d. Likewise "now and forever" is variously "s-l-t-l-s-s" or "t-l-s-l-s-s." At a visitor parish such as mine, it's impossible to avoid conflicting practices. For that reason, I'm going to wait until the new Missal goes into effect, and then teach a M.A. that is as different from our current one as possible. It is short, after all.
  • papalgal
    Posts: 35
    The committee is actually in favor of phasing out Christ has died since it is lame duck and we need to get the folks used to something else. That is why I suggested that we instead keep to "When we eat this bread.." because the change is relatively minor. "Dying" is going away, and, "Lord, by your cross" is completely retranslated.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    And a very late thank you to Aristotle! (How'd you make that link to my particular post, BTW?)
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