Thank you so much for all the info and suggestions. I'm still learning. It will take time and discipline for me to put it together, but I will post oneday," We did Vespers today and it was beautiful."

Having read and re-read...HELP!

We are having Evening Prayer every Wednesday, starting two weeks ago. At this point we are singing an Evening Hymn and then singing the Magnificat in English to a Single Anglican Chant Tune.

The deacon has downloaded each week's servive from eBreviary.com

So I know that it is a 4 week cycle. BUT does that cycle vary with seasons?

Where, o where...is someplace on the Internet where one might go and find a clear chart with links to everything needed to sing Evening Prayer in the OF?

> The 4 week psalter doesn't really vary with the seasons

Not in Vespers, though in the Office of Readings there are changes with the season: «Three psalms (78, 105, and 106) are reserved for the seasons of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter, because they throw a special light on the Old Testament history of salvation as the forerunner of its fulfillment in the New.» (GILH §30)

> why does the church have a Rite that is not clearly defined for general use?

If you stick to SAYING the Office it's really not that hard. Just follow the Liturgia Horarum book (1 volume per season). Problems arise when you want to SING it in Gregorian chant, since antiphons are not those given in the book, but are rather those from the Ordo Cantus Officii, and there's still no book with all the stuff organised. (But don't forget Les heures grégoriennes, discussed here, that however ommit the Office of Readings.)

Our Schola sings latin vespers every Sunday from Sept. to June - the men 2nd, 4th and eventually a 5th Sunday, women the 1st and 3rd Sundays. We men elect to sing the monastic version of vespers as outlined in the Ant. Monasticum (from the 1930's I believe - the Solesmes edition). We (6-10 men) sing them antiphonally without a priest. (You don't need them - they just complicate things). It's easy to do. The choreography is also one that - with a little practice - is attractive as well. The psalms are almost always the same every Sunday. Here is the text from our English language information sheet that we have for foreign listeners (we're a Dutch choir in Amsterdam).

Welcome to the St. Nicholas Church and the vesper service this Sunday afternoon. Gregorian chant vesper services are sung in this church every Sunday from September to June by the Schola Cantorum Amsterdam. Vespers is the evening prayer service of the Roman Catholic liturgy of the canonical hours. The format sung today was prescribed by St. Benedict (ca. 480 - ca. 547) in his Rule for monks. The service is sung entirely in Latin with Gregorian chant melodies - many of which originate in the early middle ages (800 to 1000 AD). Today, outside a few monastic communities, it is increasingly rare to hear such a service. We hope you find in today’s service some of the devotional peace and ethereal beauty that many – even many non-Christians – have experienced in this worship service over the centuries.

The general structure of our vesper service (duration 35-40 minutes) is as follows:
▪ Vespers opens with the chanting of Deus, in adiutorium meum intende. (O God come to my assistance. O Lord make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father…)

▪ Here follows the chanting of four psalms (psalm numbers 110-113 ) each preceded and followed by an antiphon (a short response). The psalms are sung antiphonally – two groups of singers alternate the singing of the psalm verses. During the period between Easter and Pentecost a single antiphon preceding and concluding the singing of all four psalms is sung – a festal Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

▪ After the psalms and a brief pause for reflection there is a reading (chanted) of a short capitulum – a simple recitation of one or two Bible verses fitting to the liturgical season.

▪ A sung respond (responsorium) follows the capitulum. The respond may be a short or lesser respond (responsorium breve) or long or greater respond (responsorium prolixum). The latter is often taken from the matins (night office) and will be the most elaborate piece of Gregorian chant one hears in a vesper service.

▪ A hymn is then sung. On Sundays, during ordinary time, the hymn is devoted to the praise of the first day of the creation - the following days in the week, at vespers, recounting the succeeding days of the creation. On feast days an appropriate festal hymn is sung. The hymn is followed by a versicle (a short devotional sentence).

▪ The choir then sings the Magnificat – the canticle of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Gospel of Luke chapter 1 verses 46-55 (My soul doth magnify the Lord…). The Magnificat, as in the psalms, is sung antiphonally and is preceded and followed by an antiphon.

▪ The preces (prayers) are then sung – Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison, followed by the Pater noster (the Lord’s Prayer), and the prayer of the day.

▪ The service concludes with Benedicamus Domino. Deo gratias. (Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.) A low recitation is chanted - reflecting our thoughts with the faithful departed and those absent today. A devotional hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary may conclude the service.

Vespers (possibly to the BVM)

If you mean Vespers of the Little Office of the BVM,
that is mentioned in a previous comment somewhere above,
but probably deserves a separate Discussion.

Please specify
--extraordinary form or ordinary form
--the exact Feast of the BVM (provide the name from the Calendar)
--the date it will be prayed (provide weekday month day)

The Catholic Book Publishing Company publishes annually an "ordo" for the LOTH entitled "ST. JOSEPH GUIDE FOR THE LITURGY OF THE HOURS." Like an ordo for mass, it which lays out the requirements for every day of the year. It says nothing about music, however.

Sam Schmitt

@ Michael, I found out today Father would like the Extraordinary form. Thank you for the link. @eft Father has not set a specific date. Obviously we cannot rehearse music until a day is chosen, yes?

@ Chonak- Yes, they have a good start on those! We might just begin the Magnificat until all the details are set. Thank you all for help- wish we did not have to reinvent the wheel.

I didn't want to let this thread go without posting this resource:

http://www.transitofvenus.nl/LiturgiaHorarum/

All the Sunday's Vespers1/Lauds/Vespers2 for the Novus Ordo Liturgia Horarium, ready-made in PDF pamplets, beautifully done WITH GREGORIAN NOTATION!

We're going to do the feast of the Assumption. Praise God this endeavor is getting more solid!

Assumption II Vespers - Perhaps this will be of help.

Was there every any resource offered for the n00b learning EF Vespers?

Also, when introducing a congregation to EF Vespers, are they supposed to actually sing half of each Psalm?

Nope. It's one-week.

@bgeorge77 does that resource still exist? I get a 404 error :( Please would love it!