Breviarum Romanum
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    This could be a thread dealing with all sorts of issues related to the Roman Breviary.

    First (minor) musical issue: I'm putting together a little libellus for the "Little Hour" of None, as per the Breviarum Romanum. For psalmody, I'm following the oldest way of distributing the psalms. In the case of None, that means three sections of Psalm 118 ('Beati immaculati'), i.e. verses 129-176, divided into three groups of sixteen verses.

    One antiphon ("Trahe nos") covers all three groups, and it is sung at the beginning and end of the psalmody as a whole.

    My question is this. For the psalm verses, the tone to use is Office Tone III with the "a 2" ending, and this would require singing 48 consecutive verses to the same tone. Is there any precedent for responsible variety here? For example, I was thinking of using the same tone (III) for all three groups, but varying the ending for the second/middle section to the "g" ending. Obviously for the last section, one has to keep Tone III with the "a 2" ending to stay properly related to the antiphon's beginning pitch, but what about the ending of that middle section? With Tone III, it strikes me that we have an opportunity.

    Cheers,
    Pes
  • dvalerio
    Posts: 341
    I'm sorry if I missed something: you say you're «following the oldest way of distributing the psalms» in the Breviarium Romanum (the pre-Pius X distribution of psalms). Now I checked the 1888 Breviary available at www.archive.org and the antiphon for None, in all ferial days (save during Easter season), is «Aspice in me, et miserere mei Domine». (Actually this turns out to be the same antiphon used in the Dominican Liturgy before the Pius X upheaval, as seen in the 1862 Antiphonarium available in the Musica Sacra site. The tone is VIIIb.)

    In what the «Trahe nos» antiphon is concerned: the only such antiphon I found is «Trahe nos Virgo Immaculata, post te curremus in odorem unguentorum tuorum». It is indeed in tone IIIa2. It is the last antiphon of the psalmody of the Lauds of December 8 (before Pius X, after Pius X, and after Paul VI: it has a very stable position). As such, before Paul VI, it was also used in None (currently «Candor est lucis aeternae» is used). But why will you use the antiphon of December 8, rather than «Aspice in me»?
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Hi dval!

    why will you use the antiphon of December 8, rather than «Aspice in me»?

    Because December 8th is the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and "Trahe nos" is the antiphon for that solemnity. My booklet is for that solemnity. :-)

    Notice also in the Antiphonarium that the list of antiphons is not only for Lauds but also "per Horas." They're just displayed together for convenience.
  • dvalerio
    Posts: 341
    > My booklet is for that solemnity.
    That's the part I had missed!

    > the list of antiphons is not only for Lauds but also "per Horas."
    Sure.

    But concerning your main point:
    > My question is this. For the psalm verses, the tone to use is Office Tone III with the "a 2" ending, and this would require singing 48 consecutive verses to the same tone. Is there any precedent for responsible variety here?

    I'm afraid I do not know. Sorry.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    dval

    If a chapel organist were to accompany the psalm singing, different harmonizations (cf. Nova Organi Harmonia et al) might be nice. I don't want to convey any irritation with singing 48 verses on a single tone. I'm just wondering what people have done, if anything, to vary things.

    Cheers,
    P
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