Antiphons for Compline in OF
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    Hello, I'm an amateur Chant and Divine Office enthusiast, and I'm trying to put together a booklet for chanting Compline for use by myself and friends. I'm looking for the Latin Antiphons for Compline. van Roode made a great Compline booklet, but most of the Antiphons don't match those from the Liturgia Horarum. Can anyone tell me why this is, and if there are official chants for the Antiphons that appear in the Liturgia Horarum out there somewhere?

    Many thanks,
    Verso l'alto,
    Skyler
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    For those of us who don't have Steven's book, could you cite a few examples?
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    Certainly.

    Sunday I
    van Roode:
    Miserére mihi, Dómine, et exáudi oratiónem meam.
    Liturgia Horarum:
    Miserére mei, Dómine, et exáudi oratiónem meam. (Small difference, I know, but still puzzling.)
    Antiphon 2 is the same: In nóctibus benedícite Dóminum.

    Sunday II
    vR:
    Qui hábitat in adiutórium Altíssimi, in protectióne Dei cæli commorábitur.
    LH:
    Alis suis obumbrábit tibi; non timébis a timóre noctúrno.

    Shall I continue? The Antiphons from Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and the first Antiphon from Wednesday are all different. Is it permissible to link to van Roode's booklet .pdf without express permission? I know he's posted it here before.

    Here's Compline in the LH.
    http://www.almudi.org/Portals/0/docs/Breviario/fuentes/breviario.asp?tiempo=4
  • ClemensRomanusClemensRomanus
    Posts: 1,023
    Perhaps he used the Ordo Cantus Officii?
  • quilisma
    Posts: 136
    Steven explains, quite clearly, that he has followed the Ordo Cantus Officii for the selection of antiphons. This document, issued in 1983 and, therefore, some years after the OF Divine Office came out, does not always match the antiphons. This is because it exploits the library of existing Gregorian antiphons, which are not always the same as the modern texts. Therefore an equivalent has been proposed.

    It could be likened to the Roman Missal/Gradual antiphon differences. It is always said that the antiphons in the RM are meant to be read, not sung. However, I guess that, if every RM antiphon had had a Gregorian source we would have a gradual that matched it exactly.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,216
    You might like to have a look at Fr. Weber's Compline book (from Ignatius Press). The credits in that edition attribute the Latin text to a 1987 edition of Liturgia Horarum from Libreria Editrice Vaticana. His version presents the "Alis suis" for Sunday II.

    On the other hand, Fr. Weber's antiphon for Sunday I has the "mihi", so it doesn't match the Liturgia Horarum books.

    Let me dig into that: the Psalm 4 text says "Miserere mei", both in the Vulgate and in the Nova Vulgata. The old antiphon, however, said "Miserere mihi", so there was a discrepancy. The post-conciliar revisers changed the antiphon to "mei", which made it match the Psalm text.

    So how did that "mihi" stay in the books so long when it didn't match the Vulgate Psalm 4? This is not unheard-of: some Mass proper chants quote from Latin psalm texts that predate the Vulgate, and the Church has seen fit to retain these ancient renderings. I wouldn't be surprised if the first antiphon in Compline is another such case.
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Here is the book chonak mentioned:
    http://www.amazon.com/The-Office-Compline-Samuel-Weber/dp/158617455X

    I have it and I love it. The settings are beautiful in both English and Latin. I still do the psalm verses in English, for comprehension, but much prefer the Latin settings for all the ordinary chants, and for the psalm antiphons.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    Yes, the differences between the antiphons in my booklet for Compline and the ones from Liturgia Horarum arise from the differences between the editio typica of OCO (which I follow closely) and LH. Most of the Compline antiphons in LH have no equivalent in the authentic repertoire of Gregorian chant. Thats's why OCO proposes other antiphons.

    Also, a link to my booklet may be posted here (preferably without asking my permission first!): Ad Completorium.
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    Thanks for the responses, everyone. I do indeed have Fr. Weber's Compline booklet, which is a great help. I merely dislike that he composed his own antiphons rather than using or adapting something that already exists. Perhaps I shall try to set the OCO antiphons to the LH texts. I'd just use the OCO antiphons, but since the people whom I pray with (myself included) come from praying the English translation of the LH, I want the antiphons to be somewhat consistent from English to Latin.

    SO the question I have now is: when the revised OCO or what follows the ARII (and including Compline) are released, will the antiphons match the texts on the LH? I thought I had heard someone say that the antiphons in the ARII matched, or more closely matched the LH antiphons. Can anyone corroborate that claim? Also, is there any indication, hint, or feeling in the air of when the revised OCO will be released?

    Ryan, I do the same. I think there's something about how personal and candid the psalms are that the accessibility of vernacular prayer facilitates. When It's the Nunc Dimittis or other commons that I know like the back of my hand, though, I love praying it in Latin.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 998
    There are several reasons that might explain why the antiphons in ARII seem to be more closely matching the ones from LH.

    First, the number of transcribed authentic gregorian chants increases, as research on manuscripts continues.
    Secondly, in ARII they chose to include antiphons for year A, B and C at first vespers on Sundays per annum.

    Also, is there any indication, hint, or feeling in the air of when the revised OCO will be released?
    I have the impression that there already is a revised OCO, but that it hasn't been made public yet (which, I fear, won't be in the near future...).
    Thanked by 1Vilyanor
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    Skyler, I'm a born-again Compliner who has organized four Compline Choirs at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Nevada City, California. I am a professional musician and spend a lot of time composing, transcribing, and arranging music for Compline. In the twilight of my life, Compline is all consuming. Ours is a hybrid Roman-Anglican mix, following the lead of my mentor, the late Peter Hallock. I have realized a lot of chant music from the Liber Usualis' of 1912, 1951, and 1961 (pre-Vat II) and a lot of music by Medieval and Renaissance Catholic composers: at least 1600 pieces now (on my trusty Sibelius 6.2). There are a lot of antiphons in there, depending on your understanding of what an antiphon is. Our Compline Choirs are all men: Compline Choir; ATBarB, Reniassance Man: AATB, voicing (yes, we have countertenors), and all female: SSAT voicing (yes, we have 3 'lady basses'). This last group is the only all female regular Compline outside the Convent....on the planet. One final group is Illuminare: 1 female, 3 males: SATB. If you send me your physical address, I will send you the entire library on a thumb drive, no strings attached. It's about a gig of digits. We recently had a church retreat at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in N. California. We did an ad-hoc Compline in the 800 yr. old transported Spanish Monastery's Chapter House. I'll give a report here on the forum under separate cover. It comes with an mp3, and a video of the 15:04, all chant, Medieval Compline.
    Anyway, give me a physical address and a lifetime of music for Compline shall appear unto you.
    jefe
    In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum
    Thanked by 3Richard Mix CHGiffen Vilyanor
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I merely dislike that he composed his own antiphons rather than using or adapting something that already exists.


    Why?
    Thanked by 1smvanroode
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    I would just rather use something that is even in a little way more closely connected to the tradition of chant that already exists in the Church. Even if it still has to be adapted to fit the OF office, it still seems to me a more organic approach than inventing new melodies.
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    Compline and Vespers have, in my view, a wider window of artistic possibilities as to the ancillary music. I've been all through the, "we've always done it this way" thinking when I was conducting the Moravian Church Choir. I am certainly not against Catholic musicians finding their own way with music for worship. Case in point is music of the late Richard Proulx. As a Catholic organist and composer he set orthodox texts in a way that speaks in the here and now, but dragging all his orthodox training into the mix developing a wonderful, mystical style which certainly speaks to me. If i could pinpoint his style, geographically, it would be a few hundred miles east of Athens. Vilyanor, I will send you the chants for Compline you desire. Some are in Latin and some are in English.
    jefe
    In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum
    Thanked by 1Vilyanor
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I would just rather use something that is even in a little way more closely connected to the tradition of chant that already exists in the Church. Even if it still has to be adapted to fit the OF office, it still seems to me a more organic approach than inventing new melodies.


    The only thing about his chants that are not connected to the tradition is the year they were penned. You realize that they're modeled after the chant tradition and follow the same melodic shapes and tendencies that pre-existing chants do? If an isolated PDF of one of his Latin antiphons was posted here with question as to its source, would you google Gregorian chant resources or would you recognize its modern flare?

    Composers, filled with the Christian spirit, should feel that their vocation is to cultivate sacred music and increase its store of treasures.
    Let them produce compositions which have the qualities proper to genuine sacred music...
    Sacrosanctum Concilium 121


    If any modern resources are connected to tradition, collections like this one top the list. Following the model of Gregorian chant and answering the most recent council's compelling for composers to add to the existing corpus of sacred music is not detatchd from tradition at all. It is as organic as it gets. The only thing setting them apart from tradition (in your mind) is that they're from 2010 and not 1010.

    It is as organic to reject "invented melodies" based on the era of their composition as it is to stunt the growth of a tree but cutting it down every time it exceeds an imagined height limit.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Vilyanor
  • VilyanorVilyanor
    Posts: 388
    Many thanks Jefe, I don't have anything against polyphony or anything else in praying the Office but what's most practicable in my situation is chant, and I see it as my (very) little way of supporting chant as the music of the Roman Rite. You have my immense gratitude.

    Sorry Ryan, I didn't see this till now. You're entirely right. I suppose it comes down to partly personal preference, and partly my own lack of expertise. Sadly, my musical background is quite lacking theoretically and I don't entirely know how to distinguish authenticity in chant, and so it's easier for me to see an older chant and know that it's good than to weigh the merits of chant composed in modernity. I'm gradually coming to learn and understand the theory of chant, but I'm teaching myself, and it's slow going.

    Anyways, I think you're right, and I'll have to give Weber's antiphons another look. If only the english psalms were pointed to the Gregorian tones :)
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