Tone for the EF nuptial blessing?
  • Greetings. I was wondering if anyone had info on the tone used for singing the nuptial blessing in the 1962 Missal/Extraordinary Form. Some sources I have read while looking this up offhanded say that the preface tone was used an unspecified length of time ago. This thread from a few years ago even suggests that it was once customary in some places to sing it according to the Exsultet tone: http://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/3235/the-sung-nuptial-blessing/p1

    If anyone has leads or notation on this, I'd be happy to receive it. :-)
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,317
    Are the instructions not in the Missale Romanum?
  • Matthew: as far as I can tell, no. There is only one instruction, which says before the nuptial blessing:

    "Dicto Pater noster, sacerdos, antequam dicat Libera nos, quaesumus, Domine, stans in latere Epistolae versus sponsos ante altare genuflexos, dicit super eos sequentes orationes:"

    The Missal seems to be composed mostly with low Mass in mind.

    http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/books-1962/missale-romanum-1962.pdf
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,317
    Mhm, then the Liber Usualis would be the next place to look, I would think, if it's allowed to be sung. Fr. Haynes at St. John Cantius in his notes for the Nuptial High Mass simply says "recites," as opposed to chants. He might have an idea.
  • I couldn't find anything about it in the Liber Usualis, either.
  • Cantus67Cantus67
    Posts: 208
    James, I've never heard it sung. I've been to a LOT of EF masses.

    R
  • Here is one video of a solemn nuptial Mass where the blessing is sung (in the collect tone) at the 1:20 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bHaCFwlDXE

    All other videos I've seen so far have it merely recited, which is odd for sung/solemn Mass if it is supposed to seen as an integral part of the liturgy itself (and it is), rather than an interruption. I asked if the preface tone ought to be used because the nuptial blessing is placed within what some would still call the Canon. After the Pater noster at a normal sung Mass, the priest still closes the "libera nos, etc." with the solemn ending and only returns to the collect tone at the Postcommunion.

    I guess no one really thinks about these things, though.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    I would be tempted to try looking in a fully notated copy of the Rituale, they have all sorts of prayers... Please note that there are different editions, The German version has extra and different prayers to the standard English version. Also I would try looking in an older version pre-1950. I am almost 1000 miles from a notated copy, I only have text copies scanned, has Google books got something?

    Also a lot of the priests I know can sing various tones just from the text, so would never have need for notated copies.

    I do not see any reason why the prayer could not be sung to the tone used in other parts of the Mass.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Believe the OF nuptial blessing uses the Preface tone. The Portuguese version, though, uses a tone similar to Gloria XV.
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    I'm not sure there is a definitive answer to this question. Before the modern EF era, Nuptial Masses were almost always Low Masses except possibly for high-ranking members of royal families.
  • tomjaw: I don't think such a thing as a fully notated Rituale existed before the Novus Ordo. If there was ever one, that is huuuuuuge (and good) news to me.

    ClemensRomanus: ah, really? I'd be happy if someone could confirm that, just for future reference.

    Jahaza: you may be right on a practical sphere. I certainly believe sung nuptial Masses were more common than that in the medieval ages of the Church, including even for the peasantry; but the Counter-Reformation period showed itself increasingly indifferent to the value of sung liturgy, leading ultimately to the situation you describe where sung Mass became the province of the elite.
  • I think I have the music scanned at home. When I get home tonight I'll check, and if I do, I'll upload it.
  • Here is the OF Nuptial Blessing.
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    Thanked by 2CHGiffen JonathanKK
  • Oh, wow. So it is (for the OF). Good to know. Thanks for the effort in snapping those images.
  • Cantus67Cantus67
    Posts: 208
    James,
    I would say that having it sung in the collect tone makes sense. IF you wish it to be sung you can go that direction. Also, the Liber itself gives a lot of leeway into the tones at mass (more in some ways than the divine office {1962}) I would say that you are on the right track and really, even if it's not something that is common or even rarely done or even discouraged I'll call it what my pastor would say, "It's an abuse in the right direction".
  • fcbfcb
    Posts: 339
    In the context of the OF ceremony for Marriage Outside of Mass I have taken to singing the Nuptial Blessing according to the tone appointed for the blessing of the font at the Easter Vigil (which to my non-expert eye/ear seems to be a slightly simpler version of the preface tone--actually, more or less what is in the scans above). It seems to work pretty well and somehow seems more appropriate than a collect tone, given the nature of the prayer as a blessing.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,317
    I think the Preface tone is on the right track, IMO, considering the way it is used throughout the liturgy, e.g. at ordinations. The Easter Vigil chants might be the next place to go...
  • aldrich
    Posts: 230
    In older versions of the Manuale Toletanum, the second blessing (Deus, qui potestate) is sung the ferial tone of the preface. We just heard it earlier today.
  • Officially speaking, this was an open question until recently. It has been clarified through a dubium sent to the CDF. For the full explanation and documentation, see: this post over at CCW.
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • fatherfriel, based upon the earlier models and the original source I've put together an edition based more upon the pauses and stops in the Liber. As with all of our resources it's free for anyone to use.
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UEn2pifQ6AoQYLDCqIZUs62dyNjDo04X/view?usp=sharing
    Thanked by 1Incardination