Parish Book of… Gospel Acclamations?
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Just curious if there is such a thing… either Gospel Acclamations, or 'simplex' English settings of the Gregorian Alleluias (propers).

    I know there's stuff out there… heck, I probably have it downloaded somewhere on my other computer's hard drive, amidst the abundance of stuff I've culled from the interwebs. (Maybe that American Gradual?) But I'm not seeing a current, in-print resource, à la the Parish Book of Psalms or the Simple English Propers.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    http://www.ccwatershed.org/moyne/

    http://www.ccwatershed.org/couture/quentin/

    http://www.ccwatershed.org/garnier/
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    I think that Bruce Ford's American Gradual should have these, if you want these 'acclamations' to be The Real Thing. Too, you could look into the Palmer-Burgess Plainsong Gradual. With regard to P-B: if the traditional Anglican English doesn't suit you, you can easily adapt it by changing the pronouns and verb forms where you think it appropriate. Most people now-a-days who are writing Allelulya verses, irritatingly do not use translations of the ones in Graduale Romanum, so Ford's or P-B are really nice to have. Also, nearly all the current versions of these verses will give you cute little triple alleluyas (sometimes parading in square notes as chant) rather than a Real Alleluya! You'd think that somebody out there would get it right.
    Thanked by 2Adam Wood noel jones, aago
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    Also (though they are also"cute little triple alleluyas") the Lumen Christi Missal has Gospel Acclamations for the year.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Thanks folks. Yes, Adam… those Watershed alleluias are nice indeed. I've used the four that Jeff himself wrote (Couture, Pole, Le Moyne, Ragueneau)… about as nice as it gets for a "cute little triple Alleluia." And come to think of it, four such melodies might well be plenty of repertoire.

    I'll have to check out the Lumen Christi ones. And MJO, yes, I believe I have used the P-B once before.

    Dr. Mahrt once described how he uses the Gregorian alleluia with a congregational approach… something like this:

    * Schola sings "Alleluia" (without jubilus)
    * Congregation repeats, but then schola continues with jubilus
    * Soloist (or schola?) sings verse (perhaps simplified? I could imagine a verse in English, although I'd certainly think that Dr. Mahrt would retain the Latin original)
    * Schola and congregation repeats Alleluia (without jubilus)

    He explained that this provides an ideal amount of time for the priest's (or deacon's) approach to the ambo, incensing the gospel, etc.

    In any case, I think it would be nice to see another resource for this, similar to AOZ's PBP.





  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,486
    There IS a book of gospel acclamations that GIA puts out. It has all the gospel verses for all Sundays feasts of the year. The verses are set to psalm tones that are conservative and intended for organ. The alleluias (and tracts for Lent use six or seven of the most used, Some by Proulk, the tonus peragsmus, one by taize, one by Haugen, and the Celtic alleluia. Ive never used anything else cause it is so easy.i avoid the Haugen tunes but the others are quite useable.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    The cute little triple alleluias in the LC series are all from one of the authentic music books of the Roman Rite - the Simplex.
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    '...tonus peragsmus...'

    Yikes, Greg! I really do feel alienated and left out. I thought that I knew all the tones, but this one I cannot at all recall having encountered. Where can I find it?


    'The cute little... are... authentic... Roman rite...'

    This is interesting to know. Still, as I believe I hinted above somewhere, dressing up a cute little triple alleluya in square notes and putting it in an 'authentic book' does not make it any more than a cute little triple alleluya. Give us some real, full-blooded alleluyas from the GR, please! The people are not idiots. (I even had one of 'the people' remark to me recently, quite unprompted and out of the blue, that 'they think we are stupid'. - For sure, 'they' do, and, for sure, 'the people' aren't.)

    A triple alleluya is the ecstatic eruption of unbound joy between priest and people which is unique to the unique Easter vigil. It has been so utterly cheapened and debased that it is astonishing that people sing these cute little things (in square notes or round - take your pick) every Sunday with a straight face.
    Thanked by 1JacobFlaherty
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,478
    True that the Easter Vigil has a triple alleluia that is
    the ecstatic eruption of unbound joy between priest and people which is unique
    but it is quite different from the "cute little" ones in GS. These all in the LU (1962) for vespers or compline. Curiously the only one I ever hear (in England) is the mode 6 which appears in GS as a communion antiphon, but not as an alleluia.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    It is, indeed quite different from the cute little ones in GS. It has a musical substance suitable for the eruptive joy of its joyous occasion. Too, thanks for reminding me of the ones at vespers and compline in LU. I had forgotten about them. However, they are, after all, for these offices - they are not for mass, nor have they the gravitas, beauty, and ecstacy which characterise mass alleluyas. In the context of mass, I think that these office alleluyas do indeed deserve to be called 'cute little alleluyas'. THE single instance of a triple alleluya at mass is that of the Easter vigil - and there is nothing at all cute and little about it. This is as it should be.
Add a Comment