Weekly Sunday Vespers (OF), in Western MA

Salieri

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Salieri

An update on this. First round was on Sunday, and a healthy group turned up, that sight-read very well. And much thanks to chonak for making the trek out, it was greatly appreciated.

Also, at Richard's request, I am linking to some of the resources that I used, particularly for the Magnificat anitphons. These are by a late Anglican Deacon, Ormonde Plater, and are, I think, particularly fine. Here. You will notice that he took the time to translate and set the entire (or almost entire) Antiphonale Monasticum in English Plainchant, a tremendous undertaking.

M. Jackson Osborn

Many thanks for sharing Deacon Plater. I had not known of him. These adaptations are very sensitively done and should be used widely.

I couldn't help but notice, Salieri, your address: 84 K Street.. K Street seems to be a common location for liturgical beacons - I'm reminded of a certain other renowned K Street church (Episcopal) in Washington.

Those who may wish to add to their library of Anglican adaptations the work of Deacon Plater, may wish also to invest in The Monastic Diurnal Noted, the work of the eminent mid-XXth century Episcopalian priest and chant scholar, Canon Winfred Douglas. A reprint may be had from the Lancelot Andrewes Press. (And, don't forget the Palmer-Burgess propers, available as a reprint [by kind permission of the sisters of St Mary's, Wantage, Isle of Wight] from the CMAA.)

I hope, Salieri, that your 'Catholic Evensongs' will grow and flourish. Congratulations!

Salieri

Thank you for the "good vibes", Jackson. One of the Anglican additions is the use of the Collect for Peace and the Collect for Aid against Perils after the Proper Collect, though, I confess, that I have slightly modernized them (though not as much as the 1970's BCP did), but simply in order to harmonize with the style of the 2010 Missal collects which we are using:

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works proceed; give to your servants that peace which the world cannot give; that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments, and also that by you, we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may pass our time in rest and quietness; Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech you, O Lord; and by your great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of your only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I first encountered Dcn. Plater's work several years ago, and found it to be of great quality. As a Catholic, I find it sad that we have fallen so far behind in adapting our own musical heritage to English. I do hope that if and when ICEL retranslates the breviary (and who knows, maybe the Antiphonale, too) they will take this work into consideration.

I can also attest to the work of Canon Douglas. I have his Monastic Diurnal, Noted, and it is an excellent collection. I also highly recommend the St. Dunstan Plainsong Psalter, also published by Lancelot Andrews.

M. Jackson Osborn

This is wonderful!
Do keep us abreast with ongoing reportage.
Do you have service folders that you could put up here?

Salieri

At Jackson's request: I am uploading the booklet for Vespers, Week IV. Please note that these are really only drafts for private use, and do not, as yet, have a "Credits" page, trying to keep things to the minimum number of pages until all the kinks are worked out, then the goal is to publish a bound Office Book. Credits are as follows:

All Texts, except where indicated to the contrary: ICEL
Opening verse: typeset by
Office Hymn: from "Hymnal for the Hours" by Fr. Samuel F. Weber, O.S.B.
Antiphon and Psalm-tone (Pss. 109 & 111): from "Sunday at Vespers: Week IV" by Fr. Samuel F. Weber, O.S.B. (from his website)
New Testament Canticle: adapted by , from Antiphonale Romanum, II, by Solesmes
Responsory: adapted and typeset by
Intercessions: tone adapted from Meinrad Psalms, tone II, and typeset by Henry Gaida
Paternoster: adapted and typeset by Dr. William Peter Mahrt
Text of the Collect for Peace and Collect for Aid against Perils: from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, adapted by
Dismissal A: Fr. Samuel F. Weber, O.S.B.
Dismissal B: typeset by Dr. William Peter Mahrt
Ad lib. prayers: from various sources: principally, the BCP, 1928 ed.
Collects after the Marian Antiphons: from MR3 where available; or adapted in that style from the traditional text,
The Magnificat Antiphons (not in this booklet): from the Antiphonale Monasticum (which is the same as Atiphonale Romanum, II), translated and adapted by Ormonde Plater
Magnificat, translated by ICET; and set to Gregorian tones.

Daniel Bennett Page

That's beautiful!

Here's an example of what I do for Vespers on Wednesdays during the school year.
The Magnificat antiphon is from the Vesperale of Notre Dame Seminary, New Orleans.
The psalm antiphons follow Les Heures Gregoriennes.
Everything is set in Gregorio.

Salieri

We had our third Vespers this evening (Week I). It went well, but I noticed something : For the past three weeks, the people have been singing the Magnificat (in English -- ICET) quite well, though each week the tone has been different (I d, the first week; then I d2; this week was II D), and these are the Gregorian tones, yet are still struggling to get the 'easy' Meinrad tones (VIII and VI) which are used every week for the first and second psalm (and the I psalm is always 109/110, though the II changes weekly).

Has anyone else found that people can pick the Gregorian tones up easier than the Meinrad tones? I am considering revising the books (which as I said, are still ad experimentum, and changing from the 'English' tones to the 'Latin' ones. Without any prejudice to the obvious authenticity of the Gregorian tones, does anyone have any experience about using Gregorian over Meinrad, or v.v.?

One thought, is that we have been using Fr. Weber's "Propers of the Mass" which uses the Gregorian tones for the psalm-verses after the Antiphons. Perhaps it could just be that after daily use (a cantor sings the Propers at daily Masses, Tues. through Sat.) the people are used to hearing the "real thing", but are just learning the Meinrad?

I'm sort of thinking aloud. Advice welcome.

Daniel Bennett Page

We use the Gregorian tones for (English) psalms at Vespers weekly. Folks pick them up quickly. The key is careful and consistent pointing.

In my Catholic school music classes, we apply 2-4 different tones to a psalm verse as a warmup at the beginning of class. The kids love picking the tone number and approach it as a fun puzzle to be solved successfully.

M. Jackson Osborn

Seven hundred American school children (K-12) at St Thomas' Episcopal School in Houston have no trouble at all singing the psalter to the Gregorian tones, a different tone for each psalm, at chapel every morning. I know highly acclaimed chant scholars who insist that this can't be done, that it shouldn't be done, even frown upon it!, because these tones were designed for the Latin tongue. So they were (though a number of them had previous lives in Hebrew psalmody - so much for language-bound regimens). But do they work for the English tongue? Most definitely. The type of tones found in the Mundelein psalter have a certain simplicity that makes them attractive to some, but not for long. Before too long they have become tiring and one's mind begins to beg for something of greater substance and musical grace. Let none be moved by those who denigrate using the Gregorian tones with English. You will be cheating yourself, your choirs, your children, and your people. Gregorian psalm tones and psalmody, in whatever language, are made for each other. Nothing else has the ring of authenticity.

(The Coverdale psalters in the pews at St Thomas' are (very) venerable copies of The Plainsong Psalter, once pub. by H.W. Gray, which is the predecessor of St Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter, available from the Lancelot Andrewes Press.)

Salieri

Thanks MJO and DBP for your input. Since we are still experimenting at this point, I will amend my Week II booklet for vespers this coming week to use the Gregorian Psalm-tones VIII G and VI F for the first two psalms (keeping Fr. Weber's two antiphons in these modes), and see if there is an improvement. There has been a consistent core group of about 12 people who come for this every week, many of whom have mentioned how much they have enjoyed it, plus a few new people this week who I hope will return.

The pastor has been very supportive, and has talked it up well during the announcements at the past few Masses, which is great help. As a matter of fact, the priest who has been the officiant the past three weeks isn't even the pastor -- who has been unable to attend because of pre-scheduled events -- but a neighboring retired priest who had been subbing the first week we had Vespers, but who want's to keep coming because he enjoys it. We are the only parish in the area offering this, and I hope that as it picks up more people will come from neighboring parishes.

On Feb. 19th we will have a special Choral Vespers with the full Choir leading it, we will sing a falsobordone setting of the Magnificat, as well as an Anthem, and, hopefully, a Lassus setting of the Deus in adjutorium.

Salieri

Attached is an updated book for Week Second, with Gregorian psalm-tones for the first two psalms. I would greatly appreciate if someone other than myself could look at the pointing (which follows the same system of Italics and Bolds as in the Solesmes books -- that way, if and when we decide to switch to Latin the pointing system will remain the same) and see if it flows properly. Thanks, all.

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