Qui Habitat and Deus, the lengthy Tracts of Lent I and Palm Sunday
  • Chrism
    Posts: 871
    Does anyone do either or both of these beautiful Tracts following the melismatic melody in the Graduale Romanum (as opposed to the version from the Chants Abregés or Rossini)? How is it received?
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 431
    A friend of mine once visited the Brompton Oratory in London on Lent 1. Even there the tract was cut--to one verse, as a matter of fact.

    On Lent I our choir has usually sung an abridged version of the tract to a psalm tone or to Anglican Chant.

    Even congregations accustomed to hearing chant become restless when a piece of this length is sung. The real thing must probably be reserved to monasteries.
  • Hugh
    Posts: 198
    It's probably rare in parish settings, but we've done them every year at EF masses in Canberra & Melbourne (Aust.) for the past 15 odd years.
    I haven't heard any complaints, though I imagine some new folk in the congregation might wonder what's going on. However our celebrant explained the first time how they were to be treated as opportunities for meditation. It was very helpful: and the regular cong. now takes them as a matter of course. So I'd recommend that kind of assistance from the pastor anywhere they are introduced.
    Ours is a small mixed choir - so we try to vary things a bit after the opening : v. 1 solo 1, v. 2 solo 2 (or women), v 3. all , & so on ABC.
  • OraLabora
    Posts: 218
    Since I am a secular oblate I attend Mass at the nearby Benedictine monastery that I am associated with. They do them integrally (as they do the all the Gradual throughout the year). In addition our small schola (of laymen) does part of the Qui habitat from time to time.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    I've already posted this elsewhere but since it took so long to create

    image
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Well, I didn't know that we could cut verses. We might do that, since for many at the Mass we are singing, this will be their first EF Mass. There's also the issue of crashing and burning to take into account!

    Here's a question. Are there rubrics that allow for cuts (it's over 11 minutes long)? If so, how does one decide?
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    here is a wonderful note on the Trace by Dr. Mahrt
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Maybe instead of cutting, you could use the first and last verses of the authentic melody and use psalm tones in the middle, or alternate one and the other. How abrupt would that be?...
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Psalm tones are certainly not a bad idea. We can two Gregorian verses, psalm tones and then the final Gregorian verse. I'm pretty sure we could pull off the full Gregorian chant, but I worry a bit about the extreme length for a bunch of folks at their first EF Mass. Am I wrong here?
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,215
    A psalm-tone setting is already written out in the Chants Abreges.
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55

    At Monday night chant practice, we decided to use Chants Abreges instead of the Rossini. And here is the clip.

  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    We're using the Chants Abreges Tract, but I'm going to try to have my schola sing the Gradual, because the melody is the same as the Requiem Gradual, which they know. I'll let you know how that works after practice tonight.
  • Anhaga
    Posts: 55
    Translation of the Tract of Lent I (from "Propers of the Mass" p.55)

    He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High shall abide in the protection of the God of heaven. Vs. He shall say to the Lord, "You are my support and my refuge; my God, in You I trust." For he has rescued me from the snare of the hunter and from the blade of the sword. With his shoulders He will cover you, and under his wings you shall find refuge. His truth shall surround you with a shield ; you shall not fear the terror of the night. Nor the arrow put in flight by day; nor the plague that roams in darkness, neither invasion nor the noonday evil. Though a thousand fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, it shall not come near you. For he has given his angels charge over you, that they guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Because he has hoped in me, I will deliver him, because he has confessed my name. He shall call upon me, and I will hear him; I will be with him in distress. I will deliver him and glorify him; I will satisfy him with length of days and show him my salvation.

  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    Unless I am wrong, one of my Liber Usualis copies used to print a Mode 2 Psalm Tone of "Qui Habitat" immediately after the Gregorian chant. It seemed like a great idea. Anyone else have this edition? I want to say from 1962.
  • Arthur Connick
    Posts: 496
    Jeff - The revised Holy Week in the 1956 and later editions of the Liber Usualis 801 has psalm tone versions of certain chants, but not the Tract for the 1st Sunday of Lent. However, the Liber Brevior (1954) has psalm tone versions of the Tracts.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Thanks to everyone who pointed me to the psalm tone version of the tract verses. We sang the Gregorian melody for the first verse and then the rest in psalm tone. Father really appreciated that!
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 203
    At St Stephen, the First Martyr in Sacramento we sang the whole of the Tract today according to the melody in the Gradual. The congregation is used to hearing the full on propers of the Graduale Romanum throughout the year with no psalm-toning or the simplified melodies of the Chants-Abgreges, so perhaps this is why I heard no negative comments about the length. When I asked someone in the pew, their response was "we expect you to sing what's in the books, sometimes its long, sometimes its short" Well, okay!
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    At St Alphonsus in Baltimore, we sang the first verse in the chant given in the Liber, switched to Introit psalm tones (a la Communio) for the bulk of the text (alternating between halves of the schola), and then finished up the last full phrase (et ostendam illi salutare meum) with the chant given in the Liber. This worked out nicely.

    By the way, the 1959 edition of the Liber that I use provides the Palm Sunday tract in a psalm tone, but not today's tract for Lent I.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 776
    ..."St Alphonsus in Baltimore..."

    ...with verses sung in alternatum, by the way; nicely monastic.
  • Geremia
    Posts: 269
    Qui habitat

    Deus Deus meus
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,798
    For some reason collection took a very long time this week, so I used the middle part of the Tract instead of the Offertory Scapulis suis.
  • NihilNominisNihilNominis
    Posts: 1,021
    We sang the full Gradual, then a cantor intoned the Tract on Psalmtone 8G, which the full choir took up in Tozer’s 4pt version. Quite effective, really.
  • ClarkeMitchell
    Posts: 11
    We did the full tract all the way through. Ladies sang the tract proper in unison, then we divided the verses into four choirs, two male and two female. This helped to break up the monotony and also meant that each choir only had to learn three verses. There were rough patches, but we managed to stay on “tract”!
    Thanked by 4tomjaw sdtalley3 Chris Garton-Zavesky rich_enough
  • Chris Garton-Zavesky
    Posts: 6,902
    My pastor asked that we use the psalm tone this year, but he left open the possibility of using the full melody later. Since I'm teaching everyone in the choir to sing psalm tones (for Introit and Communion verses, for unison singing, for blend, for staying together) I don't object, but at some point I would like to use the long form.

    For comparison's sake, who reduces the Dies Irae, of comparable length, or Lauda Sion?
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    We prepared by singing the polyphonic Issac setting of the Tract for Quinquagesima, not that it is as long as Lent I.
    We sing Qui habitat, Cantors 1, full choir, Cantors 2, full choir, etc. This year the second cantors were the ladies.
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    TLDR - Too Long (but) Didn’t Recto-tono.

    Dom Johner mentions in his commentary how the Church quotes the whole text of the Psalm in order to provide the proper context. I commented to a friend of mine that we should be happy the Devil didn’t quote Psalm 118 to Our Lord.
    Thanked by 3Chris Garton-Zavesky tomjaw Jehan_Boutte
Add a Comment