Easter Vigil Responsorial Psalms set to Gregorian chant
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Hopefully posted in time for someone to consider using them.

    Like the interlectionary chants in the Graduale Romanum, all of these are in Mode VIII. The melodies are adaptations of those commonly found in the antiphons of the Divine Office, and the psalm tones for the verses (8G or 8c) are fully notated and follow somewhat closely the guidelines given by Bruce Ford in his "Setting English to Gregorian Psalm Tones". Nothing stunning, but I think they're reasonably graceful and prayerful.

    These are now downloadable from Chabanel individually; alternatively, you may download the .zip archive containing all ten.
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    These magnificent Psalms have been posted here as well.

    Thank you, Aristotle!
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 968
    Thanks, Aristotle... these are very nice... I had written some myself (needed simple psalm tones for our parish -- no accompaniment available), but I am sure yours are superior to mine. I had to write every other one for the Spanish psalms, though... it is to be a bilingual Mass... setting psalms to Spanish is a bit different :)
  • francis
    Posts: 10,848
    Aristotle:

    Great work! We will definitely use some of these.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Thanks Jeff, Janet, and Francis for your kind words; I hope they are received well for the recipients' sake.

    You know, the only things missing from the equation are the sung prophecies and prayers; the reciting tones for both these can (and perhaps should) be the same pitch as the reciting tone for these psalms. Integrated liturgy, indeed...
  • Bruce E. Ford
    Posts: 431
    Aristotle:

    In addition to using a strategy that I devised for accommodating oxytones in the final cadence of the psalm tone, you have devised one of your own, which you used to accommodate oxytones in the mediant cadence. This is an alternative to the "abrupt mediation"--which certainly commends itself to the consideration of those who dislike the abrupt mediation.

    I used to avoid the abrupt mediation but in recent years have been using it liberally. I'll think about your alternative approach for a while. You may end up converting me.

    Bruce
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Bruce, I don't know if I can take credit for the accommodation; it just seemed a logical extension of what was already outlined. The reason I did it was to mitigate the abruptness, of course; the abrupt mediation appears a bit too often in the English for my tastes. All this momentum and no place to put it... :-)

    Let me know what your verdict is. I haven't shelved the abrupt mediation altogether; in fact, I don't think it can be shelved.
Add a Comment