Gregorian hymns by meter

Richard Mix

The Old MacDonald thread reminded me that I once borrowed Alto ex Olympi vertice to get a 6-line tune to sing Catullus LXI, the solo setting (in Latin) by Ezra Pound breaking off well before the end.
It might be useful for other reasons as well to have a metrical index of Gregorian Hymns, but before enlisting everyone in a my crowd sourcing project, 1) does this wheel already exist? and 2) is there an agreed convention for identifying the tunes?

RCS333

Don’t know the answer to either question, but I too would love to see such an index!

tomjaw

@ Richard Mix

It would be very good to have a list of meters and then add the text6s and the melodies in separate columns. There will need to be some sort of link to keep the various versions say Dominican, Roman etc. of a melody together.

I do not believe a list exists.

Kathy

98% DUKE STREET, 1.99% ISTE CONFESSOR, and the rest Prudentius.

Adam of St. Victor is as always another story.

Richard R.

Many years ago, I made a table in MSWord of hymns in the Liber Hymnarius along the lines you are talking about. It can, of course, be sorted any way you'd like. The meters are all long (8888) unless otherwise indicated (SF being Sapphic which, I understood then at least, is 11-11-11-5, a la Iste confessor). Hymn numbers are simply the order they appear in the book. This list only has incipits, rather than complete tunes, and are given in numbers to indicate do-re-mi (123), with a \ before a number if it is low. All not exactly intuitive, but maybe useful, if you own the LH.

Richard Mix

To match the incipits with the table I presume one would use a copy of the 1983 Liber hymnarius, unavailable at Musica Sacra resources. But Googling I chanced upon an entire LH Wiki, with category pages by meter like this!

CHGiffen

The Liber Hymnarius wiki also has incipit pages like this!

Richard Mix

Those incipit tables are probably the way to go, though I'm back from the library with a copy of Bruno Stäblein's Hymnen (Monumenta Monodica Medii Aevi 1) which assigns Mel. numbers according to what seems at first glance a rather clunky system (#59 in Klosterburg St-bibl 1000 (fol 112v) is Ad cenam agni to Mel. 4 sub 5, the fifth variant of the mode I tune).

It's not much of a shock that LM & Sapphics predominate the texts, though I wonder if the tunes reflect the same proportions. Singers of English will make heavy use of DIVINUM MYSTERIUM, Holst's 10 10 10 10 10 10 First Hymn of the Heavenly Host (The Coming of Christ, to become PD in 2024) and other outliers. To give an idea of what I've been up to, here's a Prayer to the Trinity, printed in The First Four Books of Virgil (It's not quite obvious what to do about the doxology's enjambment) and, in case any of you have pagan wedding gigs, the aforementioned Catullus:

name: A Prayer to the Trinity in English Sapphic Verse;
user-notes: Iste Confessor;
commentary: Stanyhurst, 1582 ;
annotation: hymn 8;
centering-scheme: english;
%fontsize: 12;
%spacing: vichi;
%font: OFLSortsMillGoudy;
%width: 5;
%height: 11.5;
%%
(c4)
Tri(ghg)ni(e)ty(f) bles(g)sed,(g.) de(h)i(f)ty(h) co(j)e(ih)qual, (g.) (;)
U(j)ni(h)ty(j) sa(ih)cred,(g.) God(h) in(g) one(e) eke[in one eke in? essence](f) es(g)sence,(g.) (;)
Yield(g) to(e) thy(g) ser(fe)vant(dc) pi(c)ti(d)ful(e)ly(f) call(gh)ing,(h.) (;)
Mer(hiwjh)ci(i)ful(h) hear(g.)ing.(g.) (::)

2. Vir(ghg)tu(e)ous(f) liv(g)ing(g.) did(h) I(f) long(h) re(j)lin(ih)quish,(g.) (;)
Thy(j) will(h) and(j) pre(ih)cepts(g.) mi(h)se(g)ra(e)bly(f) scorn(g)ing;(g.) (;)
Grant(g) to(e) me(g) sin(fe)ful,(dc) pa(c)ti(d)ent(e) re(f)pent(gh)ing,(h.) (;)
Health(hiwjh)ful(i) a(h)mend(g.)ment.(g.) (::)

3. Bles(ghg)sëd(e) I(f) judge(g) him,(g.) that(h) in(f) heart(h) is(j) heal(ih)ëd:(g.) (;)
Cur(j)sëd(h) I(j) know(ih) him,(g.) that(h) in(g) health(e) is(f) harm(g)ëd:(g.) (;)
Thy(g) phy(e)sic,(g) there(fe)fore,(dc) to(c) me,(d) wretch(e) un(f)hap(gh)py,(h.) (;)
Send,(hiwjh) my(i) Re(h)deem(g.)er.(g.) (::)

4. Glo(ghg)ry(e) to(f) God(g) the(h) Fa(h)ther(f) and(h) his(j) on(ih)ly(g)
Son,(j.) (,) the(h) pro(j)tec(ih)tor(g) of(h) us(g) earth(e)ly(f) sin(g)ners,(g.) (;)
Thee,(g) Sa(e)cred(g) Spi(fe)rit,(dc) la(c)bour(d)ers(e) re(f)fresh(gh)ing,(h.) (;)
Still(hiwjh) be(i) re(h)nown(g.)ëd.(g.) (::)

name: EPITHALAMIUM;
user-notes: Catullus 61, trans. John Nott 1795;
commentary: Alto ex Olympi vertice;
annotation: I;
centering-scheme: english;
%fontsize: 12;
%spacing: vichi;
%font: OFLSortsMillGoudy;
%width: 4.5;
%height: 11;
%%
(c4)
Child(cd) of(f) U(d)ra(dc)nia,(f) in(ixgi) the(g) shade(h) (,) Of(h) He(j)li(h)con(hg) who(f) joy'st(gh) to(h) rove;(g.) (;)
To(f) snatch(fe) the(d) mod(e)est(f) blush(gh)ing(g) maid(f) (,) To(e) the(g) fond(f) youth,(fe) who(d) dies(e) for(d) love;(c.) (;)
God(d) of(df) the(f) ten(fe)der(d) nup(e)tual(f) tie:(g) (,) O,(h) hi(gf)ther,(g) sa(fe)cred(d) Hy(c)men,(d) fly!(d.) (::)
Come,(cd) laugh(f)ing(d) boy;(dc) thy(f) flow(ixgi)ing(g) hair(h) (,) With(h) fra(j)grant(h) mar(hg)jo(f)ram(gh) a(h)dorn;(g.) (;)
Thy(f) saf(fe)fron(d) veil(e) with(f) speed(gh) pre(g)pare,(f) (,) That(e) veil(g) by(f) brides(fe) in(d) mar(e)riage(d) worn!(c.) (;)
And(c) let(df) thy(f) yel(fe)low(d) san(e)dals(f) glow(g) (,) On(h) thy(gf) bright(g) feet(fe) that(d) vie(c) with(d) snow!(d.) (::)
O,(cd) roused(f) by(d) this(dc) aus(f)pi(ixgi)cious(g) day,(h) (,) Pre(h)pare(j) the(h) hy(hg)me(f)ne(gh)al(h) song,(g.) (;)
Beat(f) the(fe) firm(d) ground(e) in(f) mea(gh)sures(g) gay,(f) (,) and(e) ca(g)rol(f) sweet(fe) with(d) sil(e)ver(d) tongue!(c.) (;)
Then,(d) bran(df)dish(f)ing(fe) thy(d) torch(e) in(f) air,(g) (,) Bless(h) with(gf) its(g) flame(fe) the(d) hap(c)py(d) pair!(d.) (::)

tomjaw

Bruno Stäblein's Hymnen (Monumenta Monodica Medii Aevi 1) indexed by incipit here,

http://www.globalchant.org/about.php

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