What does "Versetti in Modo I Trasp: pel Tantum Ergo" mean?
  • veromaryveromary
    Posts: 160
    This is from a little book of music for Benediction by Oreste Ravanello. I find these handy to play as the priest and servers come in for Benediction, but the booklet has a Prelude which is probably meant for that (and for a bigger church). I asked a few people but they couldn't figure out what Trasp signified.

    I attach a screenshot for a little more context.

    The work is at https://imslp.org/wiki/Easy_Pieces%2C_Op.99_(Ravanello%2C_Oreste)
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  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 302
    Five little verses in Mode I Transposed


    Linguistically, I have no clue what "pel" means but my brain wants to assume that it's a mistake for "per" or "for the tantum ergo" ... or perhaps "based on" ... not sure.

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  • PaxTecum
    Posts: 302
    Could be per il Tantum Ergo (in older Italian it was common to combine certain words with the article after. (per il = pel; con il = col; etc.)

    I could be totally wrong here; this is just a guess.
    Thanked by 1cmb
  • veromaryveromary
    Posts: 160
    Yes, per + il sounds plausible. They're all written in the key of D major, so not sure how "Transposed" relates.

    As written it feels like it leads in well to playing Tantum Ergo in C major (starting note E). Though the key sig is D, they all finish on E-ish chords. Hmmm, is my lack of music theory training showing?

    In another book they had verses "Translatus ad quintam inferior" so maybe Gregorian chant was considered to have an absolute pitch at one time??? Though universal tuning probably wasn't a thing - the Translatus quote comes from a 1645 book and the Trasp from 1911.

    Maybe the moral is to use it where it's useful and not stress about the details.
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  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,768
    …in the key of D major… Tantum Ergo in C major (starting note E)

    Usually called E-Dorian and Mode III, respectively.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    With two sharps in the key signature, Mode I, whose final is on Re, would have its final on E ... hence the "E-ish" chords. There is indeed a Mode I Pange lingua gloriosi (for the Procession after the Communion on Corpus Christi) which has a quite beautiful melody that moves somewhat like but not exactly as the usual Mode III melody does. "Transposed" presumably refers to the transposition up a whole step (hence the two sharps in the key signature).
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  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    There is indeed a Mode I Pange lingua gloriosi (for the Procession after the Communion on Corpus Christi) which has a quite beautiful melody that moves somewhat like but not exactly as the usual Mode III melody does.


    The mode I melody, is sometime subtitled "Apud Italos usitatum" and is found in most books even the Graduale Romanum (1924 ed.). I am told this Mode I melody is a version used in pre-reformation England.
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  • veromaryveromary
    Posts: 160
    Thanks - singing through the Mode 1 melody, it does have similarities. It all makes sense now, plus I have another Tantum Ergo tune to familiarise myself with.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,151
    Here's a link to the thread that has my setting of the Mode I Pange lingua gloriosi (as well as my setting of the Mode III Tantum ergo sacramentum).
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