I would think no... but you could ask the priest, if he is French he may love the idea.
If it is too long for you, why not psalm tone every other pair of stanzas? Or psalm tone the middle?

tomjaw
Because psalm tones are a good idea only if you have an extremely unexperienced choir that can't sing an average gradual or if you're dealing with those crazy huge tracts from 1st Sunday of lent and Psalm Sunday. The problem is that that sequence has a pretty large note range, and and adding the length of the music, it gets really tiring for the choir.

Salieri
Yes, I'm aware of that. I'm looking for an alternative melody so it becomes easier to sing, but if I took a melody of some hymnal - and there are plenty to choose - the repetition would become too monotonous. I could also repeat the melody of the Amiens procession version with different verses, but it would be pretty nonsense. I guess I could compose a second my own...

_________
I think it's a bit frustrating how the EF is in a void, like it's being preserved in formaline, and some of the rubrics are pretty vague and clarification is needed...

I think a psalm tone is inappropriate, as the text is metrical and strophic (not a psalm!). The melody doesn't repeat throughout, either.

Does your EF choir sing the propers with any regularity? Surely sequences are by no means the most difficult thing that you have had to sing. It may help avoid strain on the singers because of the length (as well as add interest) to could sing it antiphonally: the two halves of the choir, or a cantor and the choir, would sing alternate verses, which have the same melody. Or the verses could be divided by range if that is really an issue. Organ accompaniment is also a possibility.

As for whether the congregation "wants" to listen to the whole sequence: let them; it's only once a year, and they attend an EF mass for a reason! I surely would want to. It's such a beautiful meditation in mode VII.

Corpus Christi sequence - antiphonal, with organ

Tomjaw,

What kind of time constraints?
Oh, and thank you for the information about the connection between the tune and the text.

Raph,

A Responsorial psalm approach would run the risk of truncating the theological import of the text. It's also wholly inappropriate to insert a responsory where there isn't one. On the other hand, I wonder if it would be permitted to sing several polyphonic settings, covering the whole of the text.

I think Salieri has the right idea, though: to sing with a varying of the voices -- as one might do in singing a Gloria or a Credo.

Tomjaw,

The first situation, while regrettable in terms of "bad planning", is a reality with which some of us must come to terms. (Our Oratory is under another roof, and so scheduling is sometimes very difficult.)

If he banned you from singing the Tract in the full melodic form because he wanted to preach for 30 minutes, was his preaching (at least) edifyingly integrist?

Why would the situation in Switzerland require psalm tones for the "longer Tracts/Graduals"?

The liturgical text must be sung as it is in the books, without alteration or inversion of the words, without undue repetition, without breaking syllables, and always in a manner intelligible to the faithful who listen."

Looks pretty clear to me.

As to Tract-shortening, we always used Rossini's psalm-tone versions, and would chop a few verses from the Dies Irae at funeral Masses.

I know that in the OF, there is the option to sing only the last four verses of the sequence (i.e. starting at Ecce panis angelorum. Does this option not exist in the EF?

Edit: this is what I'm doing with my choir. It's a far better option than no sequence at all.

Raph,

The text to be said (or, properly, sung) is a particular length because that's the text the Church approved. "Short form" and "optional longer form" are peculiar to the OF for a good reason. In fact, the text that says "Wives, be subject to your husbands" is optional when that reading appears in the OF.

without undue repetition, ... in a manner intelligible to the faithful

The guidance quoted is not absolute in the way it is expressed. I don't find Vivaldi's paean of praise undue in it's repetition, or unintelligible. But there is music in use in which the separate voices have meaning obscured by repetitions. Perhaps not in liturgical use, Handel comes to mind (But I should check before making rash statements).

Bruce,

OF or EF?

Yes, it's long, and rangy. One pretty much has to sing it starting on C# (3 sharps), or at least at a half a step either way from there. And the top notes and the bottom notes will be problematic. But I've got a Schola of non-musicians, baritones and mezzi, and they can do it reasonably well. We do use organ. And if we had more people, of more variegated ranges, we'd split off high and low verses. But the Church tells us we can do it, so we find a way to do it. Just like the Church tells us that holiness is possible. No excuses!