English chant for the invitation “Let us pray”
  • connorcompanikconnorcompanik
    Posts: 4
    I remember reading once an instructional piece by Fr. Kelly (or maybe it was Fr. Weber—I don’t recall) explaining why the simple tone chant for “Let us pray” should always drop by a third on "us," and come back up again on "pray," and never simply drop by a third at the end. Does anyone know the reason behind this? I can't find the original document I read, and I just recently noticed that ICEL's notation for this in the missal is the latter, which is considered incorrect according to the principle I had read.
  • Liam
    Posts: 4,942
    It may be a solemn vs simple tone issue. Also, there was an insistence on mirroring the Latin original.

    FWIW, on an entirely personal note in terms of subjective experience of the vernacular OF Ordo being chanted, for "Let us pray" that is *not* "Let us pray to the Lord", my ears tend to expect one of the following (just using C as a reference note), with the first being more common than the other two:

    1. C-A-C
    2. C-C-B
    3. C-C-C

    (The only reason I am ready to mention that is because, very recently, I encountered an older priest who has a peculiar fondness for turning all the English chants (presidential and congregational) into a slow and rigid C-A-B-C, which has surprised me ears, shall we say. Melodic thirds are familiar in this context, a leading tone acting as a conventional non-sacred leading tone rather than an incomplete cadence is not so familiar...)
    Thanked by 1connorcompanik
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