Preface Dialogue Chant - Custom vs Missal
  • iamjohnmorgan
    Posts: 14
    Have we been singing the Preface Dialogue incorrectly?

    I am curious whether others have encountered this.

    For years I have noticed that, in the Preface Dialogue, our congregation consistently sings a G on the word “the” in the response:

    “We lift them up to the Lord.”

    However, that is not what appears in the official chant notation in the Roman Missal. I have attached photos from the Missal as well as another published source reproducing the ICEL chant, and they agree. I also remember singing it growing up in other parishes the way our congregation does.

    For approximately five years I have tried to encourage the congregation to sing the response as it is actually notated, but the alternative version is remarkably persistent. At this point it has made me wonder whether this is more than simply a local habit.

    I initially wondered whether the G might be a remnant of the pre-2011 Sacramentary. However, from what I have been able to determine, ICEL retained the existing Preface Dialogue melody when the revised translation was introduced, and of course the text “We lift them up to the Lord” itself did not change in 2011.

    So I am curious:

    Does your congregation also sing a G on “the:?

    If so, does anyone know the origin of this variant? Was it ever printed in an earlier edition or commonly used resource, or has it simply developed as an oral tradition over the years?

    I would be particularly interested to hear from musicians who remember how this was commonly sung well before the 2011 Missal. If the same variant occurs in many unrelated parishes, there may be an interesting history behind it.
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 829
    When the Corrected Translation of the Roman Missal came out, ICEL changed the Preface introductory chant. Not only did that note change from a “G”, but the starting note of that line changed as well (not to mention other notes). I included a copy of the Order of Mass from CBW II, which has the old ICEL preface chants and indicates the G you speak of. I also included the new ICEL preface chant for you to compare and contrast.

    The original ICEL is based off the Latin Solemn Tone Preface that ICEL tried to replicate in English. Page 99 of the Liber Brevior shows this.

    I suspect the majority of your congregation isn’t aware that the preface chant changed and most of them are singing the old “obsolete” chant (it’s still sung that way in the Missal of Divine Worship at the Anglican Use Ordinariate, which may mean it comes from the Sarum Rite). You might just need to get up in front of the congregation before Mass and clearly educate them on the “new” norms.

    While I prefer the old version of my youthful days, I sing the current correct ICEL version because it’s the universal norm. I’m fairly confident my congregation is still singing the old ICEL chant. I know the choir was at one point because I distinctly remember looking up the chants when I noticed the discrepancy between myself and the choir (and congregation). Shortly after I started singing it more loudly, the choir started sounding more correct.
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  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,763
    Sigh. I prefer the solemn tone, even in English (if I must go to the sung NO), but: it should be B—A-B-C—B—B—A-B—A—A–G. So We—lift—them—up—to—the—Lord.

    Two notes instead of the quilisma podatus on one syllable and going down to G before going back up to B makes it a) hard to sing IMHO and b) dreary. On the flip side, the adaptation of the ferial tone could have been straightforward: Start B-C-B…
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