Setting Up the Divine Office
  • jdan
    Posts: 11
    Greetings!

    I am trying to get a sung Sunday Vespers started at my parish with my children's choir. The deacon, who takes care of liturgy for our pastor, has ok-ed the idea and the ball is in my court. Can anyone provide me with some resources? Online is good, but is not the only option. I am still deciding whether I will use the old or current Office. I am open to being convinced either way.

    Availability of music (i.e. antiphons and psalms), solid translation, and format (old/current better?) are some considerations. The congregation can get accustomed to Latin hymns and Gospels on a weekly basis as they don't change often; the rest I am seeking in English. Brick by brick, right?

    Thanks for any help you can offer!

    God bless,
    Dan
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    Dan,

    The topic of singing Sunday vespers has been discussed before in other threads. You will find much useful info by searching for "sung Sunday vespers" using the tab at the top of this forum.

    A few resources:
    Mass and Vespers (1957) is a great book for singing the traditional Sunday Vespers in Latin. It is free and has English translations for everything. You will have all you need.

    The Mundelein Psalter is a complete volume for singing Lauds and Vespers for any day of year according to the Liturgy of the Hours in English. It is done very simply, but well done. It is $50 for the book, so a bit pricey, but again you will have all you need.

    The new Antiphonale Romanum II (recent discussion) for the first time publishes all the music for singing the Vespers in Latin according to the Liturgy of the Hours (Liturgia Horarum). I just had this book delivered. It too costs some money, but is a necessary resource. It is completely in Latin.

    smvanroode has been producing some wonderful booklets for singing the Liturgia Horarum in Latin. He is up through Lent. They are printable and totally free.

    Good luck!
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    smvanroode should seriously consider putting all those excellent booklets into a one-book form and putting it for sale on LuLu.... unless... oh of course, I'm sure someone owns all that music somehow in copyright.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 966
    Even better: putting all the booklets into a one-book form and putting it for free on the internet. About the copyright question: that's one of my concerns right now. With the new Antiphonale Romanum, is it allowed to use its music for my own musical engravings? What's exactly in copyright?
  • francis
    Posts: 10,668
    It will be interesting to see how God handles copyright laws when we get to heaven.
  • bgeorge77
    Posts: 190
    smvanroode: Free is great but Lulu allows you to have it in hardback and/or paperback form, which I like. For example, Richard Rice's works are freely available as PDFs, yet I bought copies from Lulu because I like that form factor.
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 966
    bgeorge77: I can see your point now - it's something worth considering. For instance, I have the hymns, responsories and antiphons of Compline complete for all days of the week. It's only a matter of putting together all these chants in an orderly way (I'm thinking about that right now) and put it up for sale in a book form.
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 774
    "Richard Rice's works are freely available as PDFs, yet I bought copies from Lulu..."

    Cheers, bgeorge. Buy them for the whole parish, while you're at it. Sales have not been, what one might call, brisk.

    RR
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Sigh... it used to be called the Liber usualis.. For those who do the Vat II hours, wouldn't it be great to have a source like this? Of course, then there's the language question. Do you make one for each country? Didn't need to in the old days.
  • Dan F.Dan F.
    Posts: 205
    Michael O,

    Yes, this would be wonderful. It seems like it is in process, however the translation issue is not the problem. Rather, the music has just never been compliled and some of it doesn't exist.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    I guess my biggest wonder has always been why would someone do the LotH in Latin? The EF Office is much better.
  • Jeffrey MorseJeffrey Morse
    Posts: 202
    While I am the Director of Music in an EF parish, and we sing Vespers every Sunday, I should think that in an OF parish one should sing the OF Office and all the better if its in latin. The reasons for this are practical, the Office should mirror the calendar used for Mass,the antiphons at the Mag. often quoting the gospel of the day as well. Also, the EF Office is certainly in need of reform, and I am glad for example that the Our Father has been restored before the collect at Lauds and Vespers in the OF Office, as it has completely disappeared in the EF Office. The psalter in both Offices is troublesome, Pius X having made radical changes (i.e. two schemas for Lauds) as well as the elimination of the "Praise" psalms (148, 149, 150) under one antiphon at Lauds every day. This daily tradition is one of the only ones that we can be certain Christ Himself would have known. Too, I think with so many lay people praying the new Office, they would be able to recognise in singing the OF Office in latin their own Office with which they are familiar and this might indeed be a good bridge for bringing more people to the Chant.
  • Michael O'Connor
    Posts: 1,637
    Actually there is still a tradition of the Pater noster and Ave Maria in the EF office. They are just not in the rubrics. So, they haven't disappeared, really.
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