Some lovely and SINGABLE English hymns
  • RagueneauRagueneau
    Posts: 2,592
    If you already knew about this, please forgive me for sharing this book

    But to me, it has some really nice stuff in it.

    English metrical texts set to syllabic chants settings.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,508
    Whoa. Thanks, Jeff.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,978
    I did not know about this. Thanks!
  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    these are lovely!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,508
    I should express my usual caveat, that 19th century language is not very apt as a bridge for most parishes in the US to cross over from theologically inadequate to theologically weighty hymns.

    But, there is real substance here. Great to see!
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Kathy, to your caveat I would add an anti-Semitism alert:

    Why on earth did the editors feel the need to add this verse before the final verse, which is not present in the Latin text:


    What Mary saith receive we,
    Her sure word believing,
    Nor heed we tales of Jewry, deceiving.


    Where the heck did that come from? Maybe it's just the not-so-latent anti-Semitic streak in the English national psyche.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Did you not ever question why the Easter Sequence has only one iteration of both the first and last melody lines? This WAS an original verse, only deleted in recent centuries. I would agree that it could have been translated with a bit more tact, but phrases to this effect are still in the Good Friday prayers. And it DOES refer to verses in the Gospels about speculation as to what was done with Christ's body.
  • Pes
    Posts: 623
    Nice find. I'm a big proponent of learning square notation, but it would be easy to put this book in modern notation. Just the melodies, mind you, with minimal apparatus (maybe meter indications). This could help some parishes move away from trivial music. Any interest out there in that?
  • JahazaJahaza
    Posts: 470
    Why on earth did the editors feel the need to add this verse before the final verse, which is not present in the Latin text

    It depends what Latin text you're looking at.

    See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victimae_paschali_laudes
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Well, it isn't found in the 1894 edition of the Roman Missal, and this version is a reprint of the 1884 edition. So at the time this English version was published it had been out of the Missal for nearly 20 years.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    IIRC, it was actually deleted in the the course of the reform of sequences after Trent.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    The Sequence verse in question refers directly to the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 28, Verses 11-15:

    [11] While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. [12] And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sum of money to the soldiers
    [13] and said, "Tell people, `His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.' [14] And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." [15] So they took the money and did as they were directed; and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

    I really see no problem with it, so long as it is carefully translated. It really seems like only Catholics need thick skins, and that everyone else in the world is allow thinner skin, and access to all public complaint lines.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Well, I can see the problem with unnecessary polemic. Apparently, so did the Church, long before the PC era.
  • don roy
    Posts: 306
    thank you liam
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Catholics should have thick skins, you're right. After all, Jesus clearly says we are blessed when men revile us and say all manner of bad things about us. This makes me think there should not even *be* a Catholic anti-defamation league.

    That doesn't mean we should try to build up anyone else's skins to match.

    My late father was a military policeman in the Army Air Force. One of his early assignments was at Nürnberg in 1946, and he told me a good bit about that experience. So yeah. I guess I'm a little sensitive about Antisemitism, and I don't think the Church should give anyone even the thinnest reed on which to hang racial or religious hatred. So I am glad they decided to remove it.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Yurodivi,

    Amen!
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