Metrical Psalm settings
  • aquinasadmirer
    Posts: 102
    Hi,

    My wife just received a funeral program that she'll play soon, and I noticed that the Responsorial Psalm is: "Eagles' Wings"

    I thought: "Hmm, is this a psalm?" Well, sure enough, OCP's missalette shows that it's based on Psalm 91(90). So, I didn't want to press the issue much without checking. I looked up the pertinent paragraph in the newest GIRM.


    In the Dioceses of the United States of America, instead of the Psalm assigned in the Lectionary, there may be sung either the Responsorial Gradual from the Graduale Romanum, or the Responsorial Psalm or the Alleluia Psalm from the Graduale Simplex, as described in these books, or an antiphon and Psalm from another collection of Psalms and antiphons, including Psalms arranged in metrical form, providing that they have been approved by the Conference of Bishops or the Diocesan Bishop. Songs or hymns may not be used in place of the Responsorial Psalm.


    So, my question is this: Is there a list of approved psalm settings published from the USCCB? If so, where could I find it? To my knowledge, the bishop in my diocese has not issued an approved list.

    Thanks in advance,

    Mark
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Did you ask your diocesan office for worship?

    Now, it should be noted that, for the scrupulous, the GIRM doesn't actually specify the manner of approval by the diocesan bishop; it doesn't state, for example, that the approval has to come in the form of the adoption of a specific law. I am aware from anecdotal reportage on Catholic discussion forums over the years that people have found their diocesan worship offices stating in different ways that psalms included in missalettes and hymnals produced by a variety of publishers are approved for liturgical use in the diocese, et cet. I also suspect that some bishops believe they can delegate this to the pastor, though that is a more dubious proposition in my mind; still, one should keep in mind that liturgical musicians should strain to avoid playing the role of canon lawyer when making quotidian decisions about programming liturgical music, as its well above our pay grade, and the pastor is where the buck stops for application of liturgical law at that parish level, and he's next up in your chain of command in the Roman army, as it were.

    * I mildly long for the day when each diocese is required to publish online its local liturgical laws. But I digress.
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 946
    I would argue that since "On Eagle's Wings" does not use an approved translation of Psalms for use in the liturgy, then it cannot be used as the Responsorial Psalm. This isn't an "alius cantus" situation. The GIRM specifically states that songs and hymns may not be used here. Only psalms are allowed, and the psalms themselves need approval.

    Am I going off the tracks here?
    Thanked by 2Ben CHGiffen
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 946
    .
  • aquinasadmirer
    Posts: 102
    Andrew,

    What translations are currently approved, and what translation is the basis for Eagle's Wings?

    Thanks in advance,

    Mark
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Not sure if it helps, but I might ask the question if this setting is truly "metrical", as there's no clear meter to the text.

    And, while it is a paraphrase, it's a particularly bad one.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    The meter would be "Irregular" - and that's not a contrivance, but how a text that fits a repetitive melodic pattern with irregular rhythm would typically be categorized. It's not blank versification, as it were.

    (Just to be clear: I would not program Beagle's Wings as a responsorial psalm, but suggest a different place for it in the program, if such suggesting were part of my job description. But I'd think thrice before delivering any law-based ultimatum over it, because liturgical musicians who play the law card - especially regarding funerals - usually lose as a practical matter unless they have the full backing of the pastor and diocesan office of worship behind their choices. Just Not Worth It. Remember, it's also a requirement under the Order of Christian Funerals that, when the ministers choose texts, that they choose texts that most closely reflect the particular circumstances and needs of the mourners and they must do so in close consultation with the family and close friends of the deceased; that's not a loophole to excuse Beagle's Wings, but to enlarge the legal discussion - taking a stand to fulfill one law without fulfilling another - something I've certainly seen liturgical musicians attempt to do, though I am not saying that is the case here, but I am trying to illustrate the dynamic at work - is by definition weak ground to contest.)
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  • aquinasadmirer
    Posts: 102
    Thanks Liam,

    I agree; I don't intend to pursue this further, especially since this is for a funeral. It's just part of a larger pattern with the responsorial psalm in the mass. I'm just looking to know how to ask intelligent questions in the future. I've found that the pastor is actually quite careful about being obedient to what the bishops have instructed. It's just that there is too much for one mere mortal to know; I can't expect him to have all the documents committed to memory :-) I'll ask about this of him in the abstract in the near future.

    -Mark
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Mark

    That's a good path. I generally believe that funerals are best handled by engaging in consultation (that might be the priest or it might be the music director) and offering a menu that has been approved for the parish (as a white list, in essence), but being prepared for one-offs and being careful about picking battles.

    And your concern about having all the documents ready in mind is precisely why musicians are typically poorly placed to pick legal battles; I find, even in discussions among the minutiae-oriented, that people almost always neglect something (usually something that creates a tension with their preferences), and it can turn into an Achilles heel - and the killer here is that getting to 99% is not enough, but it can fool you into thinking it is enough and it only takes that 1% to prime you for a fall (so the more minutiae-oriented you are, the more vulnerable you can be).
    Thanked by 1Gavin
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Liam, I'm curious as to why something that is "irregular meter" could be considered metrical. (As a matter of pure curiosity - I agree with you completely on the whole matter of this thread.) At what point does one not simply say any text in verse is "metered", if irregular? And, if that is the case, why does the GIRM call for a psalm arranged "in metrical form", if there is no such thing as one which is NOT "in metrical form"?

    My understanding of that clause was that it was intended to include those settings like the French, English, Scottish traditions of a metered Psalter. I haven't used it in such a way, though I have always considered it an option.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,092
    Gavin

    In a metrical index of tunes, at least for some hymnals, you will find "Irregular" tunes....

    All that I am saying is that the text Joncas employs is set to metered measures, even if the syllabic subdivisions shift somewhat from verse to verse. It's not blank verse. All I am saying is that "metrical" is not self-defining in a way that would *necessarily* exclude that notion in concept (not necessarily this specific example) - interpretation is still required. And I would leave definitive interpretation to at least the diocesan level, if not higher....
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Use the Chabanel setting of the same Psalm from the Vatican II Hymnal.
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,048
    Why not just sing the song somewhere else during the funeral (offertory, communion)?
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,480
    Look at dates, people- the funeral in question was over a year and a half ago.
    Thanked by 1Ralph Bednarz
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    Look at dates, people-


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    Thanked by 6Heath Adam Wood CharlesW chonak Ben CHGiffen
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