Communio "Aufer a me"
  • doneill
    Posts: 207
    A question for all those singing the communion chant for this coming Sunday: The traditional Solesmes books have "Aufer a me" as Mode II, while the Graduale Novum and Gregor und Taube website have it as Mode I. Cases for both? And how do you pitch it? In Mode 1, raising the pitch to get the low notes (especially on the second "tua") out of the depths may make the psalm tone too high.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Ah, Aufer a me! My blog post on a recording of this chant two years ago still holds the record for most hits in a single day:

    Aufer a me: This is what all the fuss is about

    In addition to the mode I & II classifications, Albi and Angelica have mode VIII. However, the "important" manuscripts like Einsiedeln, St. gall 376, and Montpellier all seem to agree on mode I.

    I guess the question is, why do you care what mode it is in? How will that influence your performance? If it's just a question of which psalm tone to pair it with, the Versicularium has verses written out in mode I (ideal if you're used to reading from St. Gall notation). If you'd prefer to use a resource like Communio (a good choice if you've following Solesmes interpretation), then go for the mode II version there.

    The question of pitch depends on whether or not you use the Vatican edition of the melody (where sections have been transposed to fit into the mode without using accidentals) or the version from the Graduale Novum with its mi-flats. The latter drops down to a sol.

    As a general rule, I pitch chants in the Fa clef with a Bb-fa. With my church groups, I don't like the chant to go higher than a D (or lower than a C), so this doesn't always work.

    Let us know how it turns out!
  • john m
    Posts: 136
    I usually set a high-ish starting pitch for this one. This Sunday my schola will start it on A (unless morning warmup turns out pretty rough, in which case I will lower it to G) I think when certain chants are pitched too low the melody can lose much of its vitality and sound dull. I generally prefer to err on the high side, provided the singers are able to hit the higher notes without straining.
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