Introit "Laudamini in nomine sancto"
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,001
    While watching the Mass at Rome this morning at the occasion of the Opening of the Year of Faith, the introit antiphon puzzled me – I couldn't find it in my chant books. The text has been taken from Psalm 105 (104): 3-4, 5:

    Laudamini in nomine sancto eis,
    lætetur cor quærentium Dominum.
    Quærite Dominum et potentiam eius,
    mementote mirabilium eius, quæ fecit.

    It is based on the introit Lætetur cor (Fourth and Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time), but a sentence has been added to the slightly adjusted text, and the melody has been adapted accordingly.

    Is this a new composition?
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  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    Not only the Introit but the Communion sung at the same Mass appear to be new compositions.

    The texts of these propers are those of the new Mass formulary for a "Mass for the New Evangelization."

    It's intriguing that rather than substituting appropriate chants from the authentic Gregorian repertory (Laetetur cor would have been an obvious choice), we appear to have a brand new neo-Gregorian introit and communion for the first time in, what, half a century?

    There is much to say about this shift in direction, but I'm mainly curious about the identity of the composer. Also, what do we think of the merits of the compositions - how faithful are they to the Gregorian style? How do they compare with other neo-Gregorian efforts such as Signum Magnum?
  • smvanroodesmvanroode
    Posts: 1,001
    Oh, I didn't notice the communion antiphon was also a new composition (by then I was already on my way to Mass in my own diocese). While the source of the introit melody is obvious, no particular antiphon comes to mind for the communion, though it has a lot of movements characteristic of mode I.
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  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    I profess no true academic musicological expertise here, but whatever musical instincts I've honed by singing the chants in the Graduale tell me that although a bit formulaic, the Communion seems more stylistically successful than the Introit. The editing done to Laetetur Cor recasts it (to my ear at least) almost more like an Offertory chant than an Introit.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    wow this is rather amazing
    Thanked by 1Ben
  • JonathanKKJonathanKK
    Posts: 542
    My two cents: Robert's above link to the "new Mass formulary for a Mass of the New Evangelization" has no verses for the introit, and also lacks an offertory proper and gradual. Thus the introit, although in style similar to an introit from the GR, is actually just a chant setting of a Missal-style text. If this Mass formulary were to appear in the GR sometime, it would likely have completely different propers, since the Missal propers and Graduale Romanum propers don't usually match.
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    My two cents: Robert's above link to the "new Mass formulary for a Mass of the New Evangelization" has no verses for the introit, and also lacks an offertory proper and gradual. Thus the introit, although in style similar to an introit from the GR, is actually just a chant setting of a Missal-style text. If this Mass formulary were to appear in the GR sometime, it would likely have completely different propers, since the Missal propers and Graduale Romanum propers don't usually match.


    If it were ever mandated to be included in the Ordo Cantus Missae, and hence make it in to the next edition of the Graduale - whenever that might be.... For there are propers for new saints in the most recent (1985-ish, I believe) edition of the Ordo Cantus Missae (all drawn from the existing repertoire) that were never even put into so much as an addendum in reprintings of the current Graduale Romanum since then.

    However, while I could be wrong, I don't sense this Mass formulary is intended to be around for more than the Year of Faith.

    And of course, the Vatican can do what they decide in terms of neo-Gregorian compositions. Such compositions are not without precedent in the current Graduale. Solesmes can petition to replace them with authentic chants if this formulary does indeed make it into any new edition Ordo Cantus Missae/Graduale, but the Vatican can always withhold its recognitio of Solesmes' Graduale edition if this is the text they really want.

    And for the record, the Missal propers and Graduale propers match a whole lot more than they are made to seem in conversation around here....
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  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    SkipR, I had the same thoughts. Looking at the missal, the propers don't always match, but they frequently do, especially on big feasts like Christmas (one example I know the introits match, off the top of my head).
    Thanked by 1SkirpR
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