It's my understanding that any sort of choir anthem would need to be before or after vespers, not during it, unless it exactly contains the text of some part it is replacing. However, a homily can be added before the gospel canticle (if memory serves). The General Instruction on the Liturgy of the Hours (google it) would be a good help to you.

At our parish, we sing OF Vespers every Sunday afternoon "as is," but we omit the final one-sentence dismissal, and instead immediately follow with a short Benediction service ("O salutaris Hostia," exposition & silent prayer, "Tantum ergo," divine praises, reposition and Marian antiphon).

Hi! I have a question not directly pertaining to this conversation but indirectly. We will be chanting the vespers every Sunday during Lent. Are there any resources for this? We chanted the vespers during Advent, using Fr. Weber's resources that were given to us by someone else. Any advice? Sorry to barge in on this conversation but it seemed I might be able to find help here. Thanks!

Can I propose a different way of looking at the question?

"Vespers" is an assigned office, with prescribed texts. Can one use a through-composed setting of the psalms (my context is EF)? I would think so, for it preserves the integrity of the text. Could one sing a choral Magnificat? Again, I would think so, for it preserves the integrity of the text. Could one use an organ piece as a replacement for the text? I would think not, but you would have to ask the French on this one, because as someone else pointed out, there are many such versets.

Could one sing all parts of Vespers? It would be logical to do so.
Must one sing all parts of Vespers? No, especially if one is praying the office privately or semi-privately.

The question isn't so much whether one can use a choir or a choral setting as it is a question of WHAT is sung.

Most often when I've encountered motets/anthems inserted into Vespers, they come right after the homily and thus musicians have considered them part of the homily/a reflection on the reading... whether or not that's legitimate is above my pay-grade..., but when I've asked folks that's the response I've received.

An example of Vespers with additional pieces would be the Vespers of BVM by Monteverdi where there are motets between antiphons. Was this just a liberty indulged by the composer for this particular setting or was it a particular Venetian custom?

Chris,

First, that was my first use of purple text, which is a recent custom on this board implying that a comment is supposed to be taken with humor. I guess the purple text did not achieve its aim. I surely didn't mean any offense.

And while I'm no longer able to attend EF liturgies weekly, at times in my life I have, and in no way did I mean to disparage that form of the liturgy in any way. I was merely drawing attention to the fact that even in the more heavily legislated EF, there is a precedent for singing through all the text of the Psalms, since in the OF, there is no question on that matter as the General Instruction of the Liturgy of the Hours states there are many acceptable ways in which to sing the Psalms.

Also, the legislation about Classical-period music in the liturgy has seemingly gone back and forth to some extent since Mozart himself was alive. Our current Pontiff - some claim owing to his personal German background - seems to approve of certain liturgical use of Mozart, Haydn, etc.

While Tra le Sollecitudini does seem to ban these Mozart settings in the Divine Office, perhaps one would be correct that they shouldn't be done in an EF context, but since this document has been somewhat tempered by other legislation in other respects and I doubt many people these days would associate this music primarily with a secular context, I don't see the harm of using them on a special occasion if it has been supported by your pastor and bishop.

I also must add that the musician in me would find it a small pity if these settings were never able to be done again in the liturgical context for which they were conceived. Perhaps one could exploit the looser regulations of the OF Liturgy of the Hours to find a way to include them (even though these Psalms as a group are never assigned to a single Office in the OF), but the allowances one would be taking there seem in some way to be almost a greater abuse that presenting them in an EF context.

I was not in my first post trying to make an argument with any amount of weight (!) nor am I trying to do so here, but I hope this at least advances the discussion and sheds light on some of the surrounding issues.

Here at the Cathedral of St. Joseph (Sioux Falls) we have a schola that sings three polyphonic pieces at each (OF) vespers - a prelude, the Magnificat, and a postlude/recessional. Currently we have benediction after vespers, and the recessional motet begins when the tabernacle door closes.
The prelude is an alternatim setting of the appropriate seasonal or feast-day hymn; the postlude is the seasonal Marian antiphon. The schola is building a repertoire of Magnificats, and currently has three to alternate between.
The Magnificat is critical, in my mind, as the best place for polyphonic elaboration. The hymn we already do; however, the difficulty is getting the congregation to alternate with polyphony (as many of the office hymns are not known well). For that reason, the hymn alternatim is currently sung as a prelude. Down the road, a congregation familiar with singing the office hymns in Latin would be wonderful.
Everything else is chanted, with the schola leading. The psalms are sung on simple tones and alternate between left and right sides of the nave.

One way I have added 'extra' music in the past is to include motets to the Blessed Sacrament during benediction. That is not my preference, though, as the line between adoration and "mini-sacred-concert" is easy to blur.
The prelude and postlude can be padded to any length, though, without damaging the integrity of vespers.