Tract. Qui habitat - An original interpretation
  • Jacques PerrièreJacques Perrière
    Posts: 139
    On behalf of Director of Music Paul Kolb from The Newman Consort (Oxford, UK).
    http://www.newmanconsort.com/p/about-us.html
    Last Sunday at mass Paul created a brilliant interpretation of this Tract Qui habitat: first verse is with full Gregorian melody. Then each of the following 11 verses are sung not as psalm tone but with a recitation note F for the main part, keeping the first and last few notes from the Gregorian melody. The last verse is a mix between recitation and Gregorian melody. In total it takes 4:36 instead of the usual 12 min. Here is what it sounds like:
    http://www.gregorianbooks.com/p.php?p=list|nc/tr_qui_habitat
    http://www.gregorianbooks.com/p.php?p=MPnc/tr_qui_habitat/tr.qui_habitat.mp3,GR95|0|100|746|1006,GR96,GR97,GR98|0|92|746|877

    Once a month Paul and his choir sing polyphony at mass in our Parish (Reading, UK). Last Sunday it was Clemens’ "Missa Misericorde".
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • SkirpRSkirpR
    Posts: 854
    Interesting idea, and props for creativity. (To be honest, my person jury is still out, but maybe...)
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,779
    We have always been banned from singing this in full at our parish, an extra 5 minutes of sermon are far more important! (there is a Mass after ours and the timings are very short)

    What we would do is sing the first two verses in full, then use the "Chants abreges" version until the last two verses that we would sing in full.

    This year some of us went to another parish as guests and sang the full version, we have already been invited back to sing it again next year! It is also sung in full at another church in London each year!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Jacques Perrière
  • mahrt
    Posts: 517
    I began as others described, singing the first and last verses in Gregorian chant and the rest in psalm tones. The next year it was the first two and last two verses; we continued to add, and eventually we met in the middle and have sung the tract completely in Gregorian chant ever since. I put a note in the program given to the congregation, exhorting them to meditate upon the text or the lessons during the tract. I have received positive comments on it.
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen Jacques Perrière Adam Wood
  • Richard R.
    Posts: 776
    Always interested in new ways to handle this Tract.

    For the really extravagant, Josquin has a 4-voice choral setting of the entire psalm. The voicing is typically odd for modern choirs, but is still more accessible than his partial setting of the same psalm... for 24 voices. I can't find it on the web. This is a scan of a photocopy from the Collected Works.
    Josquin_QuiHabitat_4v.PDF
    861K
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen jpal
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Resurrecting this old thread to offer my thanks for Dr. Mahrt's suggestion of singing the first and last verses of the Qui habitat according to the G.R. and the other verses in psalm tones. alternating between men and women. We had time constraints today so we used his plan and it was very successful (although I missed singing the verse about the flying arrow and the noonday devil in the original.) : )
    Thanked by 1Jacques Perrière
  • Jacques PerrièreJacques Perrière
    Posts: 139
    Hello Julie,
    Yeah this morning we sang the Gregorian melody for two verses at the beginning and two verses at the end, the rest in simple psalm tone (from the Liber Brevior). One of the difficulties it to switch from Gregorian melody to psalm tone and vice-versa...
    I don't know if we will be able to sing it in full someday, same time constraint as you had.
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
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