Interesting...are you proposing doing english/latin alternatim, or are you looking for english polyphony?

The congregation would just chant their parts in english and the choir would sing theirs in latin.

That seems weird.
(Will they stick a feather in their cap as well?)

The ICEL Gloria (Mass XV) is basically mode IV; It would be easy enough, I think, to set the ICEL text to a mode IV falsobordone chant, and have that alternate with the people singing the regular ICEL chant.

If you have last year's colloquium (2012) packet, there is a Lasso mode IV falsobordone chant at Vespers; if you have a music program, you could transcribe it and add the ICEL Gloria text.

I'm not sure a Latin/vernacular alternation is a good idea. Alternatim singing in one language can be appealing, with the two parts together completing a single text, a familiar text. But if you break up a single liturgical act into bits, the two parts together would create a hybrid text, something which neither choir nor congregation would ever sing as a unit.

This is something that I sketched out last night. (Finally a day off!)

Sal-
Love the idea. At first blush I agree with Fr. RK, but would need to reserve judgement until I had more... information (?).
The fact that the line descends to the G# before descending to the G makes me think it could (might, may, should, possibly) work out.

Is that transition the same as in the original Lasso you are adapting? Does it "work" in that context for congregational singing?

Finally:
Whether this or another setting... I think this alternatim approach, in English, is a wonderful idea.

Adam,

I agree with Fr. Krisman, too!

The original (which is just a setting of psalm-tone 'IV-E') descends to the G sharp - of course in the original the psalm-tone always begins with the reciting tone (A) so the pircardy third in the Soprano isn't so awkward when returning to the beginning of the falsobordone. Maybe just lowering the third to plain old 'G'?

I have not seen the 'original' of the Lasso, I'm working from last year's colloquium packet and Dr. Mahrt's editions of Lasso falsobordone for Solemn Vespers, so I don't know whether the G# is in the 'original' or if it is an editorial addition of ficta.

All in all, I think some 'tweakoneering' is in order.

I try to post a MIDI later today.

Not to belabor a point about the "reciting tone" (or "tenor" or "dominant"), raised in another thread, but:

In the Lasso Quarti Toni falsobordone chant cited by Salieri (and used in last year's Colloquium EF Vespers), the "tenor" is in the tenor part. I.e., the actual Psalm tone appears as the tenor part in the Lasso setting. Thus the "melody" is NOT in the soprano part, but in the tenor part. Mode IV (plagal) has its final on E and the (raised) reciting tone (or "tenor") on A.

In the Colloquium packet for 2012, the plainsong chant is given, transposed, with the reciting tone on D (Re) instead of A (La), a common practice. The curious thing about the Lasso is that he raises the pitch of G (Sol) in the chant to G#, which is itself a typical Renaissance alteration of the original chant.

With regard to Salieri's adaptation, it would thus seem, at least to me, that the first two SATB sections ("We praise you" and "we adore you") would be better rendered using the first half of the falsobordone chant, rather than the second half. To me it seemed a little jarring to have the second half of the Lasso setting appear, twice, before the first half. Additionally, making these suggested changes (first half in place of second half) would resolve the G-sharp followed by G-natural problems.

CHG I remember we transposed the Falsobordone and the Plainchant so that they "met in the middle" and both recited on the same actual pitch, regardless of the notated pitches -- and yes, it drove people with perfect pitch crazy, thankfully I am not one of them. (Am I the only musician in the world that enjoys NOT having perfect pitch?)

Thanks for the suggestion, I was wondering about that myself. Will do an amended version tonight (with updated MIDI), and try to post it tomorrow.

Attached is a PDF of the amended version, and a MIDI file. (A caveat about the MIDI: The plainchant goes too fast without any lengthening of notes at incises; and the polyphony is a little slow. Both should go at about the same general pace, but I didn't have the patience to fiddle with the tempo.)

Comments, suggestions, etc. more than welcome.

This is the same as above but with a slightly different layout which allows the music to fit on four pages rather than six.