Hymnarium O.P.
  • innocentop
    Posts: 64
    The Dominican Province of St. Joseph in the Eastern United States has just announced the launch of a new hymnal for the Divine Office, the Hymnarium O.P.

    There is more information about the publication here: http://hymnarium.org/

    Readers of this site might be particularly interested in the melody catalogue provided here, which provides recordings of each chant melody used in the volume: http://hymnarium.org/melodies/

    If you'd like to support the project, you can do so here: https://rally.org/hymnarium . Those who contribute $25.00 or more will receive a copy of the volume once the printing is completed.

    —Bro. Innocent Smith, op
    Thanked by 6tomjaw CHGiffen Earl_Grey jpal expeditus1 eft94530
  • Ben Dunlap
    Posts: 48
    This book seems to be a collection of the main traditional hymns of the Office, set to their original melodies, with fully-notated English and Latin versions available for every hymn. I'm inclined to be dumbstruck -- is anything even remotely like this available anywhere else?

    Seems to me that the project is worth supporting just for the enormously helpful page with 68 recorded hymn melodies.
    Thanked by 5CHGiffen innocentop PiusOP expeditus1 Gavin
  • PiusOP
    Posts: 3
    Thank you for your kind words!

    No, there is nothing remotely like this anywhere. The Dominican Student Brothers at our House of Studies have done an incredible amount of work in putting together not only this volume, but all of the digital aids that are on the website. It has truly been an outstanding effort.

    Please consider supporting their efforts with some financial help and by telling as many people as you know about this project.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen eft94530
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    Definitely a fantastic project. I'm curious about something, though: it seems that the texts are the restored (pre-Urban VIII) texts (as they appear in the Liber Hymnarium), but the melodies are the LU versions rather than the revised (restored?) melodies that appear in the LH. At a quick glance I noticed this is true for Conditor alme siderum, Christe Redemptor omnium, and Veni Creator Spiritus. This strikes me as an unusual pairing which may limit the hymnal's potential usefulness to either EF or OF communities already accustomed to singing these hymns.
  • innocentop
    Posts: 64
    The texts for the most part come from the Dominican Breviarium O.P., and are not the versions that appear in the Liturgia Horarum/Liber Hymnarius. The melodies come from the 1933 Antiphonarium O.P., which accurately presents the 13th century Dominican melodies of the Order. Thus at times the texts and melodies will both differ somewhat from what would be found in the Liber Usualis and Liber Hymnarius. If you're curious to learn more about the sources for the volume, there is more detailed provided in the introduction to the volume.
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen jpal Earl_Grey eft94530
  • jpal
    Posts: 365
    Ah! Ok, now I understand.
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 904
    I'd love to see a similar volume for the Roman Breviary using the LH melodies with both Latin and English texts.
  • CGM
    Posts: 699
    One thing to note about Dominican melodic notation: unlike Solesmes notation, where an accidental (the flatted "ti") lasts only through the end of the word wherein it appears, in Dominican notation, it lasts all the way until the next full or double-bar line. Check out the recordings of melodies 66 (first two measures) or 51 (last two measures) for examples of this. (Also, melodies 50, 42, 39, 36, & 11.)
  • Chris_McAvoyChris_McAvoy
    Posts: 389
    During the 20th century there were at least 4 obscure anglican plainsong office hymnals fully notated under each syllable.

    Actually, Dr. William Renwick already put out a similar hymnal 6 months ago.
    It's very good, though everyone can debate whether a few translations were the best.

    http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~renwick/Annex/Sarum%20Hymnal%20Part%201.pdf
    http://www.humanities.mcmaster.ca/~renwick/Annex/Sarum%20Hymnal%20Part%202.pdf

    Than there's the old St. Dunstan's Hymnal from 1968, but its in modern notation and not notated under every line, some of the harmonizations designed for organ in it are very nice, simple as they are. https://app.box.com/s/5be07fea0d976ec3fe96

    Go back to the beginning to about 1856 to the very first one which was J.M. Neales...
    A Hymnal Noted: Translations of the Ancient Hymns of the Latin Church
    https://app.box.com/s/y1hrg6om3jdhqd8ajdga

    The lutherans translated a number of important office hymns to german AND HUNGARIAN (Laszlo Dobsay fell in love with these and recorded some on his cds) during the 16th century and kept the original melodies, for example:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj1QAB9ZjVg
    A warning for those translations is that sometimes lutherans tinkered with the text to reflect their theology, but most often it reflects the original latin well. As far as the melodies go they did some amazing harmonizing with the ancient melodies. They deserve great respect for that.


    I've been working on a hymnal like this for 3 years, I never seem to complete it.
    It combines text from the best of the bunch, with a focus on accuracy and singeability without too much paraphrase. Some day it will be ready...

    I recently acquired the 1967 dominican breviary that this lates dominican hymnal is based on which has excellent hymn translations, They are based on the classical anglican and early 20th c. RC metrical translatons except they changed the "You and Yours" instead of "Thee and Thous". The 1967 breviary of the Order of Preachers is also excellent for its english translations of the antiphons of the office, a number of which, for the proper of saints, currently exist no other place on earth.

    I prefer the thees and thous, but the yous and yours are good enough to accept for most times.

    This is a very hopeful sign to see this hymnal being promoted. Very very hopeful, long overdue. People've been waiting since 1967 it seems !

    Thanked by 5CHGiffen innocentop expeditus1 ClemensRomanus a1437053
  • innocentop
    Posts: 64
    It's great to learn more about these other books, thanks!
  • PiusOP
    Posts: 3
    Thanks to everyone who donated, we have met our fundraising goal! We have been gratified by the incredible amount of interest this project has generated. Thank you to all those who responded, whether through the generosity of their finances, the generosity of telling others, or the generosity of their prayers.

    Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!
  • innocentop
    Posts: 64
    The Hymnarium is now available for pre-order from New Hope Publications:

    http://www.newhope-ky.org/sacredmusic.html

    http://hymnarium.org/2013/10/26/hymnarium-now-available-for-pre-ordering/
    Thanked by 1jpal
  • ambroselittle
    Posts: 1
    Hi y'all, some time ago, I bought the hymnarium, and I was very much using and needing the accompanying Web site with the recordings. Sadly, several months ago the site stopped working.

    Is there any way to get it back up? I'm in software, so maybe I can help. Any other resources you can suggest for learning to sing properly with our hymns?

    Mr. Ambrose Little, O.P.
    Lay Dominican in St. Joseph's Province
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    @ambroselittle

    The internet archive 'Wayback machine' is your friend...

    http://web.archive.org/web/20160728200814/http://hymnarium.org/melodies/

    and you can download the page and the melodies still work, sadly the recordings are in English!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    Where can I order a copy of this?
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    I suggest sending a PM to forum member innocentop who has been a main connection with the Dominicans and who started this thread. He has posted here at the forum within the past couple of months.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • innocentop
    Posts: 64
    The Hymnarium O.P. is back in print via Lulu.com:

    http://www.lulu.com/shop/ordo-praedicatorum/hymnarium-2016/hardcover/product-23267314.html
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen Kathy bhcordova tomjaw
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