Chant settings for Meal Prayers?
  • J. Scott Olsson
    Posts: 7
    Is anyone aware of any chant settings for the meal prayers, e.g., "Benedic Domine nos et haec tua dona..."? We're hoping to inject some more chant into our domestic church.

    pax!
    Scott
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Why not use one of the collect formulas, since that's the general structure?
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • J. Scott Olsson
    Posts: 7
    Gavin,

    Aha, this is precisely the type of answer I'm looking for (insofar as I have no idea what you mean)! Can you point me to where I can learn about this?

    pax,
    Scott
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    scohop - later tonight, I can scan in a page or two from the 2002 Missale Romanum (or perhaps the Graduale Romanum) that deal with the tones for singing the Collect.
  • J. Scott Olsson
    Posts: 7
    Fantastic, thank you! -Scott
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    Here are four images from the 2002 MR.

    Simple Tone (A)
    image

    Simple Tone (B) and Conclusion ("Per Dominum...")
    image

    Simple Tone Conclusion ("Per Christum..."); Solemn Tone and Conclusion
    image

    Solemn Tone Conclusion (cont'd)
    image
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    As for the text and its inflections:

    Bénedic, Dómine
    nos (OR: me) et haec tua dona
    quae de tua largitáte sumus (OR: sum) súmpturi.
    Per Christum Dóminum nostrum.
    Amen.

    I think I'd use Simple Tone B: I'd pause after "Domine", with the mediatur (the *) after "dona" (thus "tua" is two descending notes B-A and "dona" is on C again), and no flectitur.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Write it up! could become the standard edition.
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    Jeffrey Tucker - By the way, am I using those Latin terms properly? Whitaker's Words tells me "mediatur" means "to be in the middle/to be halved" and "flectitur" means "to bend or curve", so I assume the rubrics simply mean if a prayer has an asterisk or a cross symbol, that is a sign to the priest to know when to inflect his voice.
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Arlene is the expert (among many others excluding me) but I believe the terms you are looking for are mediant and flex.
  • Hugh
    Posts: 198
    Here's an attempt at Grace Before Meals. Please check & advise me of any corrections needed.

    Hugh Henry
    Melbourne, Australia
    Gracebefore Meals.pdf
    17K
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    That works too, Hugh. :) I'd put a short breath (') after "Domine", but that's just me.

    (What do you use for the generation of the chant & text?)
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Yippee. this is great.
  • Hugh
    Posts: 198
    CR,

    here's a version with the added rest. Just for you!

    Chant & text in Meinrad. Then copied & pasted into a MS Publisher table , in which one can use its handy WordArt tool (not available in Word) for the large initial cap. (Publisher doesn't recognise Meinrad fonts - as far as I can tell - but you can copy and paste from Word, and keep doing that within Publisher.)

    Cheers
    HH
    Gracebefore MealsAddedRest.pdf
    17K
  • das
    Posts: 16
    Hugh, Would you want to try Grace after meals also? It's beyond me for the time being...
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    Here are my versions of the Blessing & Grace. I'll have an mp3 recording of Agimus tibi later today.

    image image
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    wow, this is so great. Maybe it's just because I'm a newbie, but I get the biggest kick out of this stuff!
  • J. Scott Olsson
    Posts: 7
    Excellent! I'm very excited to see how, overwhelmingly, this idea has been positively received.

    pax,
    Scott
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    I'm not stopping there. I've incorporated, into the pre-meal blessing, the post-blessing (pre-meal) prayer proper to the time of day.

    In other words, here's the blessing with a prayer for midday and a prayer for evening added on to the end. Maybe I took some creative liberties here, but I didn't use the same model this time. I will definitely provide an mp3 recording for these two prayers.

    image
  • John Nisbet
    Posts: 12
    About ten years ago, I ordered what should be the standard collection of meal prayers in chant from Solesmes. It is a thin, pocket-sized booklet, with many prayers in Latin, in chant. It is a collection of the chants that are used by the monks at Solesmes at their meals. A quick search on www.solesmes.com did not bring it up- but perhaps it is still there. Very worthwhile, as are the several efforts above!
  • John Nisbet
    Posts: 12
    The booklet of meal prayers from Solesmes is still available: Prières de la table (latin-français). Input Ref. number 3018 into the search form on the section of www.solesmes.com for books.
  • J. Scott Olsson
    Posts: 7
    John,

    It looks like it isn't available right now. Can you tell us what the meal prayers look like?

    pax,
    Scott
  • John Nisbet
    Posts: 12
    I see the "Épuisé" next to the booklet on the Solesmes site, and didn't notice that it is currently out of stock. My copy is currently packed away (I'm sure you're thinking, 'why is something like that packed away?', but it is. It will be some days before I will have the time to look it up. However, in brief now, it basically looks like all the other Solesmes editions, 4-line neumatic notation, Latin, and in this case French text as well.
  • DN
    Posts: 6
    If "epuise" is translated as "worn out," that might mean this publication is out of print or out of stock. I too am interested in obtaining a copy of the meal-prayers said by the monks of Solesmes or Fontgombault for that matter. If someone is aware of an online source please advise.
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    Cross Ref - I've gotten around the initial cap problem by putting a text box (no line, no fill) at the beginning of the line. That way I can still use Word. But I have a problem with Word adjusting the character spacing - very frustrating after spending all afternoon aligning notes and vowels! Do you have a workaround for that? And which font are you using for the initial character? Very nice!
  • Praying The Mass
    Posts: 70
    priorstf - I did in fact use the text-box approach for my inital cap. As for the character-spacing, I'm not sure I have the problem you describe.

    The font for the initial character is "Blackletter686 BT". Don't ask me where I got it... it came installed on my laptop at work.
  • priorstf
    Posts: 460
    Thanks for the info, Cross Reference. Not that expensive a font so I think I'll add it to the collection here. I'll just keep cranking away on Word until I get the spacing to settle down.
  • DN
    Posts: 6
    Is anyone interested in transcribing this longer version into chant, for the benefit of readers? I believe this version of Grace Before/After Meals is what is used in most monasteries and religious orders.
    Before Dinner.doc
    28K
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    Updated Gregorio Grace before meals with translation. My code now also attached...
    GraceBeforeMeals w trans.pdf
    59K
    Gracebeforemeals-code.doc
    24K
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Suggestion: when posting gregorio files, also include the GABC original.

    Is this for the colloquium?
    Thanked by 1Adam Wood
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 1,939
    Norcia has a book for their prayers before meal, which is conveniently made with Gregorio... I need to ask if they would be willing to share the file.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    I have seen this file as well on the forum before. It doesn't use the collect tone, iirc.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    I was thinking it would be good to have in the music book for the Colloquium... if there is already a better version or more appropriate tone, let me know...
  • RomanticStringsRomanticStrings
    Posts: 337
    What is the difference between the tones that makes the Amen go ti-do versus do-do?
  • CGM
    Posts: 683
    whether or not it's extinct?
  • k9mjm
    Posts: 4
    Inspired by a mug I recently noticed, here is a 12x18 poster-sized Illustrator PDF file with the prayer before meals set under the feeding of the multitude, suitable for putting on the wall in your parish commons. Most of the online printers (Walmart, Staples, etc) offer 12x18.

    image
    benedic-Domine-nos-with-bleed.pdf
    8M
    benedic-Domine-nos.jpg
    3600 x 5400 - 7M
    Thanked by 1CatherineS
  • DanielT
    Posts: 9
    Here's the grace before meals chant from the most recent Colloquium!
    Grace Before Meals (Chant).pdf
    99K
    Thanked by 1Incardination
  • Nisi
    Posts: 146
    k9mgm, thank you so much for this! Two wrong notes, however: "tua" should be ti-la. Any way to fix it? Great to hang in a classroom!
    Thanked by 1JonathanLC
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 539
    http://www.msb-lgf.org/editionspaxinterspinas.html?fbclid=IwAR1W_7lrm7YJMCzf-9aSDoO6L4rCAZcu4tKWn0kSUT0WaCaxH38mG21tmOU

     “​The new publishing house of the Monastère Saint-Bènoit, Éditions Pax inter Spinas, is pleased to announce the publication in August 2019 of its first title, Benedictiones Mensæ, containing the traditional Latin blessings before and after meals with their proper chants according to the Roman and monastic rites, newly typeset and printed in black and red throughout. Designed for easy use, this inexpensive booklet will enable families, communities and other groups and individuals to draw from the rich tradition these blessings contain, including the proper blessings for Christmas, Epiphany, the Sacred Triduum, Easter and Pentecost. The 68 page saddle-stitch stapled booklet (89mm x 123mm) carries the imprimatur of the Bishop of Fréjus-Toulon.”
    Thanked by 1drforjc
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Here's a booklet produced for the monastery at Norcia some years ago:
    https://gregorio-project.github.io/examples/benedictiones/benedictiones.pdf
    Thanked by 1GregoryWeber
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 392
    Fr. Z is on this:
    http://wdtprs.com/blog/2019/08/podcazt-176-how-to-sing-table-prayers-in-latin/
    Thanked by 2Joseph Mendes GregoryWeber
  • bhcordovabhcordova
    Posts: 1,152
    Don't forget the setting in the colloquium book
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