Hymn Tune Introits: An Annual Cycle
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Yesterday I received an advance copy of the WLP winter catalog. It features a very gracious interview with me, and gives the first notice of my forthcoming book, a handy annual collection of my Hymn Tune Introits.

    The Hymn Tune Introits paraphrase and rhyme the Entrance Antiphons of the Mass so that they may be sung to any Long Meter (8.8.8.8. iambic) hymn tune, such as Old Hundredth, Duke Street, Conditor Alme Siderum, or Deo Gratias.

    It was important to me that this first publication be printed without musical notation, because some parishes do not have significant musical resources. In the past, such parishes might not be able to learn to sing propers in any form, and musical notation would be confusing. Now they can simply sing this version of the Antiphon to a tune they already know by heart. This is a very basic way of singing the propers, a no-excuses resource that any parish at all can use.

    The propers of the Mass are ordinarily scriptural, and they express a prayerfulness and theology that is hard to match with any hymn text. They are also universal. Like the lectionary, the propers have a unifying power, uniting the Church in a common prayer throughout the world.

    I'm honored to have a small part in helping to recover this important part of the Mass.
    Thanked by 5canadash JulieColl hilluminar Salieri tsoapm
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    WATCH THIS SPACE.
    Thanked by 1Salieri
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Congratulations on your publication! Ad multos annos.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Thank you!
  • Bobby Bolin
    Posts: 417
    Please let us know when this is available!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    I understand that the Hymn Tune Introits are available for licensing at $100 per year.

    This is a great savings for those who might otherwise be considering stocking their pews with yet another bound resource, or for those uncertain about beginning any use of proper texts in their local situation.

    Please contact WLP for details.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Just wanted to bump this up as the new liturgical year comes near, for those who might be interested in an easy, low-confrontation way of introducing the proper Entrance Antiphons in their local parish situations.

    These texts can all be sung to the same Long Meter tune--one that your congregation already knows!--so there is a feeling of familiarity that leads to immediate buy-in for the congregation.

    Sample pages and ordering information are available here.
  • roy2
    Posts: 15
    At our small organ & cantor mass, we have been using Kathy's Hymn Tune Introits since this past Easter Sunday as step 2 of our low-key move towards the use of propers at mass. (Step 1 was singing the Communion Antiphon/Psalm, usually Andrew Motyka's or Lumen Christi's settings. I love that I can tell people that the most-recently-composed music sung at our church is at our organ & cantor mass!)

    We sing Kathy's metrical setting of the antiphon, then a doxology that fits the meter, then the antiphon again. Three "verses" is about the right length of time for the entrance procession. Our parish has a subscription to OneLicense which allows us to print the words in the program. (WLP stuff has been available on OneLicense since the merger earlier this year.)

    I highly recommend this!
    Thanked by 2Kathy StimsonInRehab
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,388
    small organ & cantor mass

    Is the organ small, or are both the organ and the cantor small? Or is it a small ( i.e. sparsely attended) Mass with organ and cantor? Adjectives are sometimes tricky.
  • chonakchonak
    Posts: 9,157
    Do try to be welcoming to new users, won't you? Thanks ever so much.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    Thanks, roy2! I'm so glad to hear this is working.

    And many thanks for mentioning that the HT Introits are covered by the license--just reproduce in a worship aid and you're good to go.
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    I use these every week, and they're wonderful.

    We do a three-verse hymn -- Antiphon (K.P.), verse (from a metrical psalter, corresponding to verse in Grad. Rom.), Doxology. Its, not 'antiphonal', but it works. We use CONDITOR ALME during Advent; JESU DULCIS during Lent; VOM HIMMEL HOCH, Christmas; DUKE STREET, Easter and Solemnities of the Lord; and alternate OLD HUNDREDTH, TALLIS' CANON, and WAREHAM during Ordinary Time.
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,388
    Welcome, roy2!
    Thanked by 2StimsonInRehab roy2
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,916
    are both the organ and the cantor small?


    I shudder at the thought of being the Incredible Shrinking Organist. The Incredible Shrinking Man only had to deal with oversized spiders and cats, never with the Amazing Colossal Diva.

    Annnnnnnd I just broke Rule 7 again! #habitualoffender
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,916
    Back on-topic: Kathy, I've been considering starting singing propers for all of our OF masses starting Advent. Here's the way I was incorporating your work: we have a solo voice, a cappella, sing the antiphon to the hymn tune, which segues into the hymn with full choir and organ afterwards. Does anyone else do it this way?
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    That sounds like something that takes quite some time.

    We tend to use these a bit in Advent.
    Hymn-tune introit (pew-copies have only the antiphon), choral verse + Gloria Patri (schola-only), repeat hymn-tune introit for the day. Sometimes we may sing the GP as a separate verse after the repeated antiphon, but that's normally enough time.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,933
    We do communion propers but introits wouldn't work so well. Too many in my choir think the Gloria is an entrance hymn. Some feel honor bound to not show up until it's over. By the first reading the full choir is in the loft.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,499
    This is fantastic feedback! I think it's marvelous that you have found what I feel is this resources greatest offering: flexibility.
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    Charles, if you sang the introit (especially as something not congregational), perhaps they'd think otherwise?

    When the first thing solely belonging to the choir is the offertory or somesuch, I'm not sure what the point is of being in the choir loft, either. (I don't mean this as a slight to you, in any way.)
Add a Comment