Brebeuf hymnal
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    To those who have the Brebeuf Hymnal:
    What do I need to purchase in order to be able to play and sing items from this Hymnal system? Can I just buy the choral supplement? Do I have to buy the 3 accompaniment volumes?

    The pew book is melody only, correct? I am guessing the choral supplement is like Choral Praise and doesn’t have harmonies to the whole hymnal.
    Does the accompaniment volume contain all the words? Or is it some idiomatic version with the words and hymns separate.

    I will probably use this as motet material for cantor/organ.
  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 685
    davido,

    I take it you have been to the website?
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    In the choral version, the verses are individually spelled out in SATB - so each hymn takes a number of pages.

    You are correct, the "unison hymns" are not included in the choral version. Frankly, it's hard to even pick music from it without the pew edition.

    I don't have the accompaniment editions but I'd imagine it would be hard to play from the choral edition.
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    Regarding the choral supplement:
    Some companies publish a “choir edition” that’s basically a pew edition with harmonies, but the Brébeuf approach is different. This larger book (1,192 pages!) carefully notates every single verse, which is a singer’s dream! As a supplement, it must be used in conjunction with the pew edition. Inclusion of all the pew edition material—literal translations, theological annotations, color plates, composer biographies, and so forth—would have made the Choral Supplement thousands of pages long and too heavy.

    https://www.ccwatershed.org/2020/01/28/photos-brebeuf-choral-supplement-hymnal/
  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    You are correct that the normal hymnal is melody only. It is beautiful, and I really have to hand it to them.

    The organ accompaniments will be necessary (unless you want to play from the supplement) but it will be a test of your patience, if you're anything like me. Hymns that could fit easily on a single page are all spread out since every verse is notated individually. This is billed as a big improvement, however if you're capable of playing a regular hymn and reading the text with up to 5 or 6 verses, then it proves quite the opposite.
  • janetgorbitzjanetgorbitz
    Posts: 964
    I have the organ accompaniments collection and like it very much. Accompaniments do have every verse notated, which I think is great... I can remember catching myself singing the wrong words to verses on many occasions when I played and directed at the same time in the past. Some of the accompaniments are offered in two keys, which is also nice. I have been familiarizing myself with many lovely hymn melodies that I was previously unfamiliar with... really nice.
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  • ServiamScores
    Posts: 2,721
    I can remember catching myself singing the wrong words to verses on many occasions when I played and directed at the same time in the past.

    True. I've done it too. There's also that occasional panic when you get to the end of one verse and think, "oh no-- did I just sing verse four or verse three?!" (especially if there is a tag common to all verses).
    Thanked by 1janetgorbitz
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