Requiem Introit Additional Psalm Verses
  • Praised be Jesus Christ! This is my first post. I was blessed to be able to attend the Sacred Music Colloquim in 2010 and 2011 in Pittsburgh and am currently involved in a EF Schola that supports a local parish in Southern California once a month. We are preparing to sing the Propers for All Souls' Day and have been looking for additional verses for the Requiem Introit after the te decet deus hymnus in Sion. If anyone can point me to a resource for this (including the sheet music) I would be most grateful. I thought this was in the Colloquium packets but it must have been a handout in the Intermediate Men's chant section that I have since lost. God Bless you for your Apostolate of Service to His Church.
  • Welcome to the forum!

    Additional verses from Psalm 65 (64) to the Requiem introit can be found in the Graduale Simplex (p. 401):

    Qui audis oratiónem, * ad te omnis caro véniet propter iniquitátem.
    Etsi prævaluérunt super nos impietátes nostræ, * tu propitiáberis eis.
    Beátus quem elegísti et assumpsísti, * inhabitátbit in átriis tuis.
    Replébimur bonis domus tæ, * sanctitáte templi tui.
  • incantuincantu
    Posts: 989
    Here's the verse Exaudi from Gregor und Taube.

    The Graduale Triplex includes many ad libitum chants for Masses for the Dead, including some rarely heard gems like Qui seminant.
  • Josh
    Posts: 103
    The Graduale Triplex indicates additional psalm verses for the Introit Requiem - but these are for the OF only, both because their texts are taken from the Neo-Vulgate, and also because they are set to the introit psalm-tone VI, not to the special psalm-tone for use in the EF Introit Requiem alone.

    As Willi Apel notes in his 1958 work Gregorian Chant, 'Finally it may be noticed that the Introit of the Mass for the Dead, Requiem æternam [{L.U.} 1807], employs a "sixth tone" all its own, with recitation on a throughout, and with special formulae for the mediant, the second intonation, and the termination.'

    Annoyingly, the book Versus psalmorum et canticorum, which contains extra psalm verses for Introits for use at EF Masses, does not contain any extra verses for the Requiem Introit (though it does for the Communion Lux æterna).

    I have searched without success for extra psalm verses for the Requiem Introit, with text and music appropriate to the EF, and in default of finding any I have been bold enough to come up with my own.

    First, as the EF psalm verse is Psalm 64:2-3 (combining two into one), the obvious choices for additional verses are those next following in Psalm 64:4-6, which in the Vulgate run as follows:

    [v. 4] Verba iniquórum praevaluérunt super nos, * et impietátibus nostris tu propitiáberis.
    (The words of the wicked have prevailed over us: * and thou wilt pardon our transgressions.)

    [v. 5a] Beátus quem elegísti et assumpsísti: * inhabitábit in átriis tuis.
    (Blessed is he whom thou hast chosen and taken to thee: * he shall dwell in thy courts.)

    [vv. 5b-6a] Replébimur in bonis domus tuæ; * sanctum est templum tuum, mirábile in æquitáte.
    We shall be filled with the good things of thy house; * holy is thy temple, wonderful in justice.

    [6b] Exáudi nos, Deus, salutáris noster, spes ómnium fínium terræ, et in mari longe.
    Hear us, O God our saviour, * who art the hope of all the ends of the earth, and in the sea afar off.

    It seems to me that of these, vv. 5a and 6b are the more appropriate, while v. 4 is less appropriate given its first phrase. I assume that in the absence of a set rule, it would be acceptable to choose two out of these four to sing as extra verses, should they be needed, for the Introit of Requiem Masses.

    Second, as to the unique tone of the Requeim Introit psalm verse: utilising the convenient gabc notation, the first intonation is (fg) (gf) (gh), which is the same as the usual introit psalm-tone 6; but before the flex, it is [for accent](g) (h.), which appears unique; after the flex, it runs (f) (g) (h), which looks like the second intonation, or mediant cadence after the asterisk, for introit psalm-tone 6; before that mediant cadence is the unique formula [always for the last four syllables presumably](g) (ixi) (g) (h.); after the mediant cadence, it runs (f) (gh), the same as introit psalm-tone 6; but the ending is (f) (gh) [for accent](g) [if needed](f) (f.), which looks like that for the ordinary psalm-tone 6.

    Given all this, I have used gabc notation and handy online resources to set the Requiem with extra psalm verses suitable to the EF, which I append.
  • The FSSP Requiem CD, does that just have one verse for the introit? Thinking about this question today, that is one resource I don't have handy to check.
  • GerardH
    Posts: 411
    I too was thinking about this introit recently. Could the unique psalmtone be more the result of correctly accenting Hebrew words, rather than a way to set this particular introit apart from the rest of the corpus?

    See, for example, the Appendix of Part I of Grammer of Plainsong (1905) from Stanbrook Abbey. This gives examples of how to accommodate Hebrew words with accents on the last syllable - like Jerusalém or Sión. †

    This line of reasoning has probably been pointed out before, but it would seem that much of the idiosyncrasy of the tone is just to do with how to correctly point a flex and mediation on those two Hebrew words. The ending is unique - granted. I would think it follows logically that any further verses should be sung to the regular Mode 6 introit tone, just with the unique ending - unless any more Hebrew words appear.

    † Incidentally, the methods outlined in this appendix are what I have now adopted for setting English texts to the Gregorian tones.
  • Spot on, that Hebrew words are part of it. It is a suppressed fact that the Vatican Edition assumed as a matter of course that certain cadences would treat Hebrew words and monosyllables differently. In all the Solesmes books, Solesmes provides as the first option that these are instead always treated as Latin spondees/dactyls; but then they tell you in a footnote that that was a concession that someone obtained from the Sacred Congregation of Rites.

    But additionally:

    1) In the 1908 GR, the verse to the introit Requiem comprises 2 verses of Psalm 64. However, in the 1974 GR, the verse to the introit Requiem uses the standard mode 6 tone, and is only 1 verse of Psalm 64. So the double length of the text for the verse in the EF is an additional peculiarity to be reckoned with.

    2) In Pothier's GR 1895 and Mocquereau's LU 1903, the verse to the introit Requiem uses the same text as the later GR 1908. But in the second half of it, the melody cadences down to fa, and finally terminates with the usual mode 6 introit-verse termination. So clearly GR 1908 did not want to do go down to fa (it continues to recite on la), and also it was intentionally using the simple mode 6 psalm tone termination.

    3) There is also the oddity that "et tibi" in GR 1908 has no podatus, but "exaudi" does. This could either be seen as formulaic (that the incipits at these places in the verse always have that many notes), or particular (perhaps the word exaudi had a liquescent in the mss).

    Anyhow, what we need is for someone to turn up a pre-1962 Solesmes edition which includes multiple verses. Maybe it exists, and maybe it doesn't.

    For the record, what I did for the Mass which I had to sing tonight was:

    1) Take two verses of Psalm 64 for each introit verse.

    2) Cadence as follows: First phrase had 1 preparatory syllable and 1 accent using the melody peculiar to the simple mode 6 psalm tone. Second phrase had 1 preparatory note sol followed by 2 accents in the manner of the simple mode 1 psalm tone [the mode 1 mediant is actually the first option for the mediant of mode 6 in the Vatican Edition AR]. Third phrase had no cadence, only a pause on la. Fourth phrase had the simple mode 6 psalm tone termination.

    3) I took all of the incipit notes of each phrase as formulaic, and applying to the first three notes of the phrase irrespective of accentuation.

    Your mileage may vary, but that was the least creative option I could come up with at this time.

    P.S. Glad to hear someone is using the Hebrew / monosyllable cadences for English. That would be my go-to if I ever had to try setting English to psalm tones, but since I haven't had to deal with that I have never really tried how it would work out.
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen GerardH tomjaw
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    Can someone try pointing this? Kudos to the one who did, but the assumpsísti in the PDF seems a bit clunky.

    (In any event, there always seems to be less time than one imagines at the Requiem introit, with no incense and no Psalm Judica me.)
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,704
    I thought that the Introit of the Requiem Mass did not have additional verses because not only do we have the shortening of the Prayers at the foot of the Altar and no incense, but also that a procession would also be short. So extra music was not needed.

    This may be of use, http://www.gregorianbooks.com/p.php?p=JO472,JO473,JO474,JO475,JO476,JO477,JO478,JO479,JO480,JO481,JO482,JO483,JO484|0|106|746|712
  • davido
    Posts: 873
    Is not this Hebrew word treatment similar to the treatment of English pointing/melodic formulae in Anglican books? Sarum Tonale, works of Healy Willan, etc
  • I would be curious to learn the history of the unique psalm tone traditionally used for the Introit verse, and whether it is part of a set that was used generally. I have tried to set additional verses, but the results were not satisfying, mostly because the mediation shows no sign of the customary accent or auxiliary note.
    Thanked by 3Chrism CHGiffen Nisi
  • I have put together a collection of various instances of the verse "Te decet hymnus", mainly from medieval manuscripts, and also some 19th to 21st century publications.

    I still have to look into this, but from a quick glance it seems to me that there have been some variances of this psalm tone in use throughout the ages.
  • Here is written out what I described above.
    Thanked by 3Chrism CHGiffen GerardH
  • Chrism
    Posts: 868
    It's surprising to see the euouae in the Requiem verse!

    JonathanKK, that "sounds" about right to me! (For some reason though, I would think to go to fa on the first syllable of atriis, and then so on the second and la the third.)
  • Nope. That cadence is of 1 accent and 2 preparatory syllables, so the fa and so-la are always on the 2 syllables preceding the accent, and never splitting the podatus.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Chrism