Looking for latin entrance chants
  • Verbum_GloriaeVerbum_Gloriae
    Posts: 19
    Hi all,

    I am looking for expanding my entrance latin chants' repertory which is quite small for the legth of Post Pentecosten's time (or Ordinary Time). I search for simple chants in latin (for a TLM church in Spain) with an easy refrain (either SATB or monophonic -for I sing mostly alone or with 2 or 3 more people maximum-) that the people can sing interspersed with psalms and things of the like for Sunday Masses (before the Asperges me). Some examples that I am attaching here (so you get better what I mean) are Theodore Decker's Lauda Jerusalem, Paul Berthier's Laudate omnes gentes or the gregorian Cantemus Domino and Laetamini unanimi.

    Thank you in advance!

    P.S.: Best if the music sheets come with organ accompaniment -for that would save me a lot of time- but will be ok too if it does not, or if it is just titles. Any help will be much welcome!
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  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,908
    Have you looked at the ancient processional chants of the Church...
    Say...
    https://societyofstbede.wordpress.com/2024/04/14/salve-festa-dies/
    Thanked by 2monasteryliturgist Verbum_Gloriae
  • Verbum_GloriaeVerbum_Gloriae
    Posts: 19
    Thank you, @tomjaw, we do sing that chant during Easter and also in the feast of Saint James with different wording but, from my experience, people do not sing it. I guess the refrain phrase is too long or the words are too difficult for the people to memorize them. Who knows? Notice we do not have music sheets for the people, so they sing merely by ear and they are not the most singing congregation out there. Plus, the Pastor's preference is more of lively motets such as the first two I attached.
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  • CGM
    Posts: 781
    The second piece ("Laudate omnes gentes") was not written by Paul Berthier, but by Jacques Berthier, who wrote hundreds of such pieces for the Taizé Community in France. You can find most of the Berthier antiphons online at the Taizé website, here. (See the one you've used here.)

    While Berthier often did write music for verses (as well as antiphons), only the antiphons are available for free at the Taizé website. For music for the verses, you'd either (a) supply your own text and music, or (b) purchase printed Taizé books (available through their website, and also through GIA), which contain musically complete settings.
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  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 426
    I thought Lauda Jerusalem was composed by Canon Noël Darros from Lourdes. I don't know who Theodore Decker is. Do you have an international congregation or are they all Spanish speakers?
  • GerardH
    Posts: 620
    @FSSPmusic Here's a French Wikipedia article on Decker. Darros might have been an arranger?
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  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 508
    Sometimes we have used the old Sequences that are no longer used as entrance chants. There are many to our Lady, Particularly there are many options from Las Huelgas (Burgos ) Codex. I have a pdf somewhere, Ill try and find it.
  • Chaswjd
    Posts: 297
    Is there some reason why you haven’t considered the chants from the Graduale Simplex?
  • Verbum_GloriaeVerbum_Gloriae
    Posts: 19
    @CGM Thank you! I must have confused both Berthiers and wrote the wrong name. Thank you very much for the link and the detailed explanation of Berthier's work and where to find and how to obtain it. I will take a look at the rest of antiphons, for I could always add a gregorian psalmody to them. Thank you again.

    @FSSPmusic Our congregation is made of Spanish speakers. Sometimes during vacations we have foreigners visiting us, but that is not the norm. And, of course we do also use Spanish entrace chants, I just though this was not the place to ask for Spanish chants, but maybe I am wrong? And about Theodore Decker, that was the composer written in the music sheet I found. @GerardH seems to have thrown some light into it. Thanks!

    @monasteryliturgist Problem with that is that it is not "singable" by the people. As I said, they seem to have difficulty memorizing latin texts and singing by ear. So we have to repeat a chant many Sundays until they start following shyly.

    @Chaswjd Seriously, I just never thought of it! And both the church and I actually have a printed copy. Now that I took a look at it, the responsory psalms do make a good option, for the refrain is quite short and easy. Thank you for the suggestion!
  • CGM
    Posts: 781
    Verbum,

    If you look at those Taizé antiphons, you'll notice that most of them have text underneath the music in multiple languages. Typically that's so that the antiphon could be sung in those other languages. If your congregation is most Spanish-speaking, many of those antiphons could be sung in Spanish. For example, Laudate omnes gentes includes translations into 26 languages, the third of which is Spanish, so you could sing that music to the text of, "Que todo_el mundo_alabe, alabe al Señor."

    You'll find dozens of antiphons there that would be similarly adaptable, and there are even a few whose original language was Spanish (see here or here, for instance).

    [When the text begins with a phrase in boldface, that's a singing translation. After the singing translations there are sometimes literal translations into additional languages, not intended for singing — but if you're a creative musical editor, you could tweak the music or the text to generate a singable version.]
  • Verbum_GloriaeVerbum_Gloriae
    Posts: 19
    @CGM Absolutely! I did notice that bunch of translated lyrics at the bottom of the antiphons while looking at some of them. But I did not know the boldface thing. Thank you very much for the heads up!
  • FSSPmusic
    Posts: 426
    Oh interesting! I see that it has been discussed previously in this forum:
    https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/11380/looking-for-lauda-jerusalem-4-part-setting/p1 A fun recording here. I had also accepted the SSPX hymnal attribution uncritically.

    Back to your question, Christus vincit, Rorate caeli, Puer natus, and Parce Domine also come to mind.
    I just though this was not the place to ask for Spanish chants
    It's an English-language forum, but more than a quarter of US parishes offer Masses in Spanish; in our case, a Latin Low Mass with Spanish hymns and sermon. We have a parishioner from Mexico who coordinates music for that Mass. Here's the hymnal they use, which also has some Latin hymns: Manual de Cantos Religiosos
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  • Verbum_GloriaeVerbum_Gloriae
    Posts: 19
    @FSSPmusic Thank you very much for the Manual de Cantos Religiosos!
    Christus vincit, Rorate caeli, Puer natus, and Parce Domine also come to mind.
    Sure we have those titles in our repertory! We have their respective liturgical seasons' repertory covered. That is why I was asking about suitable pieces for the Post Pentecost's time, which is way longer -in Sundays- than Christmas, Lent, or any other liturgical time. But thank you anyway!
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  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,908
    For after Pentecost I look to the Feasts and former Octaves for ideas... Today was St Lawrence, and we have Bartholomew, Matthew etc. later this year...
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  • monasteryliturgistmonasteryliturgist
    Posts: 508
    This is one we used to sing in Italy
    Screenshot 2025-07-31 125335.png
    1608 x 1231 - 170K
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen StimsonInRehab Verbum_Gloriae
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