Sancte Michael - Prayer to St. Michael Archangel, chant

probe

As a beginner chant leader, I have some questions on the music which I hope the experts can help with.
I know they didn't have keys in those days, but modes. As I'm transcribing into Musescore, I need to choose a key.

I have this original version from CCWatershed

That score has a C clef on the top line, begins on F, and ends on E with a range of C to C. So it's not clear to me where home is. My ears expect it to end in D. Maybe I should append an Alleluia or Amen to finish on D? There are B flats which suggests a key of F. There is a B natural in the 'nem' of 'perditionem' which I expect is there for tension, as the rest are B flat.

The only recording I found is also CC Watershed,posted by Nicolas-Viel.
The singer begins on a Bb, so it sounds like the whole thing is in Bb, with all Es except that one flattened.
The range F to F is a bit high, so I think the C-C of the original score is more accessible to untrained voices.

The intervals are not so easy to sing, so I don't think we can tackle that in the two weeks we have, and could return next year. But then @OMagnumMysterium has an easier setting which I would now prefer.

Later, I'll be searching the forums here for suggestions for easy Advent chants :)
And by the way, why does this forum editor give Ctrl+I as the shortcut to insert an URL? For me in Chrome that gives italic.

Verbum_Gloriae

Hi @probe,

Let me attach you an organ accompaniment to that chant you found in CCWatershed in case it helps (so you can look at it and contrast): https://mega.nz/file/KE4F3SgR#qR0AEGAXUJpAm9l8W9JaZCJbOiR4NETqY2_OAYVhu7k
(You can find it, and many other gregorian chants accompaniments, in my organ resources page).
With a YouTube recording of the chant here too.

Note that the Solesmes markings are different (my own), for there are no official ones to that chant since it is found in a Franciscan chant book in Vatican style (no rhythm markings). I also added an Amen at the end of it in the organ accompaniment, but it is ad libitum, there is no need to sing it anyway.

About the mode, others will know better than me, all I know is that being mode IV it is typical of that mode to end in E, not D. That is how it goes. Check, for instance, this other mode IV chant: Panis angelicus.

And speaking of the range, I would sing it as it is, starting in F or also in G, but that will depend on the singers, of course.

For the URL shorcut, it is Ctrl+l (lower case "L"; not "i" capital letter). Indeed, Ctrl+i is for italics.

Chant_Supremacist

Not familiar with this setting. It’s a slightly oddball mode 4 and doesn’t have the stablest of tonal centres. I would leave the finalis on mi, bring out the tonic (mi) and reciting tone (la) where they occur, but wouldn’t be shy about flattening that one si natural, since it’s being pulled downward anyway. C to C seems reasonable for the range. I would also ignore or downplay some of those mid-phrase dots and keep it flowing.

probe

Thanks for all the sources @Verbum_gloriae.

(Lower case l : an argument for monospace font in the prompts! Or at least use a capital which is fairly standard in documentation and understood to be lowercase.)

igneus

Not familiar with this setting.

It's the Solesmes setting, probably the oldest chant setting of the prayer.

GustavAhlman

This is my favourite version, which we regularly sing at the end of Mass in Latin in my parish: https://youtu.be/lovUujcZIqo

probe

Thanks GustavAhlman. That brought me to this post by BrotherMonk with the score ('All are welcome to use these Original Chants for God's Glory!'), a number of other performances, apparently of Spanish and French origin, and some varied expressions of aesthetic response to the Youtube recordings by other commenters.
A rich resource here!

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