• Hi all!
    While I am not a musician, I do desire to help the Church in whatever way I can. I have an idea for a project with the new translation coming out but I need some help if anyone is interested...? Perhaps someone is already working on this ...? My hope is for it to get out at the same time as the LoH 2nd Edition, which is schedule for Feb 10, 2027.

    Project:
    Latin/English Vesperale for the Liturgy of the Hours.

    Principles:
    - Would have Vespers for every day of the year.
    - Would be printed basically like one volume of LoH (size-wise and paper style) and have 5 ribbons.
    - Latin/English on same page as much as possible or at least left and right pages.
    - Chant notation.
    - Psalm verses rather than the Meinrad stanzas.

    I know there are several possible layouts, but this is what I am leaning towards:
    - Intro
    - Magnificat tone options
    - Days of the Cycles/Seasons
    - - Hymns (I'm at the office and don't have my Latin LoH, but I think this may be better placed in an "Ordinary" section at the beginning.)
    - - Psalms
    - - Readings
    - - Responsories
    - - Magnificat Antiphons
    - - Intercessions
    - - Collects
    - Sanctoral Cycle
    - - Proper Hymns
    - - Proper Psalms (if there are any for Vespers, I don't think there are)
    - - Proper Readings
    - - Proper Responsories
    - - Proper Magnificat Antiphons
    - - Proper Intercessions
    - - Proper Collects
    - Commons
    - - Same as Sanctoral Cycle but common


    Thoughts? Want to help?

    God bless!
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,261
    It is a lot of work.

    It will take you more than a year whether you do it entirely in LaTeX or only chant elements in LaTeX, the rest being laid out in InDesign. You also have to deal with the copyright problem. A bilingual antiphonal has to be larger. The Cistercians are doing this. It is quite interesting.
  • Well if I could get access to the program the Committee on Divine Worship created as mentioned in this article, that might help.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,261
    Help, yes. But it is a massive project.
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,241
    It has been done in Latin/French.

    https://heures-gregoriennes.com/en/
    Thanked by 1JustASeminarian
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 434
    The suggested layout (looking up each element in a separate book section) is almost as impractical as it can be. A nightmare to use.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,261
    Yeah that too. I don’t know how I would design such a book for the LH which has far more material per section (with correspondingly fewer parts per office: two psalms, a canticle but with the Mag antiphons of Sunday on a longer cycle, more hymns etc.)
  • @kevinf - that's fantastic! Thanks!
    @igneus - have you ever prayed the LoH from the breviary? This is set up just like it... and the Liber Usualis was just as crazy to use when I was in the FSSP seminary. We'd use 3-4 ribbons for each.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,261
    The Liber Usualis is poorly designed!

    Also if the new breviary is set up like that, then it’s a disaster but I’m pretty sure that even the LH follows the traditional scheme.
  • igneusigneus
    Posts: 434
    @igneus - have you ever prayed the LoH from the breviary? This is set up just like it...


    Yes. Several different historical versions of the breviary. Others I have not prayed, but have studied. None was set up just like it.
  • After continuing to research this, I am leaning towards only Sundays (I & II), Solemnities, and Feasts. It would be similarly organized to this, but would have both Latin and English and the chant for both. This has Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts plus several Memorials. It goes:
    - Sunday of year
    - Psalms for Sundays
    - Sanctoral
    - Commons
    - Ordinary

    I'm still leaning towards having several options for the Magnificat so as to match the antiphons.

    Does anyone have any idea on the how to set the English words to the music? What Aaron Williams did seems to work, but I was not sure if there was anything semi-official...

    @igneus - There's no way to make a Vesperal without needing at least 3 ribbons unless I repeat everything for each day. Unless you had any ideas? I'm seriously all ears on this!
  • I could prob. help you out if its just Sundays, Solemnities, and Feasts with the English settings of antiphons and psalm pointing as I already make booklets for those things- obviously we have to wait for those translations to come out but yeah I could prob. help.