Appeal to Hymnodists!
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Okay, CMAA Hymnodists . . . especially Kathy and Maureen!

    I am cobbling together a piece for Confirmation, which is coming up in five weeks. My choir knows the last movement of BVW 22, Jesus nahm' zu Sich die Zwölfe. The chorale melody is Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottessohn. Here is the English translation I am working from:

    O come, Thou Holy Spirit,
    And wake us with Thy grace;
    A heart of flesh within us
    Our heart of stone replace.
    And here with us abiding,
    Our heav’nly joy betiding,
    Show us the Father’s face.

    Would anyone like to write three stanzas about the Holy Spirit, along the lines of "Veni Sancte SPiritus," that can be used for Confirmation?
  • Chris_McAvoyChris_McAvoy
    Posts: 389
    Sorry to sound ignorant, why do you have to use that particular melody?

    If I didn't feel that separating adult confirmation from infant baptism was heteropraxis (against canons and my beliefs, tantamount to baptist protestants baptising adults), I might consider assisting.

    Why not actually sing one of the ancient hymns, sequences, proses, responsories to their original melodies but english metrical lyrics? Thats the only thing type can help with.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    There are a multitude of translations of "Veni Sancte Spiritus". The major differences are 1) your piece has seven text lines; and 2) the scansion pattern is different.
    1) is pretty easy to solve; you can probably get along with making line 7 a repeat of line 1 or line 6. Given that this melody repeats the second and fourth line as the last line, you have your pick of what to do. :) So... it's 2) that is the challenging bit.

    If you really wanted to go cheap and cheerful, you could just sing "Veni Sancte Spiritus" itself. Latin (particularly for non-Latin speakers) is a lot more amenable to having syllables drawn out or elided. It would also have a nice dignity that would go well with Bach.

    O come, Thou Holy Spirit,
    Ve-ni Sa- -ncte-Spi- -ri-tus
    And wake us with Thy grace;
    (Et) E- -mi- -ttus coe- li- -tus. (or Et e- -mi- -ttus coe- -l'tus).
    A heart of flesh within us
    Lu- -cis tu- -ae ra-di- -um
    Our heart of stone replace.
    Ve- -ni pa- -ter pau-p'rum.
    And here with us abiding,
    Ve- -ni da- -tor mu-ne-rum,
    Our heav’nly joy betiding,
    Ve- -ni-lu- -men cor-di-um (or Ve- ni-lu- -u-men co-rdyum, which possibly sticks closer to Latin pronunciation)
    Show us the Father’s face.
    Ve- -ni lu-men co-rdyum.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 675
    Neale's translation works, with minimal munging. Repeat line 3 as line 4, and elide syllables as needed. You'll have to pick which verses you want. One of them will almost have to be the last verse, because that's the one most applicable to Confirmation.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    JDE,

    Let me see what I can do. I'm going to be jamming with the Auto Club this morning, so I may have some time.
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    @Chris, this is a combo of the "classical" choir and the pop choir. I have to do something everyone already knows, and we have actually used this piece before. Not all of us work in a setting with lots of resources - I work in a small church in a "mission state."

    Thanks, Maureen, for the suggestion about using Veni, Sancte Spiritus. If the pop choir doesn't rebel against the Latin, that might work. I wouldn't be the first director to retrofit Latin text onto an existing tune.

    Kathy, thanks for your help! I look forward to seeing what you do.
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Bumping in a ploy to get more attention to this topic.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,500
    JDE, I usually write to a tune in my head. Can you please post a link as though to a four year old to a melody?
  • JDE
    Posts: 588
    Kathy, how about I just post the tune?

    Jonathan
    O Come Thou Holy Spirit melody.pdf
    27K
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