New English Hymns for the Liturgy of the Hours

We recently received the following information from the Internantional Commission on English in the Liturgy, regarding some new versions of the hymns for the Liturgy of the Hours.

“In the Liturgia Horarum, hymns are an integral part of the celebration of the Hours, marking the sanctification of time. Each hymn is proper to a liturgical hour, observing the progression of the day and frequently drawing the mind to the creation of the world, the redemption of humanity, the struggle to overcome evil, and the glory that awaits the faithful. Spanning over 1600 years, the 294 hymns represent a recovery of a corpus of poetry of theological intensity that has yet to appear in its entirety in the official liturgical book in English. From Saint Ambrose (4th c.) and Prudentius (5th c.), to the twentieth century, this treasure trove of poetic genius of the Western Church is now being made available to the English-speaking world.

Effort has been made to capture as much of the meaning and theological content of the Latin hymns, while at the same time, respecting both natural English idiom of expression and the meter of the Latin original. In rendering the fullest sense of the Latin text, rhyme has been avoided. This is because inversion of syntax, often necessary to maintain the rhyme, creates a text that is complex. There has also been a consideration of the fact that many who pray the hours alone will be reading rather than singing the hymns.

By following the meter of the Latin hymn, these English translations permit the use of the chant melodies proper to each hymn in its Latin version. The hymns can equally be sung to metrical hymn tunes. In these videos, we present a small selection of the hymns, sung to both chant and metrical melodies, some in unison and others in harmony.”

Since the dedication of the Lateran Basilica will be celebrated at the end of this week, here one sample of the project, an English version of the hymn “Urbs Jerusalem Beata” for the dedication of a church.

The following link goes to a YouTube playlist with 10 of the new hymns: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW0AH11wR5Zvav2-vLR1fGnPUVI31_KUO

An English Version of the Mass Os Justi for Confessors

Here is a resource which may prove to be useful, an English version of the Gregorian Mass Os justi for a simple Confessor. A friend of mine prepared this for the Mass of St John Henry Newman, but there are plenty of other Masses at which it can be sung, in whole or in part, and plenty of free days coming up on which a votive Masses of Card. Newman can be celebrated.

The creator of the project writes: “I undertook the project to create a Gradual for the Ordinariate(s) after the pattern of Burgess & Palmer, but with better text setting and following the texts and ordo of the Ordinariate Missal. Some of these changes are Vatican II-specific updates to propers for certain feasts. The melodies all come from the Graduale Romanum 1974, except when that doesn’t contain them, such as on some especially patrimonial days, or when alternatives are given from a Sarum source, or when an antiphon from the newer Missale Romanum was adapted into a graduale-type proper and so no melody existed. My first priority was to work through the Sundays of the year and the most important Solemnities, which are just about finished. Sometimes, however, I undertook to do some more specific chants, as in the case with the propers for soon-to-be-Saint John Henry Newman. I’m hoping the chants will soon move into a trial use phase with a few Ordinariate communities.”

Attempts to load this in pdf format directly into this post were not successful; if anyone wants this as a pdf, feel free to send me an message at gdipippo@newliturgicalmovement.org, and I will be glad to email it to you. It can also be acccessed through Google Drive.

Paintings from the School of St Albans...on the Walls of St Albans Cathedral

An Artistic Pilgrimage

This summer, when visiting England and staying in London, I decided to take the short drive up to see St Albans Cathedral. The main structure was originally built in Norman times, and so would have been Romanesque, but the modern appearance is largely Gothic. There have been several renovations over the centuries, included a partial rebuilding after an earthquake in 1250 - not a common occurrence in England!

In some ways, one might even think of this as a sort of artistic pilgrimage. Readers will know that I have suggested that the style of a 13th-century monk based at St Albans, Matthew Paris, is one that I think could be the basis of a liturgical style for today. I have called this style The School of St Albans; the suggestion originally came from a student in a class of mine. My experience as a teacher is that Roman Catholics do seem to take to this style naturally, and make it their own even in a single class. You can see work done by my students in a week-long workshop in a past blog post here.

True to the Gothic spirit, Paris drew and painted not only sacred art for books like psalters, but also illustrations of Saints that were probably not made as a focus of prayer, and also include figures like  Plato and Socrates, with plants and animals around them.

St Amphibalus, (a convert of St Albans), baptizing converts - note full immersion!

Euclid and Herman the Dalmatian (a medieval philosopher)

This is a style which relies on the description of form with line, and which is restrained in its use of tonal and color variation. These limitations will help to eliminate the sentimentality from their naturalism that is the blight of so many modern artists.

I have only seen illuminated manuscripts by Paris, and generally, they are miniatures. Some have questioned whether or not this style would work on a large scale. I have always thought that it could be adapted to work on the walls of modern churches. So, when I had heard that there are some original medieval wall paintings that have been uncovered at St Albans Cathedral, I very much wanted to see them in order to get a sense of their scale, and to make a sort of pilgrimage to the place that nurtured such a great, and largely unsung, artist in the 13th century.

With these things in mind, I entered the cathedral. After a quick prayer for the peaceful return of stolen property to the Church, I stepped inside.

The paintings are pale, but as we can see, done on a large scale and according to this same basic style - form described by line, with simple coloration. Whether or not you are convinced that it is right to use this style today, we can certainly conclude that the artists of the period felt that it was appropriate for floor-to-ceiling frescoes, this church has a high ceiling). I would encourage patrons and artists to look at these and think about how they could reproduce this style in our churches. I think that it allows for large areas to be covered relatively easily and appropriately:

Continue Reading this Article. . .

New Collection of English Motets Adapted from Renaissance Masters

Heath Morber, Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Chapel in Champaign, IL, has released his third collection (his previous two collections, Bread from Heaven and English Motets for the Church Year, have been reviewed here and here) in his English Motets series: Everlasting Joy in You: Two- and Three-voice motets of Orlando di Lasso adapted into English. All of the pieces, set originally in Latin, have been fitted with singable English translations for use in vernacular Masses.

Few Renaissance composers wrote extensively for smaller voice ensembles, but Lassus was a master of the duet. These bicinia have been studied in counterpoint classes for generations. His three-voice collection, however, is much lesser-known, but these trios are written skillfully and remain accessible to the average chorister.

All of the bicinia come in two transpositions, for SA-TB and for AT voicings. For the trios, Lassus mostly uses the unique voicing of STB, though there are a few settings that call for three equal voices.

The variety of texts ranges from complete psalm settings (Laetatus Sum) to New Testament excerpts (Qui Vult Venire) to the traditional post-meal blessing (Agimus Tibi Gratias).

This collection would be a wonderful addition to any music library in parishes where the vernacular is used but the beauty of polyphony is desired.

The book can be purchased here (samples can be found there, also).

Two selections from the book can be heard and seen below:

And some photos: