Posted on 04/05/2010 4:09:27 PM PDT by Desdemona
Thank-you, that would interest me. I can learn it, it will be done a little more careful and with effort to listen to the person(s) next to me.
I prefer the English version in the Episcopal hymnal. This is the translation of the "Tantum ergo". As I noted above, the Piskies' theology and politics are suspect, but their musical taste is impeccable.
"Therefore we, before him bending, this great Sacrament revere.
Types and shadows have their ending, for the newer Rite is here.
Faith our outward sense befriending, makes the inward vision clear.
Glory let us give and blessing, to the Father and the Son
Honor, thanks, and praise addressing, while eternal ages run,
Ever too his love confessing, who from both with both is One.
Amen."
But once you get into really singing liturgical music with the idea of being as good as you can possibly be, for God's honor and glory, then all this stuff becomes fascinating (well, o.k., at least to me it does).
The deeper you go into it, the richer and more entrancing it becomes. After all, the style has survived for hundreds and hundreds of years and will survive long after Haugen/Haas and the St. Looey Jebbies are nothing but a bad dream.
Our Episcopal choirmaster used to essay a spiritual every now and then, then he'd throw down his baton and look at us all with total disgust and say, "You all sound so . . . white!"
"Well - DUUUHHHHH!" we would all chorus back.
Since I'm Scotch-Irish to the bone, singing the "Sacred Harp" spiritual songs comes much more naturally.
Last Advent, during a carols and leasons presentation at my parish, the regular music minister taught the choir and I a beautiful song about the Blessed Mother.
The chant song is called “Felix Namque”, “Thou Art Glad Indeed”. First I remember the English words were spoken first, then the song was sung in beautiful Latin. I did the whole song in Latin, by lots of practice and listening to the next person.
I do believe that learning chant can be done.
This is a rather difficult chant tone.
This version of “If He Changed My Name” by Jeniffer Bynun Greene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNk57qEWiEU&feature=related
Beautiful and touching. :)
The Pange Lingua? We sang 17 verses this year. I guess since I've sung it for about 25 years in a row... It's not so much that chant is hard, it's about getting the right sound.
Part of the problem is that some of the chants don't translate well. It's generally the case that music fits best in the original language. And most singers will tell you that the roughest language to sing in after French is English. It's true. Latin is pretty easy IF you hear it all the time, which is a big issue. I'm a classically trained singer, so I can actually just ask which IPA sheet are we using (none of them are actually what we sing in church), but I am completely cognizant that this is more the exception than the rule.
Make that IPL sheet. I had rehearsal tonight.
The really depressing thing is that for the rest of our lives when we hear certain scripture readings some random ditty will float through our heads. Happened to me twice Saturday night.
*snort* By b-i-l, the priest, and I were discussing the changes coming down the pike in the Liturgy, and I mentioned that one thing I've just detested in the last 20 years or so is that the Scripture translations can be so pedestrian! I mentioned that I loved the sound of the language of the KJV.
For the last 25 years, I've enjoyed listening to "A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols" which is broadcast from Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, England, every Christmas Eve. The 'Lessons' are taken from the KJV, and they are just a joy to hear. So much so that during Advent, when I hear the Scripture readings from Isaiah, I zone the Lectionary out and hear the reading from the KJV in my mind; so much more lovely.
I favor the Douay-Rheims myself. The KJV has too many errors.
I’ve never read the Douay-Rheims. Might be nice if a Catholic group did a “Lessons and Carols” using that one. ;o)
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