Lord, Save Us (nunc dimittis)

"Why me?" Psalm 22: 2-9, 18, 19, 22, 24, 32

[click link to hear the recording]

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum
Far from my salvation are the words of my sins.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Deus meus clamabo per diem et non exaudies et nocte et non ad insipientiam mihi
O my God, I shall cry by day, and thou wilt not hear: and by night, and it shall not be reputed as folly in me.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Tu autem in sancto habitas Laus Israhel
But thou dwellest in the holy place, the praise of Israel.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

In te speraverunt patres nostri speraverunt et liberasti eos
In thee have our fathers hoped: they have hoped, and thou hast delivered them.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Ad te clamaverunt et salvi facti sunt in te speraverunt et non sunt confusi
They cried to thee, and they were saved: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Ego autem sum vermis et non homo obprobrium hominum et abiectio plebis
But I am a worm, and no man: the reproach of men, and the outcast of the people.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Omnes videntes me deriserunt me locuti sunt labiis moverunt caput
All they that saw me have laughed me to scorn: they have spoken with the lips, and wagged the head.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Speravit in Domino eripiat eum salvum faciat eum quoniam vult eum
He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him: let him save him, seeing he delighteth in him.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Ipso vero consideraverunt, et conspexerunt me:
In truth, consider and observe me,

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Diviserunt sibi vestimenta mea et super vestem meam miserunt sortem
They parted my garments amongst them; and upon my vesture they cast lots.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Libera me de ore leonis et a cornibus unicornium humilitatem meam
Save me from the lion's mouth; and my lowness from the horns of the unicorns.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Qui timetis Dominum laudate eum universum semen Iacob magnificate eum
Ye that fear the Lord, praise him: all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

Annuntiabitur Domino generatio ventura et annuntiabunt caeli iustitiam eius.
There shall be declared to the Lord a generation to come: and the heavens shall shew forth his justice

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

populo qui nascetur quem fecit Dominus
a people that shall be born, which the Lord hath made.

Deus Deus meus respice me quare me dereliquisti
O God my God, look upon me: why hast thou forsaken me?

* Recorded Sept. 2004 M. Hettinger Bernheim Forest, Kentucky
A Watchmaker Press chant page

Resurréxi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia:

This is a Gregorian Chant setting of a text from Psalm 138. It's really short, so I'll teach you the words.

One word (or set of words) that you should know before we start are Latin words for "you." Te, tu, tuam, and tua are all versions of the word "you."

Latin words can be found in a different order than English, for instance, "your hand" is "manum tuam."

Resurréxi, "I awake"

et adhuc tecum sum "and you are with me."

posuísti "position"
super me "above me, over me, on me."
manum tuam "your hand."

"You place your hand over me"--that's the action, what's the meaning?
"I am protected."?
"I am loved."?
"I am cherished."?

mirábilis facta est "what a miraculous fact"
est sciéntia tua "is this knowledge of you."
--often translated as: "This knowledge is too wonderful for me."

Is there any better expression of contentment/fulfillment/satisfaction in a reality radiantly new?

Click here to listen.

Resurréxi, et adhuc tecum sum, alleluia:
posuísti super me manum tuam, alleluia:
mirábilis facta est sciéntia tua, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

One other thing I wanted to tell you about this. Did you wonder where this chant could be found?

In our Church's liturgy, this chant is the Introit (the Entrance Song) for Easter Sunday. I find that delightful.

Holy Thursday Morning Prayer St. Joe 6:30 AM

This morning Fr. Bill presided at morning prayer. He introduced it beautifully as the beginning of the Triduum. There were about 35 people who came. Sharon and I were doing the song leading. I could tell Sharon was a little nervous about being by herself on the other side of the church, but she did a fine job of starting everyone on that side and keeping them together when we sang antiphonally. I did record, so maybe I'll have something worth keeping.

Practical stuff: We needed more choir. We defaulted to me singing solo and the people in church singing the alternating verses, which is actually ok, but not what we had intended. I recruited Pat and her husband to come on my side and sing tomorrow, and Bill will be there with Sharon, so that should fix it for tomorrow.

Also, I ran over Fr. Bill's reflection by starting the Gospel Canticle. Habit, I guess. How often do I ever attend MP with a priest as the presider? Almost never.

This is just nit-picky stuff to remember in facilitating next year. It was a beautiful service. Someday hopefully someone will want to do it more often than two days of the year. We sing again tomorrow--Good Friday.

Heidelberg recordings

As my journal shows, I spent the last three days of my trip to Heidelberg in a beautiful, medieval church. Singing. (No surprise there.) Many thanks to the folks at the JesuitenKirche, who graciously allowed me to do this.

The reverberance in the church is very long, and I spent most of my time experimenting with this question: What does it take to sing the chant so that Word, the text, is foremost?

It became clear to me that in order to make this happen, many long tones must be held really long, letting the sounds catch up with themselves. Many other connecting tones must be sung very lightly, sometimes fast, so that they do not obscure the main tone, but decorate it, or stretch it, or amplify it, or harmonize with it.

I'm posting two files. One, Pater, si non potest is almost well-done. I can't hear the "s" in transire, but otherwise, ok.

The second, Ascendit Deus," is out of my league. I don't have the vocal skill that it takes to pull it off well. But, my daughter heard the recording and was fascinated by it. She didn't think it was a chant, but just "Mom playing around with the echoes in the church." And she likes it enough to learn it herself, which is good, because she IS a good vocalist.

This is the piece I was so excited about elsewhere in this blog (you can search for 'Ascendit Deus' if you want to read more.) It's expressive to the point of being medieval movie music, with God swooping up thru the clouds and trumpet calls playing in the distance.

Anyway, I'm putting this here so I can access it if I need to, but I hope some of you excellent vocalists will tackle the piece and record your own. I want to hear it.

Chant at St. Joe

First Sunday of Advent 7 am mass

Entrance Song: O Come, O come Emmanuel # w. organ

Resp. Psalm from missalette, chant verses, a capella
Alleluia Show us Lord, your love, and grant us your salvation.

POG (cantor and schola)
Ad te levavi anima meam:
Deus meus in te confido, non erubescam:
neque irrideant me inimici mei:
et enim universi qui te exspectant, non confundentur. (Graduale Triplex)
(To you, my God, I lift up my soul.
I trust in you.
Let me never come to shame.
Do not let my enemies laugh at me.
No one who waits for you is ever put to shame.) (Fr. Columba Kelly english chant)

Eucharistic acclamations: Sanctus: (Mass XVIII)
Christ has died (Danish)
Amen (Danish)
Agnus Dei (Mass XVIII)

Communion (choir) John 6:57
Qui manducat carnem meam, et bibit sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo, dicit Dominus. Graduale Triplex
(“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me, and I in him,” says the Lord.) Chant mode VIII

Sending: Organ Postlude On Jordan's Bank
--------------
All went well. The people sang strongly with us. I taught the Sanctus before mass.
The latin and its translation was printed in the worship aid. Yess!!!! Thank you, Vivian!
Next liturgy for this group: Fourth Sunday of Advent 7 am
Rehearsals: the next 3 Wednesdays 1-2, possibly a Friday.
I want to make some arrangements for someone to bring communion to the choir loft, if possible.
And David wants to approach people in neighboring parishes, which makes good sense to me.
Frank won't be able to attend daytime rehearsals, can we record? Sure. Just have to remember.

A Little Latin

Agnus Dei audio recording HERE

LATIN TEXT	PRONOUNCED	ENGLISH TRANSLATION
Agnus Dei	AH-nyoos DAY-ee	Lamb of God
qui tollis peccata mundi	kwee TOLE-lihs pay-CAH-tah MOON-dee	you take away the sin of the world
miserere nobis	mee-say-RAY-ray NO-beece	have mercy on us
dona nobis pacem	DOUGH-nah NO-beece PAH-chem	grant us peace

---

The Catholic Church has spoken and sung in Latin since the liturgy was formed in the first centuries, becoming the official text of all Christianity, and down through the present time. Since 1963, (well, actually since the Protestant Reformation) liturgy has been spoken and sung in people’s everyday languages, as well.

You know Latin is ancient. There are fewer words in the Latin language than there are in the English language. Our current languages developed using many Latin roots, and words have become more specific in their meanings. So when you read an English translation of a Latin text, you get a specific approximation of the original prayer or scripture. But the original Latin contained many more concepts that have since been splintered off into other words. For instance, the word mundi is translated in the Lamb of God as world, but Whitaker’s Words Latin Translator tells you it might mean universe, heavens; world, or mankind.

So, knowing all those meanings, when we say, “qui tollis peccata mundi,” recognizing that Christ has power to “take away sin,” are we asking that he subtract the black marks on our personal scorecard? Or asking forgiveness for the scorecard of the whole world? The universe?

There’s a even another set of meanings of the word mundi, which refers to clothing and ornaments.

“The sins of the clothing”?!!

Well, think about it a minute. Think about English words whose root is mundi, such as mundane (ordinary), municipality (big city), and, for you Harry Potter fans, Muggle.

Saying,"qui tollis peccata mundi,” can we be asking for mercy as we realize that we are not always our best selves, letting stylish things and peer pressure lead us to do things that we would not otherwise do? That’s not so far-fetched. It happens all the time.

And what about the verb, tollis? It’s usually translated as “take away,” but there are other possible meanings, including lift, raise, destroy, remove.

Are we asking Christ to “take away” bad marks on a scorecard?

Or might we be asking that the consequences of mistakes be not as bad as they could be, but somehow “raised up,” seen in a kinder light, and perhaps even transformed by grace, good intentions, or kindness of others into something good?

A prayer for our times, isn’t it?

If you decide to give Latin a chance, whatever Italian, Spanish, or French you know will probably come in handy. These languages are direct descendants of Latin, and if a word sounds similar, it probably is. An interesting thing to remember, though, is that all during the centuries when these newer languages (and our own English) were developing, European culture was still singing and praying the original texts and phrases of liturgical chant in Latin. The Latin liturgy has been a continuing connection among all the people who said those ancient prayers. It has really never been broken.

We don’t sing Latin chant because it is old. We sing it because it is rich and meaningful.

If we come to know it well enough, we don’t sing it, anyway. It sings us, and we agree to be part of the song.

When you’re translating for yourself, in your own meditation and prayer, it’s not so much how accurate you are that matters, but how the connections enrich the meaning, making a difference in your understanding of God and of yourself.

---

Agnus

lamb (sacrificial offering)

Dei

(of) God

qui

who

tollis

lift, raise, destroy, remove

peccata

sin, wrongdoing, mistake,miss the mark

mundi

universe, heavens; world, mankind; dress/clothing/ornament

miserere

pity, have compassion

nobis

we, ourselves

dona

present, grant

nobis

we, ourselves

pacem

peace, harmony

---

PDF file suitable for inserting in bulletin. Permission granted to reproduce.

Last night's "Introduction to Gregorian Chant" session with the St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral Choir went well, I think.

It was informal. Debbie (director of music & choir director) had invited me to choose a couple of pieces that the choir could sing--Marian, perhaps on Mother's Day (5 Easter), and Pentecost.

I brought Regina Caeli and "Spiritus Domini."

For Regina Caeli, I copied the page from Night Prayer (STTM). I checked in Liber Usualis for the accents of the Latin, and marked them in before I made the copies.

I made a handout for Spiritus Domini, including translation, pronunciation, an english translation verse, verses from Psalm 68:4-7, 10-11, and Gloria Patri. I included St. Gall notation for the antiphon and verses, but deliberately did NOT give them the square notation for the antiphon. My objective was to let them experience oral transmission and the St. Gall notation. I think it worked well.

Debbie rehearses with the women of the choir at 6:30, and the men join them at 7:00. She asked me to come at 7, and take as much time as I wanted. I decided to aim for 45 minutes for a good introduction. (I didn't take my watch, and actually used an hour and a quarter. That was a little long, but the content went well. In the future, I might plan to use that amount of time, just prepare folks ahead of time, and take a quick break in the middle.)

Debbie introduced me. FFR: mention Fr. Sorgie, Chant Institute in Rome, Fr. Columba Fr. Columba Kelly, Morning & Evening Prayer.

I told them that my experience with chant centered on new research, "historically-informed," in which the chant is more closely related to speech patterns and earliest notations than the way I had learned as a child in school. I said that what we learned could still be sung in the way we had sung before, if we wanted. The chant repertoire has been sung in many styles over the millennia, and all of them are beautiful & meaningful.

I asked the choir members to tell me their names and to share their past experience with the chant. Most had some previous experience. If they were my age or older, they had sung in school (pre-Vatican II). The choir had sung a chant hymn a couple years back, "Of the Father's Love Begotten" One man said his son's reaction to the chant had been "are you going to be moaning again this week?" I used that to tell them about my finding a pop song in my 19-year-old daughter's iPod that went into Tibetan Chant (Natalie Merchant's "Effigy"). One woman mentioned that she loved the chant, went often to Gethsemane (Trappist monastery just down the road), but she couldn't sing with the monks. She couldn't blend. I said we would work on that. Also that women CAN sing chant.

I asked them to warm up with "Loo-ie" on sol, fa, mi, re, do (54321-) We worked for clear-flute-like tone & blend. Then, 111-123--12345-1853123454321--. Then basic Kodaly handsigns, following, and with drone on "do." These warmups worked well, and should be continued at every session.

We went to Regina Caeli. I asked them what they noticed about the page. We talked thru square notation, *, accent marks on text, do clef and scale, measures and icthus. We then sang pitches. Talked about how what we had just sung had NOTHING to tell us about rhythm. Went to the text, spoke it, with accents, then sang. I asked the accompanist (Frank) to play a drone (Eb-Bb), as I didn't want the piano sound at this point. After singing, I told them that in the Church's liturgy, this song was sung every night during Easter season at the very last of the prayer, and encouraged them to do the same.

FFR: This would be the place for a break.

I touched on 3 different types of chant melodies. Hymns (more or less syllabic), chant tones, (here we sang "the mass is ended, go in peace" and touched on psalm tones) and melismatic, which we would experience next. Text-based, ancient, prayerful. Closely related to the oral tradition.

FFR: put the latin text on the board or on a chart. maybe. maybe not.

Call and response: Spiritus Domini, first line. Then, gave out handout. We sang thru the antiphon, glossing over second and third lines (just follow, we'll look at these more closely later.). Sang a couple of verses and back to the antiphon, stopping occasionally to clarify.

At this point, we talked about the notation. Most folks had figured out what most of it meant.

Looked at the time:Enough.

We closed by agreeing to meet again next week 10-15 minutes. I told them I wouldn't ask them if they liked the chant, yet. I think it was an enjoyable experience. Haven't had feedback.