Greener grass?

[musicus]

Now is the time of year when many of us have a break from our parish music and/or liturgy duties and take the opportunity to discover how other folk do it (assuming they're not taking a break too). Have any of us made any interesting discoveries elsewhere? Post your Mystery Worshipper stories here.

[organist]

I am in the interesting (?) position of freelancing as an organist. So far I have encountered organs which do not work properly (Swell pedal bust, some notes not working), very high Anglican liturgy with birettas and new Roman rite texts, first communions with performance by the children at the end of "As I kneel before you" (who is that throwing up at the back?). However yesterday's feast of the Assumption takes the biscuit. 10 a.m. mass in large West London suburb, packed church but not many kids although there is a large parish school. First hymn led by Irish cantor on mike and organ at back Hail Holy Queen verses 1 and 4 (at least we were spared "remind thy son") First reading and psalm for the Vigil Mass. At the end of the homily prayers and then the Creed. In bread we bring you Lord at offertory - sloppy harmonies, slightly naff text. Priest (Irish) introduces into the canon various interpolations like we pray for so and so buried yesterday and so and so who will be buried on Friday. At communion "I'll sing a hymn to Mary" - well I'm NOT going to and then Salve Regina. As we escape organist plays Immaculate Mary. This kind of thing gets reported to Rome doesn't it? How I love the Irish - so delightfully liturgically obtuse. Sorry just had to get it off my chest.

[VML]

What is not 'naff' is the fact that there was a packed church on one of our rare weekday Holy Days of Obligation.
The last time I was away from our parish for one was a few years ago, Corpus Christi, in Bruges. Possibly 50 people in one of those magnificent churches, simple sung Mass, small binder files for copies of Mass chant, and an organ voluntary in lieu of psalm.

[organist]

Oh I agree VML - all the more reason to have some decent music and hymns and not wallow in nostalgia, sentimentality, etc. Why no sung Sanctus? If cantor and organist can play a hymn surely they can manage the simple missal tone???

[John Ainslie]

Oh you can't keep down devotion, especially if coloured with nostalgia. We had just two hymns at our morning Mass yesterday: 'Holy light on earth's horizon' to start with, 'Tell out, my soul' at the end - and folks sang them just fine. But the organist played, as the folk were leaving, the old Lourdes hymn. Spontaneous eruption of 'Ave'-singing, and even people 'la-la-ing' the verses so that they could have another go at the 'Aves'. That's what you call 'an acclamation'!

[John Ainslie]

I should hasten to add to my previous blog that, as well as the two hymns mentioned, we also sang the psalm, the Gospel Acclamation and the Eucharistic Acclamations (chant), as well as the Magnificat with 'The Lord has done marvels for me: Holy is his name' as refrain at Communion.

[justMary]

: 'Holy light on earth's horizon' to start with,

I'm curious - is HLOEH published anywhere? I've looked for it before, and found something that implied it was translated by Edward Casswall - but I didn't keep a note of where, and it doesn't seem to really be his style of English. And it's apparently not in any of the on-line hymnals that I usually regard as good sources.

This implies that it was written by an Australian Benedictine now (at time of writing) living in NSW:
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2003/ ... _1348.html
But I'm not sure if it's his text or not - Google and your comments here suggest to me that it's pretty widespread in the UK.

And Youtube doesn't have it either.

Clues most welcome.

[Peter Jones]

: 'Holy light on earth's horizon' to start with,

I'm curious - is HLOEH published anywhere?

Try Laudate 328

[justMary]

: 'Holy light on earth's horizon' to start with,

I'm curious - is HLOEH published anywhere?

Try Laudate 328

What edition? Whatever one that http://www.hymnary.org/instances?qu=hymnalNumber%3ALHCB1957%20in%3Ainstances&sort=firstLine has listed doesn't include it.

[gwyn]

Here y' go.

http://stwilfscoalville.blogspot.co.uk/ ... feast.html

Mwynhewch.

[musicus]

Try Laudate 328

What edition? Whatever one that http://www.hymnary.org/instances?qu=hymnalNumber%3ALHCB1957%20in%3Ainstances&sort=firstLine has listed doesn't include it.

The Laudate that that link refers to was published in Boston in 1957! Peter Jones was referring to the popular English hymn book of the same name (Decani Music, 1999).

[John Ainslie]

HLOEH appeared on the English scene in Praise the Lord (revised edition) in 1972, but although I was one of that book's co-editors I have no recollection as to what was the source of the words. Perhaps one of us had access to the Caswall collection of translations. It's a fine hymn with plenty of biblical references.

[JW]

Although Laudate credits HLOEH to Fr. Edward Caswall but I have been unable to find it in Caswall's "Hymns and Poems, original and translated". Interesting that Fr. Fabian Duggan claims it.

[Southern Comfort]

I have the answer to this conundrum, but I am on the road for the next week and will not have access to my reference books in order to give the full story which I researched a year or two ago. In the meantime, I can confirm that the probability that Dom Fabian Duggan wrote the text is very high and that it was almost certainly not a Caswall translation. More when I am back in my office.

[justMary]

A small bump, I am interested in the answer still.