New Hymnal & Missal for the Extraordinary Form of the Mass

[gwyn]

1. In the EF, it is usual to have a Hymn in English at the end of Holy Mass.

Music to my ears. There's this thing that the Dismissal in the Roman Rite is kept deliberately short so that we can go straight to spread The Word. The reality is that we're more quickly into the partish hall for a cuppa and a biccy.

Let's have nice recessional hymns (or pre-cuppa hymns), they're often the most fervently sung.

[nazard]

An idea that doesn't have much following in the EF as the dismissal is followed by the blessing and the prayers after mass and often by the Salve Regina. When did the idea that we should all do a runner immediately after the dismissal appear?

[JW]

I also doubt whether there is much call for hymns in the vernacular by those who wish to celebrate the EF. There would be more call for Latin motets and hymns. I'm not an expert but I strongly suspect that EF masses are either Low Masses with no music or High Masses with lots of singing of the Ordinary, Introit, Gradual and Communions from the liber, perhaps a Latin motet at Communion? Perhaps an EF enthusiast could enlighten us.

[gwyn]

We've celebrated both Low and Solemn High Masses at Abergavenny, at each we've had an English Pro & Recessional hymn.

[nazard]

I also doubt whether there is much call for hymns in the vernacular by those who wish to celebrate the EF. There would be more call for Latin motets and hymns. I'm not an expert but I strongly suspect that EF masses are either Low Masses with no music or High Masses with lots of singing of the Ordinary, Introit, Gradual and Communions from the liber, perhaps a Latin motet at Communion? Perhaps an EF enthusiast could enlighten us.

The question is easily answered as far as the Somerset - Bristol - South Glos - West Wilts area is concerned. Most EF masses have no music whatsoever, and most of the remainder have the full works, Kyriale, Graduale, Motets etc, just like OF masses should have. However, your opening doubt implies a much more interesting question. What music should be played?

I have not applied proper survey methods and statistical analyses, but from talking to people at EF masses they prefer the EF to the OF for the following reasons:

(1) the EF texts are superior, in particular the Offertory prayers, and the canon, but people also like the prayers at the foot of the altar which start the EF and the last gospel, which is one of the most brilliant pieces of prose ever written.

(2) the OF music is dreadful. It is often said that eternal damnation is better that having to listen to Praise and Worship music. I myself consider that this is probably an exaggeration, albeit slight.

(3)the EF is more prayerful. In the OF the priest keeps talking all the time, which prevents you from thinking about anything. The Roman canon contains a lot to think about. In any one mass you cannot properly grasp more than a tiny fraction of it. In the EF you can stop reading when you need to think and catch up later. In the OF the priest's voice is a continual distraction from thought. The OF's answer to this one is EP2, which is nearly empty and so sidesteps the problem.

I think that for this existing community, no music is probably what they want. However, the problem for the EF and the OF is that we do not really want to try to please the converted, but those who would come if we got it right. I don't even begin to have any ideas in this direction.

In the meantime, it is interesting to watch the EF growing, particularly among young families and teenagers. Since the EF almost always has the most inconvenient times, we can only speculate what would happen if it could compete on an equal footing.

[Nick Baty]

...the OF music is dreadful. It is often said that eternal damnation is better that having to listen to Praise and Worship music.I myself consider that this is probably an exaggeration, albeit slight.

And if that really was OF music then I think many on here would agree. Yet this isn't, or shouldn't be, OF music. However, if that's the perception, something needs to be done. There again, I've long thought that something needs to be done.

Last September/October I spent many hours on the road presenting workshops on music for the new translation – I worked with several hundred people, all quite willing to take new stuff on board. What amazed me was the number of people who thought this idea of singing specific texts was something new. They thought it was Papa Benedict imposing a radical idea. There is much work to do.

[nazard]

Very true, Nick. There is a big difference between OF music and music heard at the OF.

[Southern Comfort]

An idea that doesn't have much following in the EF as the dismissal is followed by the blessing and the prayers after mass and often by the Salve Regina. When did the idea that we should all do a runner immediately after the dismissal appear?

It's always been. There is no recessional hymn in the Roman Rite, and never has been. Once you've been dismissed, that's it. It's over. Anything else that then happens technically isn't part of Mass at all. It was only when the four-hymn sandwich appeared in the 1960s that people grew to like having a recessional hymn, but it's important to remember that this was in the context of a Low Mass that had no other music than just those four hymns. The idea of singing the Mass, rather than singing at Mass, was slow to catch on (and in more than a few places still hasn't!).

Singing the Salve Regina (or another of the Marian antiphons) at the end of Compline is where that idea comes from. It has never been part of the Mass (see above). However, priests often remember with enjoyment the Compline experience from their seminary days, which is why you often find the Salve sung at the end of Mass at clergy gatherings, Chapter Masses, etc.

[alan29]

For those who see the EF as a "leave me in peace" event, I would have thought that communal singing was the last thing they would want.

[nazard]

For those who see the EF as a "leave me in peace" event...

Not the kindest way of putting it, but you have hit the nail on the head.

[AntoineDaniel]

To satisfy your criterion do hymns have to be both the best and most traditional? Of course, only one hymn can be the best hymn, and only one hymn the most traditional. (My English teacher was a pedant.)

It seems to me that if you have three hymns that are better than any other hymns, those three hymns would be the best, right?

Pedantry aside, the samples shown are very creditable. Is the missal suitable for use in Britain, apart from the expected odd spellings in the English translations?

Lasance used the "English" spellings: honour, favour, practise, etc.

[JW]

As our chorus master keeps reminding us, the best piece of music is the piece you are singing now: we should sing everything as if it's the most wonderful thing ever written. I suspect a similar attitude might help us in the context of worship?

[AntoineDaniel]

The Hymnal in question began shipping last week, just FYI:

http://www.ccwatershed.org/Campion/