Remembrance Sunday

[markyboy2000]

I've finally found a copy of Out of the Depths, from a cupboard in the church. .

[nazard]

Gloriously gloomy! Thank you for posting it. It may come in handy sometime.

The price was very nostalgic.

[MARYFA]

Thank you for this. It is almost exactly as I notated the melody from memory. Any ideas about the actual names of the composers whose initials
are given? That sometimes indicates that they might be members of a religious order.
Another thought. I was brought up reciting the 'De profundis' in English at any and every mention of the Faithful Departed. Suddenly, with
no explanation that I was ever aware of, it disappeared --even the Gelineau version which had become quite well known. It does not now even
appear at funerals. Is there any explanation for this strange abandonment post Vatican 2?

[JW]

I suspect that prayers like the De Profundis, Memorare and Salve Regina were a victim of the general move away from rote learning in schools. This was not a consequence of Vatican 2 so much as changes to education.

We even learnt bits of the Catechism by heart back in the 1950's as well as assorted songs and poetry. No time for that nowadays! Rote learning tends to be restricted to Times Tables and Spellings.

[nazard]

Yes - a lot has been lost for no apparent reason. I was looking at the readings for the third Sunday of Advent, meaning to choose the music, and I saw that the Nunc Dimittis features in the Gospel. We used to say it a lot until it suddenly disappeared. Are there any similarly simple settings of the English text of the Nunc Dimittis out there that anyone knows about?

[nazard]

...the third Sunday of Advent...

Mea culpa, I was of course looking ahead to the Holy Family.

[MARYFA]

The Gelineau 'Nunc Dimittis' (At last all powerful master you give leave to your servant to go' ) is very easy. It was in the first 'Praise the Lord'
and other hymn collections.

[JW]

Laudate 177 ' Now let your servant go in peace' is an easy hymn setting of the Nunc Dimittis to a fairly well known tune. There's also a Taize chant in Latin or English.

[markyboy2000]

We used to sing this at every evening funeral reception; Lord alone knows what non-practicising or non-RC folks made of it.
As for the initials - I was told that the piece was written by friends of the organist here in Whitby around the turn of the century, a Mrs Helen Alder and her husband Thomas, who conducted. I don't know if this really is true, except that the old chap who told me had been in the choir on and off all his life, and his family had been closely involved in the parish for generations - but no names.

[JW]

We used to sing this at every evening funeral reception; Lord alone knows what non-practicising or non-RC folks made of it.
As for the initials - I was told that the piece was written by friends of the organist here in Whitby around the turn of the century, a Mrs Helen Alder and her husband Thomas, who conducted. I don't know if this really is true, except that the old chap who told me had been in the choir on and off all his life, and his family had been closely involved in the parish for generations - but no names.

If you Google Thomas Alder Whitby, you'll find reference to an artist who looks like your man. The Yorkshire Chess website gives a nice little biography which mentions his wife Helen, who was a music teacher.

[markyboy2000]

That's the folks; she played for a number of years, and then their daughter Mildred until she took ill. There are also extensive press reports of concerts, soirees etc, where they participated.

[nazard]

The Gelineau 'Nunc Dimittis' (At last all powerful master you give leave to your servant to go' ) is very easy. It was in the first 'Praise the Lord'
and other hymn collections.

Thank you for this suggestion. I have gone for the Gelineau (Jelly Nose?) Nunc Dimittis, but written a new antiphon as the one provided is only really suitable for Compline.