Antiphons and hymns

[docmattc]

We've discussed the question of antiphons vs hymns in several threads here. At Summer School I bought a book called "Introit hymns for the church year" for the princely sum of £3.30 which I've only just had chance to explore, partly prompted by reports from my brother that his parish in Arundel&Brighton seem to be using this exclusively as the source for the gathering hymn.

It uses the texts of the Introit antiphons and psalms for Sundays and feasts, but set to metrical hymn tunes, obviously with some paraphrasing to make the meter work. Its maybe a halfway house utilising the Introit but without going the whole hog of having a responsorial format as per the Graduale. Its certainly condusive to congregational singing.

It does have some shortcomings, at least one hymn uses the forbidden word and I'm not sure we could get away with Winchester Old for anything other than shepherd's washing socks. Nevertheless, I think this is a useful resource along with everything else on the music bookshelf. Published by World Library Publications, the Calamus Licence allows reproduction of the words for the congregation to sing.

[johnquinn39]

At my parish, we occasionally sing the entrance antiphons. For example, a couple of weeks ago we sang 'Rejoice in the Lord always' (See Hymns Old & New), interpolated with the choir singing psalm 105 to Gregory Murray's tone C (See McCrimmon psalter).

We have also sung 'Rejoice, all those who love Jerusalem' from Psalitte, again interpolated with the psalm on tone C.

A very popular entrance song is Bishop Dudley-Smith's 'Safe in the shadow of the Lord'. We use this as an equivalent to psalm 91, and it is sung by all.

I rather liked the Kevin Mayhew book of introits (composed by John McCann). We tried 'Cry out with joy to God, all the earth', and this response raised the roof!

[VML]

I am on dangerous ground here as I wasn't at Summer School and haven't really thought about this, but I find it difficult to take large numbers of 'one song to the tune of another' type stuff, as with the version of HON I saw in one parish that has a hymn for every Sunday, all by the same writer, and to 'well known' tunes. I might be wrong.

[Nick Baty]

It does have some shortcomings, at least one hymn uses the forbidden word

Thatcher? Bush? Daily Mail?

and I'm not sure we could get away with Winchester Old for anything other than shepherd's washing socks.

We use it for "In Christ there is not east or west..."

[VML]

YHWH ?

[docmattc]

That's the word I had in mind. I can't think of any psalms or antiphons containing the words Thatcher or Daily Mail!

I agree that I wouldn't want to use this every week as it would be doing "One hymn to the tune of another" too much. I'm using it for Christ the King but haven't decided yet which LM tune to use (we don't know the one in the book).

This is the sort of thing which, along with Psalite et al could easily be "another collection of psalms and antiphons, the text of which has been approved by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales." as mentioned in GIRM for the entrance procession, but which currently don't exist.

[asb]

That's the word I had in mind. I can't think of any psalms or antiphons containing the words Thatcher or Daily Mail!

I agree that I wouldn't want to use this every week as it would be doing "One hymn to the tune of another" too much. I'm using it for Christ the King but haven't decided yet which LM tune to use (we don't know the one in the book).

This is the sort of thing which, along with Psalite et al could easily be "another collection of psalms and antiphons, the text of which has been approved by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales." as mentioned in GIRM for the entrance procession, but which currently don't exist.

Personally, I can't see a problem with "One hymn to the tune of another" - other denominations' hymnbooks have been doing it for years. It seems a peculiarly "RC" thing to wed one tune to one hymn. After all, why do hymn books have a "metrical index" if not to identify which tunes fit which "metre" of words, to enable a familiar tune to be substituted for a less-familiar one to allow the hymn to be used?

[Southern Comfort]

Well, James Quinn started it off back in the 1970s with New Hymns for All Seasons, nearly all of which were his new texts to existing tunes; and people have been doing it ever since. I don't see it as a peculiarly RC thing to retain one text for one tune - not any more.

[docmattc]

I think in doing OHTTTOA I'd have to consider whether the melody would immediately call to mind the 'other' hymn, and whether or not this would be overly distracting? Sometimes the echoes of other words might be useful, for instance Introit Hymns uses "The angel Gabriel" for the feast of the Mother of God, and recalling the Annunciation here is no bad thing.

Of course, references to most highly flavoured gravy should be avoided in all cases

[asb]

Well, James Quinn started it off back in the 1970s with New Hymns for All Seasons, nearly all of which were his new texts to existing tunes; and people have been doing it ever since. I don't see it as a peculiarly RC thing to retain one text for one tune - not any more.

However, I suspect that many Catholics think of, for example, "The Tune When I survey the wondrous cross" whereas in other denominations people would think of "the tune Rockingham"

[Southern Comfort]

However, I suspect that many Catholics think of, for example, "The Tune When I survey the wondrous cross" whereas in other denominations people would think of "the tune Rockingham"

Talking of which, I have several times used this tune on Good Friday during the veneration of the cross to go with the wonderful Bell/Maule text "Lord Jesus Christ, shall I stand still" (unaccountably omitted from Laudate but in CFE). It has gone down very well.

[HallamPhil]

I agree with Southern Comfort (but prefer a malt!). Lord Jesus, Christ shall I stand still (from the early Wild Goose Songs 2 collection - green book) is one of many great texts from this stable which in this case is not content just to leave us staring at the cross but to move us on from/through it.

By the way, when I was last on Iona a few weeks ago the sacristan was trying to offload multiple copies of this and the 'heaven shall not wait' collection. Though used they are in good condition. Why not contact the warden, Malcolm King, to find out if they have any left. They used to use these regularly in the Abbey but have since moved happily to Church Hymnary 4.

[dmu3tem]

Like others I have certainly experimented with substituting Entrance and Communion Antiphons for hymns. Whenever I have done so I have encountered two sets of problems.

(1) Antiphon texts are very short. If you compose/arrange a direct setting of the text just as it stands the music is 'over before it has really got started'. Various approaches have been adopted to overcome this problem:

(a) Adding additional psalm verses to the text, thereby converting the antiphon into the musical form of a responsorial psalm. Note the effect of this. Leaving aside the question of the final hymn, you are in effect substituting a three 'responsorial psalm' sandwich (i.e. Entrance Antiphon, Responsorial Psalm, Communion Antiphon) for the 'three-hymn sandwich'. This has advantages as well as disadvantages. Some people might like uniformity of format across the service, others might not.

(b) Repetition of the antiphon setting. This is the approach I often use. Usually first time around I give the material to the choir/cantor, second time around the congregation sings it. Note that at/after communion, because (whatever idealists might say) many people want to be in 'devotional' mode this strategy often does not come off.

(c) Having a double antiphon setting. This is a device I sometimes try with communion antiphons, taking advantage of the fact that often alternative antiphon texts are supplied. When I do this I adopt an ABA form. That is we start with the cantor/choir singing the first antiphon; the congregation then repeat it; then the choir/cantor sings the second antiphon text (to different - but matching music); finally everyone repeats the first antiphon.

(d) Taking a musical/text setting well known to the congregation (e.g. something from Taize or 'Jesus Remember Me, when I come into your kingdom) and using this as a chorus to a chanted setting of the communion antiphon text.

(e) Singing in procession repeated musical/textual phrase(s) (Taize style) sometimes with interpolated psalm/other text verses sung by a cantor/choir. Note that this at the very least involves altering the antiphon text or substituting some other text altogether. However if people are in procession then this automatically limits the amount of sheet music they can carry (especially at communion) so you have to do some adaptation of this sort. Notice that such strategies will not please those liturgists (following Litrugiam Authenticam) who believe you must stick to the exact text for the week.

(2) There is a new antiphon text at Communion and the Entrance virtually every week. This means everyone has to master two new musical settings every time; and this on top of mastering a new responsorial psalm. On paper though, this does not look that much different from what happens with hymns. Think how many hymn texts and tunes are 'known' to a congregation. Why, then does the task of picking up new settings of Entrance antiphons, communion antiphons and responsorial psalms seem so difficult? Here are some of the differences that occur to me:

(a) You can reuse a given hymn (tune and text) in several different weeks provided the theme you want to present is the same. For example there are several lectionary readings that deal with the theme of 'The Lord is my shephard'; or, more generally, you often want a rousing hymn of praise at the start and/or conclusion of a service. With antiphons you do not have this flexibility. You have to deal with the set text for the week. Now some efforts are being made to get around this using the same principle as that applied to a 'common core' or responsorial psalm texts. This though only works if you belong to a parish which issues a specially printed set of texts every week. If, as happens with my parish, people are issued with the weekly misselette or rely on their missals then this strategy cannot be used.

(b) Entrance and Communion Antiphon texts are often in prose, not verse. In other words you do not have the regular metrical pattern characteristic of hymns. Musical settings of prose are - all other things being equal - inherently more difficult to pick up. The way round this is to try some sort of chant; but this does not fully eliminate the difficulty. Unless everyone (including the congregation) is supplied with an exact musical notation of the setting (and this assumes they can all read music) you are always going to have hesitations and confusion arising from different people's 'take' on the chanted version of the text if they are singing the thing virtually for the first or second time. Chant - of whatever sort - has to be rehearsed if it is sung 'en masse'. This applies even in cases where the same musical chant setting is applied to a different text. 'Sight-sung chant' usually only works with a solo cantor.

This reasoning then implies that, for entrance and communion antiphons really to stand a chance of being sung confidently by congregations (as well as choirs/cantors) you need metrical antiphon texts each with a minimum of three verses (so that people get at least three 'shots' at the music). A key question then is whether the proposed new texts will do this.

Finally, it is worth looking at the overrall religious-cultural costs and benefits of substituting antiphons for hymns. On the credit side you will - hopefully - get a surge of new compositions for the antiphon texts. On the debit side, you are effectively abandoning an often magnificent hymn heritage (as well as some 'duds') and throwing away some forty years work encouraging congregations to sing hymns. It will take at least as long to get them to master a new antiphon repertory with the same level of confidence. Against this it might be said that in many places congregational hymn singing is still pretty poor, so in these cases you do not have all that much to lose switching to an antiphon repertory. Notice though that people sometimes say they do not sing hymns because they do not know them. This might be the product of the explosive growth and transformation in the hymn repertory that took place in the late 1960s and 1970s. If this is true then getting such people to learn another repertory of antiphon settings seems somewhat illogical.

[johnquinn39]

"... you must stick to the exact text for the week..."

I think that part of the problem is that the exact texts have not been published. The (rather fragmentary) texts given in the missal are really intended to be recited rather than sung.

Would it be a good idea maybe to select a a small number of poplular antiphons and use them frequently? - In my parish, Fr John Foley's 'One bread, one body'; Haugen/Brehl's 'Bread of life from heaven'; Bob Hurd's 'As the deer longs...' and others have been successful.

Has anyone tried James Biery's antiphons? - To my mind, these have memorable responses, and good psalm tones.

[Southern Comfort]

May I suggest that we are now rehashing what has already been said recently in this thread? viewtopic.php?f=7&t=162&start=15