O Salutaris

nazard · Post by **nazard** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:29 am

Our new pp wants to resurrect O Salutaris for benediction. I thought that this was no problem, and set about teaching the choir the gregorian melody for it.

"We don't know that tune," they moaned.

"What tune do you know?" I asked.

They then sung me a polyphonic medley of microtonal tunes in which I could not identify anything at all.

I played them "Melcombe" and "Duguet" which they did not recognise. In the end I took the authoritarian approach and taught them the gregorian melody, but they are not happy.

"It's too difficult," they moan.

"We don't know it," moaned the congregation.

What tunes do people use? Does anyone use the gregorian melody from Iubilate Deo?

dmu3tem · Post by **dmu3tem** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 9:31 am

There are literally hundreds of O Salutaris settings from pre Vatican II days, although only a tiny proportion of them are plainchant. To get some idea of the scope try the following publications:

ed. A.E. Tozer: Complete Benediction Manual (1898) and its more commonly known revision by J. Hasberry in 1931. (Cary and Co)

ed. R. Terry: Benediction Choir Book 1938 (I think). This is a cut down version of a much larger publication (Burns and Oates, I think). Here you will find that Terry adapted several plainchant hymn melodies to fit Benediction texts.

ed. Charles Newsham revised John Richardson: Benediction Manual (I forget the exact title). Published by Burns and Lambert n.d. (c. 1862)

ed. Henri Hemy: Crown of Jesus Manual Part III. Thomas Richardson and Son, 1864. Later reprinted by Burns and Oates.

ed. John Driscoll SJ: Stonyhurst, Wimbledon, Beaumont Cantionale - 1920s and mid 1930s editions. These are a dyeline copy production. Driscoll also produced separate smaller collections of Benediction Music.

ed. William Maher and Zulueta: Benediction Manual (I forget the exact title). This is a conflation of up to four originally separate publications of music for devotions. Publ. c. 1898/1920.

In addition there is a vast quantity of loosesheet printed material: Benediction settings by Chamberlain, Richardson, Turner (quite elaborate) and many others. Vincent Novello produced a vast compilation (probably in the 1830s) copies of which I have not seen. Note that Embassy Chapel Masses often had O Salutaris and Tantum Ergo settings added to them - see especially Masses by Webbe and V. Novello. The former were republished by J.A. Novello in his Cheap Musical Classic Series in the 1850s.

Copies of most of these (except the Driscoll stuff) can be found in the Talbot Library in Preston.

Thomas Muir

musicus · Post by **musicus** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 8:10 pm

Thomas is correct - there are countless settings, (and most of them are wretched, I might add). Of course, the 'proper' tune is the one your choir used to sing, but can no longer remember.

I don't suppose the tune your PP knows - if he knows one at all - will be 'correct' either, because he will have learnt it elsewhere too.

If you haven't already done so, I would discuss this with him. Ask his advice (i.e. throw the ball into his court).

If it's any consolation, I think you have done the right thing: teach 'em the Latin chant. It's official and universal.

Remember: a problem shared is someone else's problem too. :wink:

nazard · Post by **nazard** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 10:14 am

Thank you both for your kind thoughts.

I have discussed it with the pp but he does not know the name of the tune he half remembers. The choir similarly only half remember the tune. In fact, if there is more than one chorister present, a little way in they start arguing about how it goes.

The problem is that our pp wants to use "O Salutaris" on weekdays when the choir and I are at work. He claims to be managing this, but I haven't heard them. We are obviously limited to simple unison settings, and I have now tried all the ones I have come across.

Our pp and the congregation think that the setting I have taught them (from Iubilate Deo / Liber Cantualis) is too difficult for them to remember.

What I really want to know is the names of any more commonly used tunes.

musicus · Post by **musicus** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 5:27 pm

Another thought. The tune they are all struggling to remember is almost certainly LM (Long Metre). Why not sit them down (the choir and the PP) and play a verse of each and every LM tune you can find until recognition dawns. They might not be able to sing it to you, but they ought to be able to recognise it when they hear it.

If that fails, let them pick one of the more well-known LM tunes and use that. Just avoid tunes that have strong associations, such as Rockingham or Old Hundredth.

(I see that The Catholic Hymnbook plumps for Melcombe.)

Good luck!

gwyn · Post by **gwyn** » Sat Jun 02, 2007 7:48 pm

Any LM (Long Metre) tune will fit the words. Have a forrage through the metrical index of a couple of hymnals and there'll be one or two that attract you.

It's nice to change the tune every few weeks or so, or to change the tune with the liturgical season.

nazard · Post by **nazard** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 7:18 am

Thank you all.

I did play the likely suspects to the choir after mass yesterday, and they plumped for "Melcombe", all recognising the third line, the pp included.

I would never have guessed it from their various renderings of the first line though.

One day I hope to get them to the plainsong. Its one of the tunes that always bowls me over.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Mon Jun 04, 2007 9:38 pm

Do persevere with the plainsong melody, as you inferred, it's quite beautiful.

And when you've mastered that, you can sing the whole of Verbum supernum prodiens at Lauds on Corpus Christi!

C/