Easter Sequence

[docmattc]

On a different, but related, topic: What do people do for the sequence on Easter Sunday morning? I'm always at a loss and I think we've often just said it, but this falls far short of ideal.

I have split this off to a new topic - Musicus, moderator

[Ros Wood]

On a different, but related, topic: What do people do for the sequence on Easter Sunday morning? I'm always at a loss and I think we've often just said it, but this fals far short of ideal.

I wrote my own with Alleluia refrain a few years back after I couldn't find anything suitable for guitars.

[Scholastica]

While the plainsong is superb, you might like to look at your "other copy" of Resurrexit where you will find two "hymn tune" versions. The first one is a setting of Kevin Nichols' words by James Walsh and the second one uses the same words but to a more familiar melody (Stainer's "Cross of Jesus"). Hope the reprint is available soon ....

[Peter]

There is also a hymn version, by James Quinn, in Laudate no 259.

[docmattc]

I see the Walsh words are 87 87 meter, so we could play one song to the tune of another here to find a tune the congregation know. (Usually limited choir on Easter Sunday as more are at the vigil)

There's lots of mileage in Ros' Alleluia refrain idea. In this way we could 'integrate' the Sequence by running straight into the Gospel Acclamation. It always feels out of place and awkward to me as a stand alone hymn, probably because sequences occur so infrequently since Trent abolished most of them.

[mcb]

We usually do this setting of the chant with English words and a people's refrain. There are choir parts but it can easily be slimmed down to having all sing the chant melody in unison. There's a preview of the first couple of pages here.

M.

[alan29]

The standard text is 8 line verses. The last 4 lines fit nicely to the tune of the Celtic Alleluia. You can then devise a nifty tune for the first 4 lines. At the end a brief segue into the Alleluia proper, and Bob's your uncle.
Alan

[musicus]

An old favourite of mine is Graham Kendrick's He's Alive (Led like a lamb to the slaughter), which combines a surprisingly good paraphrase of the Sequence's verses with Alleluia. I have it in an old copy of Mission Praise - remember that? - but it is almost certainly available in other collections. In a former parish of mine, we used it as the Sequence leading into the Gospel Acclamation, with the three-fold Alleluias divided between the choir, congregation (left) and congregation (right). It is very fine and I commend it to you.

[Peter]

Having suggested ...

There is also a hymn version, by James Quinn, in Laudate no 259.

... I got some flak for using it this morning on the grounds that it is too long, the tune ("Gelobt sei Gott" aka "Vulpius") is not very exciting and people got restive. Admittedly it is longer than the translation given in the Missal of the original text by Wipo of Burgundy. What did other people do? What reaction did they get? I could be facing demands to drop the Sequence altogether next year.

Incidentally, maybe off-topic, but does anyone know who Wipo was? Was he perhaps a Benedictine Brother, a Dominican Brother - or even a Marx Brother?

Also, arguably a little off-topic as regards the Sequence but still on the subject of Easter, how many OT readings did people have at the Vigil? We did three as did a nearby cathedral and the parish where I attended last year. Anyone do all seven?

[docmattc]

After looking at various options, I went for the setting mcb suggested above. Both the cantor and I struggled with the timing so we opted to sing the verses in a much freer time (I gave her the plainsong notation from "By Flowing Waters" which is essentially the same as the Wm Greene version) with just a series of chords underneath it. At the end I improvised a modulation up into A and belted out the Celtic Alleluia.
I had no comments about it at all after Mass, though in my rehearsal before hand when I taught the refrain I did explain that sequences were now a rare thing, but obligatory on Easter Sunday

We did readings 3, 5 and 7 at the vigil. While I was at the university chaplaincy we did all readings, by candle light in the comfortable chairs of the common room. We processed into the chapel at the Gloria. That vigil started at 10pm, rarely ended before 1am and yet felt like it lasted about an hour. It took a lot of adjusting to the 'minimalism' of parish life.

I love the thought that Wipo was a lost Marx Brother His biog (such as it is) is in the Catholic encyclopedia and wikipedia.

[nazard]

We used the Quinn version to Gelobt sei Gott, It does go on a bit, but at least the congregation know the tune by the end. I was playing the organ, and I got a bit carried away as I got a bit faster to the point where I started to get uneven on the pedal runs in the last line. Mea culpa...

The Green version looks interesting. I have long wanted to do the "Victimae paschale" but our pp is against it. Green looks to be a compromise.

I will have to try playing with the Celtic Alleluia. As I use the triple Alleluia for the psalm antiphon, it sounds a bit much to use it for the main alleluia too.

[Reginald]

Just picking up on docmattc's comment about the sequence seeming a little awkward. There was a piece on the New Liturgical Movement website recently about the processional character of Sequences...suggesting that they might have been intended to 'cover' the action of the Gospel procession, though clearly you'd be talking about a lap of the Church particularly with the Pentecost sequence!

[docmattc]

I think the translation in the Green version (by Peter Scagnelli, also Laudate 260) is superior to that in the missal, both in terms of poetry and ease of understanding.
compare:
Death with life contended: combat strangely ended! (English Missal)
with
Death and life fought bitterly / for this wondrous victory (Scagnelli)

Though I suspect the former is closer to the Latin, 'Mors et vita Duello conflixere mirando' for those who get worked up about such things.

I used Psalite Deo as the psalm this morning and Celtic Alleluia, last night the psalm after the epistle was from Psalite to the tune of O fili et filliae. For the last 3 years we've used the Celtic with its psalm verses so I fancied a change. I intend to use O fili et filliae for the Gospel Acc throughout the season.

[johnmac]

we did Chris Walker's "Christ my hope is risen" that's based on the sequence on easter morning, which went down really well with the congregation, with a really easy to use refrain that everyone could join in to - any others I've ever seen before were all very latin-heavy, so this was a welcomed change! Anyone else try this or something else?

[VML]

how many OT readings did people have at the Vigil? We did three as did a nearby cathedral and the parish where I attended last year. Anyone do all seven?

For the first time in twenty years we left out some readings: 4 and 6. That was because we had some child baptisms as well as adult, and other receptions too.
All different readers, and cantored psalms though we sang the Red Sea song/ (canticle?) together.
It has always flowed quite well and though there are only 60 or so people, they join in with the responses and are familiar with the psalms we use.
The Sequence is another matter. I quite like it read together, with the church full to overflowing. I can see though that it should be sung in some form though I don't know one.