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Labels: Anglican chant, Evensong, music theory, Psalms, St John's (Cambridge), William H Harris

Surely choirs are looking for a quick, easy, patriotic introit for the upcoming Independence Day holiday. I think the recent account of Paul Revere's midnight ride is, um, if not appropriate than at least fun to sing to Anglican chant. Find a single chant by an American composer and you're all set.

He who | warned the | British
that they | weren’t going • to be | taking a-way our | arms 

by | ringing those | bells 
- | and by | making | sure 

that as he is riding his | horse through | town 
to send those | warning | shots and | bells 

that we were going be secure and we were going | to be | free
and | we were | going • to be | armed.

Language standardized to the way people should really talk. I call it NRSP (New Revised Standard Palin)

Labels: Anglican chant

Here's another version of the chant by Hylton Stewart that I mentioned in my previous post.

This version comes from The Anglican Chant Psalter from Church Publishing. In this Psalter it does accompany Psalm 39, which is heard in this week's webcast from St. John's, Cambridge.

You'll notice a marked difference in the partwriting between this version and the one posted previously from The New St. Paul's Cathedral Psalter (now available as The Anglican Psalter): in the penultimate bar the bass and tenor parts are inverted.

It's a subtle difference, but I think I prefer the lower, darker part writing for this chant -- especially for its pairing with Psalm 39.

These verses in particular seem to fit the aching, evolving emotion inherent in this chant.

LORD, let me know mine end, and the number of my days; * that I may be certified how long I have to live. 
  
Behold, thou hast made my days as it were a span long, and mine age is even as nothing in respect of thee; * and verily every man living is altogether vanity. 
  
For man walketh in a vain shadow, and disquieteth himself in vain; * he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them. 
  
And now, Lord, what is my hope? * truly my hope is even in thee. 

There's something wonderfully simple and effective about the initial motion in each quarter of the chant's construction.

G minor.

In the first quarter: rising by a half step, falling by a fourth.
In the second quarter: rising by a fourth, and rising by a whole step.

In the third quarter begins in the relative major with the reciting note on the B♭, the fifth of the E♭ Major chord.

In the third quarter: rising by a minor third, falling by a half step.
In the fourth quarter: rising by a minor third, falling by a whole step.

The rise of only a minor third in the relative major yeilds D♭, a "blue" note. It's a ♭VII in the relative major, but how do you analyze a D♭ major chord in G minor? You really can't get any farther away. Wacky.

Looking at the intervals, and the direction of the pitch contour, there are some interesting patterns here that I think our minds perceive on some level.

The truly heartbreaking moment, for me, is in the last quarter, when the rise of a minor third reaches only the terminating note of the third quarter (and in that delicious 4-3 suspension, no less).

Labels: Anglican chant, Hylton Stewart

I think this might be the prettiest Anglican chant I have heard in a long while.

Hear it yourself at this week's webcast from St. John's, Cambridge.

Labels: Anglican chant, Hylton Stewart, St John's (Cambridge)

What began life as a tweet from the organ bench yesterday afternoon materialized into some useful information which I will share here.

You might notice that Ned Rorem's "No darkness at all" from his Quaker Reader suite for organ begins exactly like an Anglican chant (same printed rhythm even).

The Hymnal Companion to the Hymnal 1982 (both edited by a predecessor of mine at St. Paul's, Richmond) reveal that Rorem did incorporate not one, but two of his chants into this organ work. These chants can be found in the service music section of the hymnal at S-220 and S-240.

(Special thanks to Shannon G. for the info)

Labels: Anglican chant, church music, organ music, Rorem

One year ago (28 Jan 2009) 12 inches of snow fell and I live-blogged a triple chant.

One year later, I can hear the chant and remember how much fun shoveling the driveway was. I also have a composer to go with that delightful triple chant: Jonathan Bielby.

It's sung on this webcast

Labels: Anglican chant, St Thomas (New York), weather

Google Books has the Westminster Abbey Chant Book published in 1894.

A number of triple chants are included.

Here's one by Stainer that is printed first in minor then major:

Labels: Anglican chant, Stainer, Westminster Abbey

Let's focus on a single verse from Sunday's Psalm lection, 95:11

So I swore in my wrath, *
      "They shall not enter into my rest."

Psalm pointing is the craft of divvying up the syllables of this ancient Hebrew poetry (that has since translated into English) so that it might be sung to a chant formula.

In the Anglican choral tradition, the chant formula is often what is known as Anglican chant, but plainsong chant formula is sometimes used (especially in Purple seasons).

Yesterday, Lent 3A, was an interesting case study in Episcopal plainsong psalm pointing. Bruce Ford has pointed settings in the Eucharistic Psalter and James Litton has edited the Plainsong Psalter. The pointing for Psalm 95:11 differs in these two books.

The solution for pointing first part of the verse is simple. This part includes the mediant, which is just a single change from the reciting tone. In this case, simply move on "wrath".

So I swore in my wrath *

Both Psalters agree on this.

The second part is a bit more complicated.

The termination consists of a few more changes from the reciting tone. In this case, a minimum of three pitches. Backing up three syllables gives us the simple answer, as is found in the Eucharistic Psalter.

"They shall not enter in-to my rest."

The other approach would be to nuance this slightly (for what reason? We'll get there). The Plainsong Psalter offers:

"They shall not enter in-to my rest."

In this case, the "my" and "rest" end up being on the same pitch, the last part of the termination.

So, the question at the end of this is, why?

Why wouldn't the first approach work all the time? Is there something inherently more musical or rhetorical about moving the termination back by a syllable? Is it more faithful to the word "rest" if the termination rests on the final syllable? But the verse says that "they shall not enter into my rest". So shouldn't we go with the first one?

Do different editors point psalms differently depending on what tone or chant they have in mind? (I think they do). If so, should they? Or should the pointing be such that it can fit any musical setting?

To what degree is Psalm pointing subjective? should it be subjective?

Labels: Anglican chant, church music, Psalms

I don't normally write about work on any kind of current basis, but I had an extraordinary mid-liturgy exegetical experience that I would like to relate.

Thursday evening, at evensong, the psalm was 73. I had been practicing the accompaniment for psalm all week, mostly trying to line up the notes of the chant with the text. For this particular psalm/chant pairing, this task was a bit more exciting due to the number of passing tones. The chant, incidentally, was written by Henry Smart, who was not a dumb composer.

So there I was working away, and it wasn't as if I was ignoring the words (I usually am either singing them or mouthing the words as I work), but I wasn't quite taking in the whole meaning either.

Because once we sang the psalm at evensong, I understoood the meaning of the opening of the psalm for the very first time.

Generally in a double chant two verses are sung to the same chant tone before it repeats.

So, we begin with 8844 on the Swell.

1. Truly, God is good to Israel, *
to those who are pure in heart.

2. But as for me, my feet had nearly slipped; *
I had almost tripped and fallen;

Then, as I reached over to pull on the Oboe, I inadvertently pulled out new shades of meaning. It might have also been that there is a big difference in singing something yourself and having the same bit sung to you. I hadn't connected how dangerously close the psalmist comes to having "tripped and fallen" with what came next. It seems that his envy nearly brought him to do something that he would regret; it brought him to almost "trip and fall". The dark color of the Oboe was the perfect complememnt for the psalmist's description of the "wicked".

3. Because I envied the proud *
and saw the prosperity of the wicked:

4. For they suffer no pain, *
and their bodies are sleek and sound;

It was a strange experience, understanding for the first time what the psalmist's attitude was toward these "hard-bodies", and how it was all tied into the psalmist's feet nearly slipping. I read along as the choir sang, but was also very concious of my accompanying duties.

5. In the misfortunes of others they have no share; *
they are not afflicted as others are;

6. Therefore they wear their pride like a necklace *
and wrap their violence about them like a cloak.

I have to say, it was a unique experience, this real time liturgical exegesis, mostly because it was so distracting! Here I was, contemplating the meaning of the text while I was playing it.

It seems that I was embodying verse 22 of the psalm (which was not sung at evensong).

22. I was stupid and had no understanding; *
I was like a brute beast in your presence.

. . . not so Smart after all . . .

Labels: Anglican chant, Evensong, Psalms, Smart