Sunday, June 26, 2011

So that's why the concilium shortened the office.

Maybe IR Doing it Rong, but it takes me an hour and 15 to sing matins and lauds form the liturgia horarum.Today, with the full invitatory tone (Rather than a psalm tone) both hymns (Sacris Solemnis AND Verbum Supernum Prodiens) and the sung responsories, (I usually recite those on Sundays since I don't have access to anything with the responsories for the new offices in it) It took me an hour and 35.

I can't imagine having to add one and 1/2 more nocturns to matins,tripling the amount of responsories, and adding two more psalms to lauds. And don't get me wrong, I think that the reduction of matins to a single nocturn of of two very long lessons and responsories was unfortunate, and the triple nocturn of three or nine lessons is the ideal. But if if takes me the long to do what's essentially one nocturn plus an extra reading from matins of the old office of corpus Christi, I can't imagine how long it would take to sing the entire thing. And I don't sing slow. Slow chant becomes boring. So yeah, that's that.

2 comments:

Paul Goings said...

The custom in cathedrals and collegiate churches was to sing Matins and Lauds for Christmas, the Epiphany, the Triduum, Easter, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi, and to recite them recto tono at other times. Not un-coincidentally, those are the feasts which are provided for in the Liber. The Benedictines and Dominicans had maybe a dozen or so feasts during the year for which they would be sung. Only the Carthusians sang them daily, and they *did* sing very slowly.

J.Samuel Ross. said...

Thank you. That makes a lot of sense. ( I had wondered why the Liber only provided for those feasts)

I suppose thie might explain why in the Mercedarian chant books (Well, I've only ever seen one) The only feasts provided with a full office were Our Lady of Mercy, St.Peter Nolasco and St.Laurence. The rest only had lauds and vespers.