Communion antiphons for the church year, 2003

Communion antiphons for the church year.

These communion antiphons transcribed from the Graduale Romanum by Proulx were apparently sent to World Library Publications and then sent back to Proulx to be checked and edited (a letter from WLP's senior editor, Alan Hommerding, is in this file). It is unclear if these were ever published. The manuscripts of some of these antiphons, as well as correspondence with GIA regarding these antiphons, can be found in another file in this archival collection (#253). The following is the description/explanation of the antiphons that Proulx included: The traditional communion chants found in the Graduale Romanum, though brief, are among the richest treasures of the plainsong repertoire. The texts of these antiphons often reflect the Gospel of the day, underscoring the efficacy of singing the proper texts of the Communion Rite. I am convinced that, in order to truly "sing the Mass" rather than "sing at Mass," we must work for the retention of such liturgical texts proper to the day. When various factors make it impractical to sing these communion chants in the original Latin settings from neumatic notation, transcription is an alternate possibility. There have been various attempts at this over the past thirty years with mixed results. The work contained in this volume began in 1980 when I came to the Holy Name Cathedral, where chant had not been heard in any form for over fifteen years. The goal of this project was to respect the integrity of the melodies and to be as faithful to the originals as possible within the context of providing singable English texts. However, the literal transcription of musical groupings and neumatic structures, without melodic omissions, required some flexibility of translation. In Chicago, our fourteen years of experience refining these transcriptions represent a significant history of pastoral practice which has been rewarding and prayerful for congregation and singers alike. This is flexible, vocal music - most effectively sung unaccompanied by a small schola of select voices, women alone, or men alone. We have alternated these groups weekly to facilitate preparation and our singers have found the discipline of chanting this elegant music to be both challenging and rewarding; this weekly practice has yielded vocal benefits to our entire choral repertoire, and enriched our liturgical focus. A second volume of these communion antiphons will include those for the Sundays of Ordinary Time and various feasts.