Missa Simplex Acoustic Arrangement

Comments

1. tlelyo says:

   September 11, 2010 at 12:55 pm

   Hey guys, here’s a comment I received via e-mail for this post:
   >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

   Tom -

   Re: “Catholic Worship Podcast Episode 18″

   Just a quick note about your arrangement of the Kyrie from Mass XVI in the Vatican Kyriale/Graduale Romanum (used in the so-called “Missa simplex”):

   You’ve changed the melody in one place, and misplaced the syllables with the neumes (“notes”) in two other places.

   a) At the “Christe”, the first syllable (“Chri-”) has only one note, not two. You’ve taken the first note that is sung with the following syllable (“-ste”) and moved it back one syllable, forming a clivis from the punctum at “Chri-”. The sequence of notes that you’re singing is the same as in the chant Kyrie, but you’ve altered the combination of notes from a punctum followed by a podatus to a clivis followed by a punctum.

   b) The same thing occurs in the “eleison” of the final Kyrie, only to a much worse degree: the notes as you sing them don’t match the syllables as printed in the chant.

   What the chant notation indicates is this (the number indicates the number of notes sung on that syllable):

   (1) E-
   (2) le-
   (1) i-
   (6) son.

   What you’re singing instead is this:

   (1) E-
   (7) le-
   (1) i-
   (1) son.

   (c) In the final Kyrie eleison you’ve changed the melody both in the Latin and in the English. The second to the last note you’re singing a half step sharp, whereas this note in the original chant in sung natural. In other words, on the final syllable “-son” there are six notes: a clivis (two notes) followed by a climacus with four notes. The last four descending notes ought to be:

   whole step
   whole step
   whole step
   half step.

   What’ you’re singing instead is this:

   whole step
   whole step
   half step
   whole step.

   I think that part of the problem lies in the accompaniment: you begin and end the piece in a minor key. But this 1th-century composition is not written in a minor key. Or a major key. In fact, it’s not written in a “key” (a modern concept) at all: it’s written in the ancient Phrygian mode, which has no modern equivalent.

   Beware of trying to force a square peg into a round whole: setting a composition written in an ancient (and foreign) mode in a modern “key”.

   …And, I just noticed another problem with the melody – this time in the Sanctus.

   In the phrase “Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua.” You’ve again changed the melody.

   You’re singing the three notes of the word “gloria” all on the same pitch. In fact, the second and third syllables are written a half step below that of the first.

   May God bless your apostolate!

   +Fr Arsenius
   <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<