Does Solesmes really say this?

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I prefer French to English but I prefer Latin. In the current translation we don’t use “ainsi soit-il” anymore but we use Amen instead. I go to an OF Mass with Latin Gregorian propers and Ordinary (with Greek Kyrie of course) but the rest in French plainchant, and it’s nice and very well done by the monks.

For the Liturgy of the Hours, I use the current post-Conciliar rite but I use Les Heures Grégoriennes, a Latin-French diurnal antiphonary noted for chant, and for the Office of Readings I use Liturgia Horarum, sometimes with a Nocturnale I put together from the first Ordo Cantus Officii.

Latin just sings better than French. The Latin modes are kludgy with French as the accents are all in the wrong place.
 
OraLabora said:
The PDF is obsolete
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Does that mean that what they said is not to be used nowadays? We should not have any acccent on the last syllable anymore?
I have heard that this is in fact still a tradition today. Church Militant made some videos on Gregorian chant and in those videos it is clearly stated that one SHOULD not sing Pater Noster with the same accent as used when reciting it.

Do you know why people have said that one should have the accent on the last syllable when singing?
 
jesusmademe said:
Hell dig Maria (the older version which I prefer) or Var hälsad Maria (used in churches today) in Swedish.
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That’s interesting! What, exactly, does “hell” mean? Is it a more formal way of saying “hej”? Is it a word in everyday use, outside the context of prayer? And what was the Church’s reason for changing it?
 
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OraLabora said:
Cistercians always use the same Marian antiphon (Salve Regina, solemn tone) but Benedictines change seasonally.
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Just a quick digression, because you’ve mentioned. don’t the Cistercians use Regina caeli during Easter?
 
TomH1 said:
Just a quick digression, because you’ve mentioned. don’t the Cistercians use Regina caeli during Easter?
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Not at Compline at least. I have a current Cistercian breviary from noted for chant and the Salve Regina, solemn Cistercian tone (actually only Cistercian tone, but it resembles with some differences the solemn Benedictine tone), is the only Marian antiphon listed. Edit: I should add that at monasteries it is the normal practice to recite the Angelus after Vigils or at 6 am, after Sext, and after Compline (after the Marian antiphon). Of course during the Easter season, the angelus is replaced by the Regina Caeli, even for Cistercians!
jesusmademe said:
Does that mean that what they said is not to be used nowadays? We should not have any acccent on the last syllable anymore?
I have heard that this is in fact still a tradition today. Church Militant made some videos on Gregorian chant and in those videos it is clearly stated that one SHOULD not sing Pater Noster with the same accent as used when reciting it.
Click to expand...
You have to understand that the recent Solesmes changes will take a long time to become fully integrated into our liturgy. As for what you yourself should do personally… it depends. Are you a choirmaster? If yes then you know your choir and how easily they will adapt to changes. If you’re just a chorister like myself, then you sing as your choirmaster indicates.
jesusmademe said:
Do you know why people have said that one should have the accent on the last syllable when singing?
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No. But I do know that it hasn’t been stressed for some time. When I started singing in 2002, we were already taught, by a monk who was an abbey’s choirmaster of the older Solesmes school, to avoid them, that they were somehow an “error”.

Again, I stress, as a choir member, we should sing it the way our choirmaster wants us. That we use this or that method is less important than everyone following the same method and singing with one voice. Even when using one method, two choirs will have completely different “voices” and will sound different. It’s one of the unique characteristics of Gregorian chant. There are as many “voices” as their are choirs. Moreover a choir’s voice can evolve with time as members come and go. I can listen to older recordings of our abbey, or Solesmes, and recognize them at an instant. And for our abbey, its voice has evolved since those older recordings as older monks are replaced by younger ones.

It is possible to overthink this! Sing harmoniously with one voice, and you’ll be well ahead of the game.
 
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BartholomewB said:
That’s interesting! What, exactly, does “hell” mean? Is it a more formal way of saying “hej”? Is it a word in everyday use, outside the context of prayer? And what was the Church’s reason for changing it?
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Hell means hail.
I would not use it in daily speech.
 
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