Gloria in English plain chant

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The David Hurd “New Plainsong” is in GIA’s Worship (3rd Edition). Perhaps you could borrow one and take a look.

Betsy
 
brockmac said:
I attended a Mass this weekend where the Gloria was chanted, without accompaniment, in English. I thought it was beautiful. Has anyone else ever heard this?
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Heard it? I used to chant it as a kid all the time with the rest of the congregation. There are probably several/many plainchant Glorias in English but the one we used can be found in any of the early 1970’s “Monthly Missalettes” if you can get your hands on one. I’ll never get the melody out of my head. We recited the Credo, though. But I have a beautiful audio of the Credo chanted in Latin. Incidentally, my childhood priest chanted most of the consecration in English and used “Eucharistic Prayer I” in its entirety every week. I think I’ll fall over if I ever hear a priest these days use it…it’ll take away time from their lengthy homilies…
 
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who remembers the early 70s and chanting the Mass in English. For a large part of the 80’s - early 90’s my cathedral choir used the 1940 Episcopalian Hymnal - all of the great sequences are there in good solid translation. For a parish choir for which Latin might seem to be an obstacle, this would be a wonderful approach to take.

For us, considering that most of the volunteers in the choir grew up before Vatican II, singing “Sing my tongue the Savior’s glory” on Holy Thursday when we were all perfectly capable of singing “Pange lingua” was a bit like taking a shower with a raincoat on.

Betsy - is that the new third edition of Worship III or Worship III?
 
hi.how about those who dont understand the original copy?
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The original is not a copy; it is the original…😉

Like the rest of us, you simply look at the English translation next to the original Latin. Over time you come to appreciate the original even more, and learn it better…truly growing into even more grace.
 
baltobetsy said:
*Worship III *is what I meant. Didn’t know we had a nice, new edition!

Betsy
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Yep, the third edition (from the reviews I’ve read) has moved down the gender neutral road.

I didn’t realize that the plainsong was in Worship III - I’ll have to look for it this Sunday. We got Worship III in the late 80s for choir and congregation and we’re still using it.
 
brotherhrolf said:
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who remembers the early 70s and chanting the Mass in English. For a large part of the 80’s - early 90’s my cathedral choir used the 1940 Episcopalian Hymnal - all of the great sequences are there in good solid translation. For a parish choir for which Latin might seem to be an obstacle, this would be a wonderful approach to take.

For us, considering that most of the volunteers in the choir grew up before Vatican II, singing “Sing my tongue the Savior’s glory” on Holy Thursday when we were all perfectly capable of singing “Pange lingua” was a bit like taking a shower with a raincoat on.

Betsy - is that the new third edition of Worship III or Worship III?
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🙂 i aint in the choir coz i cant sing with a normal voice.nway i appreciate old tunes as well especially when the gloria sounds like operah.thats all the voice i have and thats why i cant b in the choir.has anyone heard about the african operah?
 
I don’t know what they are publishing in Africa these days but I am familiar with Missa Luba which was a Latin Mass from the Congo in 1965 which I loved then and love today. Here’s the Gloria:

youtube.com/watch?v=G4jeTWheAxA&feature=related

PS. I’m no soloist either but I can sing on-key and I know how to blend in with my fellow choir members. 😃
 
i’ve heard it sung in english. it’s very nice. but i think latin is better. latin is perfect for singing and german is the worst in my opinion.
 
Actually, the Gloria from A Community Mass setting can be sung without musical accompanyment. At my dad’s former parish, when the organist returned to the Cathedral, we sang the setting acapella. Without the organ, the Gloria does have a “chant” tone to it.
 
Dee_Dee_King said:
i’ve heard it sung in english. it’s very nice. but i think latin is better. latin is perfect for singing and german is the worst in my opinion.
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Haha! Yes, Latin and Italian are probably the easiest to sing in and perhaps the most beautiful. It’s a naturally “sing-songy” language. I disagree about German being the worst, though. 😉 As a professional mezzo-soprano, I actually enjoy singing it and it comes very naturally for me. (Singing umlauts - not speaking - can sometimes be a little bit of a problem though depending on how high of a note you have to sing it. haha)

For me, it’s English, which is my native tongue, that I believe is one of the worst languages to sing in - especially with the dipthongs, closed vowels, etc. in certain area accents. At least German, although gutteral, is more open.

But, chant in English can sound nice depending on the accent. At the same time, there are certain schools of Latin pronunciation (depending on country) which sometimes sound not too good, either.
 
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