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dcointin
Guest
It puts my Orthodox parish to shame, in a good way
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Ridgerunner
Guest
I couldn’t design a website if my life depended on it. But I will make one suggestion nevertheless. Some of the Byzantine choral singing is just breathtaking. Why not add some of that? It could be in the background or things a person can click on in the website itself.
I’m a very Latin guy, but I admire the Eastern Churches a lot. I’m going to share a hymn from a Ruthenian Catholic Church I found quite by accident. It just bowled me over, it’s so beautiful. It’s in English. I wish I had the Old Slavonic for it. youtube.com/watch?v=-ndfJiyismM
I realize the next one is Russian Orthodox, but it, too, is beautiful to my ears, at least, and I feel pretty confident there is a Ukrainian version of it as well.
youtube.com/watch?v=ODg5V7_PeHg&feature=related
I think it of some importance to both “Latins” and the Eastern Churches if we, who are the majority in this country, grew to fully appreciate the Eastern Churches. We aren’t nearly as familiar with you as we should be, and our understanding and appreciation of you could matter.
So, how about some music on your site?
I’m a very Latin guy, but I admire the Eastern Churches a lot. I’m going to share a hymn from a Ruthenian Catholic Church I found quite by accident. It just bowled me over, it’s so beautiful. It’s in English. I wish I had the Old Slavonic for it. youtube.com/watch?v=-ndfJiyismM
I realize the next one is Russian Orthodox, but it, too, is beautiful to my ears, at least, and I feel pretty confident there is a Ukrainian version of it as well.
youtube.com/watch?v=ODg5V7_PeHg&feature=related
I think it of some importance to both “Latins” and the Eastern Churches if we, who are the majority in this country, grew to fully appreciate the Eastern Churches. We aren’t nearly as familiar with you as we should be, and our understanding and appreciation of you could matter.
So, how about some music on your site?
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
You happened to “stumble” well, on the work of one of the best standing choirs in the Byzantine-Ruthenian Church here in America. I’ll try to find a recording of this setting for you in Slavonic. It is a choral version of the responsorial plainchant hymn:
This is sung after the distribution of the Holy Eucharist, as the priest takes the remaining Gifts to the side altar. The plainchant version is also one of the nicest hymns in the Byzantine-Ruthenian Divine Liturgy, as it is inherently joyful.
While the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Greek Catholic plainchant traditions are very similar, they are unique, among many related Slavic plainchant traditions (although there is a fair amount of “borrowing” between Slavic traditions, Catholic and Orthodox). It would be challenging for anyone to try to include a full set on a single website. That said, it would be nice to have samples of some of the best Ukrainian Greek Catholic plainchant and choral works available on a website (why not this very good one?).
Blessings!
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CDB1718
Guest
Father has the same request!
I have instructional music up under the For Servers section, but I don’t have Ukrainian choral music. If you have some, I’ll include it!The iconographer article I linked to earlier is down at the moment because the adobe site is undergoing maintenance.
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
In Slavonic:
youtube.com/watch?v=APHEX07VABM
Same choral setting (Vedel), sung by the Presov Seminary Choir. It will sound a little different as rendered by an all-male group, in a different key, but it is the same work nonetheless.
BTW - there are plenty of YouTube videos of this fine, well travelled choir. They recently toured the US.
AND PLEASE DO ADD UGCC chant selections on the website if possible!
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CDB1718
Guest
I don’t have any! Know anyone who would give me some?
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
I will try my best to work with you on this. I am Ruthenian, but as mentioned, we do share a common root tradition. We have many Ukrainians in our parish, and often have visiting UGCC priests. While we are supposed to “stick to our own guns” so to speak even with a visiting priest presiding (who often does not know the Ruthenian chant), we do try to inject some where appropriate (para-liturgical and communion hymns, mnohaja lita after DL, etc.).
Let me see what I can come up with (I’ll PM you within the next day or so)!
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CDB1718
Guest
Wonderful!
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Outstanding! Wonderful! I am wondering if anyone has a transliteration of the Slavonic words so an English-speaker could learn them. My grandchildren are a “little choir” of sorts, and I think they would like to learn this; perhaps even volunteer to sing it in church. On their own they learned “Riu Riu Chiu” one Christmas, in the original archaic Spanish, and then last summer, and just for fun, learned the whole of “Katyusha” in Russian. I think they would like this in Slavonic. It’s astounding what little kids can learn if it interests them.
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
Ask and you shall receive …
… and we hope to see your grandchildren up on YouTube soon, singing this!
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
CDB1718: Bear in mind that we, together with Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox, share a choral tradition. So, the choral works sung in the Ruthenian Catholic Church overlap with those heard in the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. This is especially true between us (Ruthenian and Ukrainian), as the Ruthenian “Mother Church” is in Mukachevo with an inherently heavy Ukrainian influence.
A prominent example, Bortniansky (a Ukrainian) composed a good number of settings still in use today: most famously, “Kol Slaven Nas”. IMHO - this would be a solid “first pick” for a UGCC website.
BTW - this group is Dutch, so don’t let the odd “transliteration” fool you, but this is Kol Slaven Nas - and these guys are amazing!
youtube.com/watch?v=aDgWjDaCfuk&feature=plcp&context=C36dff08UDOEgsToPDskKs2sLs_vbFHqt3EcuYQo_Q
Historical note - this melody was adapted (to different lyrics) as a Russian national anthem in the last days of the tzars.
Another good version (more church-like tempo and rendering, despite the military scenes in the video!).
youtube.com/watch?v=wVPamawxHDE
If you want to get an early jump on choral samples, anything composed by Bortniansky and set against liturgical text is a safe bet! Bortniansky, Vedel (who composed the “Da ispólňatsja” referenced above) and Berezovsky were the three great Ukrainian composers of their day (18th century).
I will still get back to you privately with some sources of plainchant samples!
A prominent example, Bortniansky (a Ukrainian) composed a good number of settings still in use today: most famously, “Kol Slaven Nas”. IMHO - this would be a solid “first pick” for a UGCC website.
BTW - this group is Dutch, so don’t let the odd “transliteration” fool you, but this is Kol Slaven Nas - and these guys are amazing!
youtube.com/watch?v=aDgWjDaCfuk&feature=plcp&context=C36dff08UDOEgsToPDskKs2sLs_vbFHqt3EcuYQo_Q
Historical note - this melody was adapted (to different lyrics) as a Russian national anthem in the last days of the tzars.
Another good version (more church-like tempo and rendering, despite the military scenes in the video!).
youtube.com/watch?v=wVPamawxHDE
If you want to get an early jump on choral samples, anything composed by Bortniansky and set against liturgical text is a safe bet! Bortniansky, Vedel (who composed the “Da ispólňatsja” referenced above) and Berezovsky were the three great Ukrainian composers of their day (18th century).
I will still get back to you privately with some sources of plainchant samples!
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
EXCELLENT SOURCE OF UKRAINIAN GCC CHANT
from your brothers and sisters @
St. Elias Church (Ukrainian Catholic–Eparchy of Toronto),
Brampton, ON Canada.
saintelias.com/
An entire YouTube Channel exclusively of their worship, with over 300 videos and over 500,000 “hits”:
youtube.com/user/tsyhan
I don’t think you could do much better than this. They are very, very good chanters, and the video collection is extensive!
from your brothers and sisters @
St. Elias Church (Ukrainian Catholic–Eparchy of Toronto),
Brampton, ON Canada.
saintelias.com/
An entire YouTube Channel exclusively of their worship, with over 300 videos and over 500,000 “hits”:
youtube.com/user/tsyhan
I don’t think you could do much better than this. They are very, very good chanters, and the video collection is extensive!
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Any hints on how to pronounce the words?
I wish there was an Eastern Church in S.W. Mo, where I live. I believe the nearest are in Tulsa and St. Louis. I think the parish in St. Louis is pretty small, but sometimes they use the Cathedral Basilica there, which for some reason is pretty Byzantine in decor. cathedralstl.com/intro/. I’m sure it’s a magnificent setting for the Ukrainian/Ruthenian liturgies when they’re held there. The pictures on the Cathedral Basilica’s website hardly do it justice. It’s absolutely vast, and the interior is covered with mosaics that are so intricate one can hardly believe one’s eyes.
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Here are some better pictures. Imagine a Byzantine Catholic liturgy in there. Lots of Catholics in St. Louis. google.com/search?q=cathedral+basilica+of+saint+louis&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=afwVT96DI8rE2wWr1KSECg&ved=0CG4QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=571
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
It is truly a most beautiful temple of God! As the parish history explains, the architects who designed the structure chose a fusion of Byzantine and Romanesque styles. A similar approach was taken for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
I’ve never tried to attach a file to a post before, but here it goes!
There should be a one page attachment from one of the first chant books published using “Latinica” vs. the Cyrillic alphabet.
Hope this helps!
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ByzCathCantor
Guest
The following link will take you to a recording of this past Christmas Day’s Divine Liturgy held at St. Basil the Great Greek [Ruthenian] Catholic Church in Medzilaborce, Slovakia.
rusynmedia.org/Divine%20L…birci%20SK.mp3
At 59:06, they chant “Da Ispolnatsja” to the traditional plainchant melody. This at least gives you any audio source as a guide to pronunciation (which is very discernable on this recording).
BTW - the entire DL is a real treasure - I’d encourage you to listen to the whole recording if you can.
Also, children seem to pick up this hymn well before all others in their liturgical experience in the Ruthenian Church. Perhaps your grandchildren would pick up this melody rather quickly as well (and perhaps more easily than a choral setting)!
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Thank you very much!
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Ridgerunner
Guest
Thanks to you as well.
I totally agree that children pick things like this up more easily than do adults.
A brief story. Last year, a two year old granddaughter got hold of her mother’s Iphone. She was playing with it and seemed fascinated by it. Eventually, she started singing some song with incomprehensible words. Well, the four year old was curious and, with the two year old explored that song and others that were listed on YouTube with it. They both got fascinated with it and learned four songs. Before long they were singing them together without the aid of the IPhone. Their mother became curious and had the four year old locate the songs on the phone for her. Turns out they had learned four songs in Welsh, and learned them well. Nobody in our family, of course, knows Welsh or is even descended from anyone Welsh.
But, a 13 year old girl in that family became fascinated too, so she decided to learn Welsh just for fun because she liked the sound of it. She can converse fairly well in it now. She also learned to play a number of Welsh tunes on the tinwhistle. That led to her interest in some Irish and Scottish songs, and now she wants to learn the bagpipe because, she learned, the notes on the bagpipe are the same as those on the tinwhistle.
Young people can sometimes amaze. When I was in college, I learned “Katyusha” and used to sing it to my kids at bedtime now and then. I only knew one verse. They remembered it, though not the words. I then found it on YouTube and sent it to my daughter for fun. I guess she played it for her kids, so they and some other grandchildren learned it in Russian and in English, all the verses, of which there are eight or ten.
As I mentioned before, they all learned “Riu Riu Chiu” in some kind of archaic Spanish, just for fun. I often wonder how much more kids could learn if only we were able to present it to them in a way that was interesting to them.
I’ll bet little kids who hear Ruthenian or Ukrainian songs in the liturgy know them a lot better than most of us would suspect.
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