GREGORIAN CHANTS TRANSLATION FULL

Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), and its most famous English translation to Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889). вЂњGodhead here in hiding, whom I do adore masked by these bare shadows, shape and nothing more.вЂќ The text to this hymn of thanksgiving and adoration belongs to St. And what better way to begin to learn the Latin of this prayer than by knowing the tune that goes with it? Today it sounds fresh and alive and perfectly fitting for the one for whom it is sung. Sung quickly with energy, it can be exuberant and liberating. Sung slowly and with love, with one voice or many, this piece can move listeners to tears. The Amen is not an afterthought but integral to the prayer.

GREGORIAN CHANTS TRANSLATION FULL

The emotion picks back up again with the second section, вЂњSancta Maria,вЂќ hitting the highest tone in the fourth syllable, a full octave from its lowest pitch. It begins emotionally, with a line that spans a wide range but quickly settles down to a contemplative style. Today, however, the chant that goes with the prayer is nearly unknown to the post-conciliar generations.ДЄrLike the prayer, the song is in two parts. This pure, clean chant line was used as the basis for large polyphony settings for hundreds of years. The melody line of the вЂњHail MaryвЂќ (perhaps from the 13th century) is remarkable for its range, flexibility, and subtle tonal curiosities (at least to modern ears). This is surely the most beloved prayer exclusive to the Catholic faith. TheyвЂ™re found in any older hymnal, and recordings are also available (see вЂњWhere You Can Find Latin ChantвЂќon page 40). What follows, then, are twelve essential Latin hymns, songs that have carried the Catholic faith through many centuries. If weвЂ™re not willing to learn them and sing them individually, and if we cannot depend on the bishops or parish music directors to support chant, can we really expect that theyвЂ™ll return to our local liturgies? Not likely.

Perhaps then they can be taught to others and given new life in our liturgies. With enough repetition, they can become part of oneвЂ™s own private experience of the Faith, bringing enormous blessings to our families and ourselves. With a bit of effort and time, they can be sung by anyone. When chant was alive and thriving in liturgy, these were the most popular and the best-known of all the chants. Where to begin? The best place is with Latin hymns. The full chant repertoire includes thousands of settings for every conceivable time and purpose, the product of two millennia of musical development. That is a contribution that each of us can make to prevent this music from dying as we await the time when it will be restored to our public liturgies. Every Catholic who yearns to hear and sing chant in liturgy should start to sing this music on his or her own. The same can happen again.Д«ut thereвЂ™s an important intervening step that we must be willing to take. After all, chant has nearly vanished before (at the turn of the 20th century, Pius X worried about its extinction and worked to restore it), and with effort, it came back. The long-term solution is an obvious one: Return the chant to its proper place, its вЂњpride of placeвЂќ (to quote Vatican II) in the liturgy. Every seasoned Catholic knows the reason: This timeless music, once integral to the liturgy, has been displaced by commercial stylings and other musical whims. Choirs know little of the chantвЂ™s solemn sensibility. Very few chants, if any, appear in the hymnbooks most commonly used in our parishes. WeвЂ™ve found from the workshops weвЂ™ve led that most Catholics under the age of 60 are unlikely to recognize even the basic chants of the Faith. Truly, anyone who visits expecting to hear something resembling chant is in for a shock. But one place you are not likely to hear it is at your local Catholic Church. You can hear it also in movies, radio, and television.

You can hear it at the concert hall, between settings of great polyphonic motets of the high Renaissance. You can find recordings of Gregorian chant in every CD store. The chant of the Roman Rite represents the very voice of the Faith, a true prayer in song, one that can and should draw all generations of Catholics together in the Mass and all other liturgies of the Church.

Many Catholics pine for the return of Gregorian chant, and for good reason.

Gregorian chants translation