"Happy Hallowmas!"

Fantastic article this week from Anglicans Online; check out the "Find a Grave" section.....

Hallo again to all.

Happy Hallowmas! Yes, that is easier to say than 'Have a happy triduum of All Hallows'.

Hallowmas, the Triduum of All Saints, the Triduum of All Hallows. Whatever it might be called, it's a time to remember the dead. Its three days are All Hallows Eve, All Hallows Day (All Saints Day), and the Day of All Souls. In countries that were once British colonies, the general public is very aware of All Hallows Eve, has probably heard of All Saints Day, and usually conflate All Saints Day with All Souls Day if they find the need to mention either.

We like to conflate the three days of the Hallowmas Triduum, even though we have carefully educated ourselves on the theological and historical nuances of each. The silly celebrations of Hallowe'en, the church service celebrating All Saints, the somber reflections on All Souls. While no child is likely to go guising on All Hallows Day itself, adults can remember and pray for the souls of the departed even while waiting for the next disguised child to say 'trick or treat'.

In Mexico, the entire Triduum is called 'Día de los Muertos' (Day of the Dead), though there are day-to-day nuances embodied more in local tradition than in formal scholarship. Mexican celebrations prominently feature skulls and skeletons as decor, not to scare children but to help remember and celebrate the dead.

It is nice to have time set aside each year for remembrance of the dead. But the mechanics of such remembrance have become more complex through the centuries. Once there were churchyards, and friends and family were actually interred there. One could stop at their headstones on the way to church each Sunday, to remember and pray. No more. There are now so many choices for final resting places that one can not make assumptions.

What to do? Can technology help? We at AO often reflect on the many ways that communication technology has enabled change to longstanding traditions. The internet might well have killed newspapers, but it didn't kill churchyard burials and Sunday visitations thereto. Those practices died a natural death, quite unaware of bits and bytes and bauds.

We claim that the answer is 'Yes, technology can help make up for our inabiity to remember our dead by visiting churchyards.'

Two characteristics of the internet come into play here. If you are going to look at something online, then it doesn't matter where it is. Distance and location don't matter. And the internet enables anyone and everyone to broadcast information in a manner once available only to owners of radio stations and publishing companies. No one is obligated to read what you write or say, but anyone can, and those who can might tell their friends about it. These two characteristics combine to enable a process widely known as 'crowdsourcing'.

When distance doesn't matter and crowdsourcing works, then something like Find a Grave can exist and flourish. And flourish it does. The server computers that sustain it can be anywhere*.   Crowdsourcing technology enables thousands of people all over the world to enter information and photographs. You can in a twinkling visit the gravesites of C S Lewis, St Augustine of Canterbury, Frederick Temple, Thomas Tallis, George Herbert, or Omar Khayyam.

Now that Find a Grave exists and has done its flourishing for a while, the notion of virtual churchyards becomes entirely practical. You can make a virtual churchyard that contains links to the grave records of a geographically diverse set of people. While viewing online a photograph of a gravestone is not at all the same experience as touching it and smelling it and kneeling in front of it to pray, it is certainly better than nothing and is a good way to remember, to keep alive the memory of the dead. Maybe someday in the future some kind soul might make a virtual churchyard of all of us who work on Anglicans Online.

We'll probably submit to Find a Grave a better picture of the Portland Stone marker at the grave of former Anglicans Online worker Frederic McFarland. But that marker, designed by Lida Kindersley and hand chiseled by one of her lettercutters, is something that must be seen and touched and walked around in order to understand fully.** The virtual world is better than isolation, but there is not any substitute for being there.

See you next week. Right here, which, um, is online and virtual.

 

All of us at Anglicans Online

3 November 2013

http://anglicansonline.org

*Not that it matters, but the Find A Grave server is in Salt Lake City.
**Frederic McFarland's headsone is the only Kindersley work installed in North America.

The Introit for the Solemnity of All Saints: Gaudeamus Omnes

CPDL provides the text and an English translation:

Gaudeamus omnes in Domino diem festum celebrantes
sub honore Sanctorum omnium:
de quorum solemnitate gaudent angeli, et collaudant Filium Dei.

Exsultate iusti in Domino: rectos decet collaudatio.
Gloria Patri...

Let us all rejoice in the Lord celebrating the feast
in honour of all the saints,
in which solemnity the angels rejoice, while the Archangels praise the Son of God.

Ring out your joy to the lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts.
Glory be to the Father ...

(Although, you know:  I do believe that the singers, "Collana Diretta da Bonafacio G Baroffia," have hit a wrong note there in that video; they forgot to sing the flat. Here's how the Benedictines of Clear Creek sing Gaudeamus for the Feast of St. Benedict:




And here's an mp3 from the Brazilian Benedictines for All Saints, which also contains the flat.  Just to get things straightened out.)


Gaudeamus is used as the Introit for a number of saints' days during the Great Church Year (see note below); there are some variants included at that link, so you can see how the text is adjusted for other feasts.  It's quite a beautiful text, especially this one, I think.

Here's the full chant score:

As I've noted before, the use of Gaudeamus as Introit for various saints' days apparently began with The Feast of St. Agatha in the 3rd Century.   It sounds to me as if, after the chant had been used in that way for some time, it seemed natural to use it at All Saints as the Introit, too, again tying the Church Year together via the liturgy and its chant propers.  Here's a quote discussing "Josquin's Mass for All Saints and the Book of Revelation" in a book titled Symbolic scores: Studies in the music of the Renaissance:

It should be pointed out, however, that the Introit "Gaudemus" - as ascertained already by Helmuth Ostoff - is also used for a large number of saints' days as well as for the feast of All Saints (November 1). The Introit sung in the Mass of Saint Agatha (February 5) is the oldest version. Its text is the same as that of Example 1, except that it has "Agathae martyres: de cujus passione" (Agatha martyr, at whose passion) instead of "Mariae virginis: de cujus assumptionae" (the Virgin Mary, for whose Assumption). From the eleventh century onwards, the antiphon appears in at least seven other Masses. In the Introit of All Saints the text passage quoted above reads "Sanctorum omnium de quorum solemnitate" (of all the Saints, at whose solemnity).

Below is the "Example 1" referred to above:

The Josquin mass, called Missa Gaudeamus, is - as usual with Josquin - just gorgeous;  it's based on this introit.   Unfortunately, at the moment there are no recordings of it online that I can post here.  Hopefully that will change over time, at which point I'll return and post it; very worth hearing.  Meanwhile, you can listen to samples here.

There's some really interesting stuff at the link above, about the Josquin Mass specifically:

Although the Mass combines the techniques of cantus firmus and ostinato, it is generally the incipt of the Introit which, thematically, occupies the foreground.  In the Ms. Cambrai 18 the motif even appears several times with the word "gaudeamus" instead of the litugical text. The ostinato technique has its culmination in the final Angus dei, where, as Jeremy Noble remarks, "the memorable opening phrase of the introit it put through a vertiginous series of transpositions."  It has never been noticed that the arrangement of the total numbers of "Gaudeamus" statements in the five sections of the Mass is anything but proportional.  The motif occurs 6, 14, 2, 5+7, and 4+23 times respectively.  If we take into account that it appears more often in Agnus dei III, which is 58 bars long, than in the Kyrie and Gloria which together make up 220 bars, and that it appears only twice in the Credo which contains 274 bars, the conclusion seems inescapable that Josquin deliberately determined the various numbers of statements.  Evidence of the justness of this conclusion can be found by comparing the present Mass with Josquin's Missa Ave maris stella.  Both works are based on a Gregorian chant, the incipits of which are used in ever-changing melodic and rhythmic shapes.  Moreover, both present thd cantus prius factus in the tenor.  Contrary, however, to the irregular distribution of the "Gaudeamus" motifs in the various Mass sections and the individual voices, the employment of the "Ave maris stella" incipit is much more balanced.  Noble says:  "....one senses that in Ave maris stella the exuberance of Gaudeamus has begun to be tamed, even spiritualized."

Now the interesting thing about all that, according to the author of Symbolic scores: Studies in the music of the Renaissance, Willem Elders, is that it helps him make the case that this Mass was written to celebrate All Saints' Day - and not, as had been previously (and it seems universally) supposed,  written for the Feast of the Assumption - another of the feast days that used Gaudeamus as its Introit.

Continuing on, the writer says:

The "Gaudeamus" motif in Josquin's Mass of the same name has more than a purely musical significance.  It functions, as I shall now attempt to show, as a sign which refers explicitly to the composer's profession of faith.  On the basis of the allegorical meaning of the numbers 6, 14, 2, 5, 7, 4 and 23 (see above), it can be said that the Mass in all probability was intended as an All Saints' Day liturgy and that the application of number symbolism may have been inspired by the Book of Revelation.

!

I haven't finished reading his argument - it's a long one, and he believes van Eyck's "Adoration of the Lamb," from the Ghent Altarpiece, is involved! - but it's certainly an interesting one so far.   ("4" stands for the Cross - and "23" for the 23 times the sign of the cross is made during the liturgy of the mass.

"Why 23 times?" you ask?  "[The] number [is understood to be] a reference to the just in the age of the law (10) and in the age of grace (13).  The law is valid for both ages (10+10), that is, the ages of the Old and New Convenant, while faith in the threefold God (+3) is an added characteristic for the New Testament.")

Now I ask you:  who doesn't like stuff like this?  In any case, it's absolutely a perfect tale for a blog like this one; the amazing part played by Gregorian chant in the history of the West!

There's quite a lot at this Wikipedia page about Missa Gaudeamus, too.

The Communion Song for the Solemnity of All Saints: Beati Mundo Corde

Here it's sung by the Schola of the Vienna Hofburgkapelle:



The text for this proper comes from Matthew 5 and his version of the Beatitudes:

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Gospel reading for this year - Year C - is from Luke's version of the Beatitudes:

Luke 6:20-31

Jesus looked up at his disciples and said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
"Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
"Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
"Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets
"But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you."

Here are all the propers on the day - the first link is to an mp3 of each one - from the Brazilian Benedictines:

Die 1 novembris
Omnium SanctorumIntroitus: Ps. 32 Gaudeamus... Sanctorum omnium (3m09.8s - 2969 kb) score

Graduale: Ps. 33, 10. V. 11b Timete Dominum (2m33.1s - 2395 kb) score

Alleluia: Mt. 11, 28 Venite ad me (3m34.5s - 3355 kb) score

Offertorium: Sap. 3, 1.2.3 Iustorum animæ (2m25.8s - 2281 kb) score

Communio: Mt. 5, 8.9.10 Beati mundo corde (1m29.8s - 1408 kb) score

William Byrd set Beati Mundo Corde, but his composition does not seem to be online.  Here's one, though, from Polish composer Zielenski Mikolaj, composed in around 1611.




Not much is known about Zielanski, but he's an interesting case; here's his entry at Wikipedia.

Mikołaj Zieleński (Zelenscius, birth and death dates unknown) was a Polish composer, organist and Kapellmeister to the primate Baranowski, Archbishop of Gniezno.

Zieleński's only known surviving works are two 1611 liturgical cycles of polychoral works, the Offertoria/Communes totius anni. These were dedicated to the Archbishop of Gniezno, Wojciech Baranowski. The whole comprises eight part-books and a ninth book, the Partitura pro organo, which constitutes the organ accompaniment. This publication contains in all 131 pieces written for various vocal and also vocal and instrumental ensembles, all with organ accompaniment.

The Venetian publication does not only comprise the offertories and communions; we find there also over a dozen other pieces, such as hymns, antiphons, a magnificat, and even three instrumental fantasias. In his compositions Zieleński relies on his own creative invention and does not, in general, make use of the cantus firmi. The few pieces which a pre-existent melody may be traced out are based not on a plainsong melody but on the melodies of Polish songs. The sets consist of large-scale double- and triple-choir antiphons, as well as some monodic works typical of the Seconda pratica style of early Monteverdi. Zieleński's music is the first known Polish music set in the style of the Baroque.

You can also get Free scores by Mikołaj Zieleński in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki).

Here's something called Beati Mundo Corde that to me is musically interesting;  I believe it comes from Howard Goodall's "Enchanted Voices" CD.  Apparently there are 8 different settings - perhaps one for each Beati?   That's a great idea, actually!  (Listen to samples of the other pieces here at the UK site.)  I always say we don't do nearly enough with the Beatitudes in the West, although there are many, many musical settings for them in the East.  So I'm glad to see this.

Personally I could do without the shaking statue thing, and I advise listening rather than watching.




All of the Beatitudes are at this YouTube page:

Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed [are] they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed [are] the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed [are] they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed [are] the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed [are] the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed [are] they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when [men] shall revile you, and persecute [you], and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Matthew 5:3-11 KJB

There's another one of these at YouTube; this one is titled "Beati Qui Lugent - Blessed are they that mourn":




Here's the All Saints' Day Collect:

Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

And this is the New Advent entry for All Saints':

Solemnity celebrated on the first of November. It is instituted to honour all the saints, known and unknown, and, according to Urban IV, to supply any deficiencies in the faithful's celebration of saints' feasts during the year.

In the early days the Christians were accustomed to solemnize the anniversary of a martyr's death for Christ at the place of martyrdom. In the fourth century, neighbouring dioceses began to interchange feasts, to transfer relics, to divide them, and to join in a common feast; as is shown by the invitation of St. Basil of Caesarea (397) to the bishops of the province of Pontus. Frequently groups of martyrs suffered on the same day, which naturally led to a joint commemoration. In the persecution of Diocletian the number of martyrs became so great that a separate day could not be assigned to each. But the Church, feeling that every martyr should be venerated, appointed a common day for all. The first trace of this we find in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. We also find mention of a common day in a sermon of St. Ephrem the Syrian (373), and in the 74th homily of St. John Chrysostom (407). At first only martyrs and St. John the Baptist were honoured by a special day. Other saints were added gradually, and increased in number when a regular process of canonization was established; still, as early as 411 there is in the Chaldean Calendar a "Commemoratio Confessorum" for the Friday after Easter. In the West Boniface IV, 13 May, 609, or 610, consecrated the Pantheon in Rome to the Blessed Virgin and all the martyrs, ordering an anniversary. Gregory III (731-741) consecrated a chapel in the Basilica of St. Peter to all the saints and fixed the anniversary for 1 November. A basilica of the Apostles already existed in Rome, and its dedication was annually remembered on 1 May. Gregory IV(827-844) extended the celebration on 1 November to the entire Church. The vigil seems to have been held as early as the feast itself. The octave was added by Sixtus IV (1471-84).

The photo below is labeled "All Saints Day 2010 at Skogskyrkogården in Stockholm" - a photo by Holger Motzkau 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons (cc-by-sa-3.0):

Blessed All Saints' Day (one of my favorite feasts of the year) to all.   And let me just add here the reading I love so much for this day (one of the first readings I remember hearing), from the BCP Lectionary:

Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10,13-14

1 Let us now sing the praises of famous men,    
          our ancestors in their generations.
2 The Lord apportioned to them great glory,
          his majesty from the beginning.
3 There were those who ruled in their kingdoms,
          and made a name for themselves by their valour;
          those who gave counsel because they were intelligent;
          those who spoke in prophetic oracles;
4 those who led the people by their counsels
          and by their knowledge of the people’s lore;
          they were wise in their words of instruction;
5 those who composed musical tunes,
          or put verses in writing;
6 rich men endowed with resources,
          living peacefully in their homes—
7 all these were honoured in their generations,
          and were the pride of their times.
8 Some of them have left behind a name,
          so that others declare their praise.
9 But of others there is no memory;
          they have perished as though they had never existed;
          they have become as though they had never been born,
          they and their children after them.
10 But these also were godly men,
          whose righteous deeds have not been forgotten;
13 Their offspring will continue for ever,
          and their glory will never be blotted out.
14 Their bodies are buried in peace,
          but their name lives on generation after generation.

All Saints' Day: Iusti in perpetuum vivent

This is another of John Sheppard's All Saints' Day responsories.



From the YouTube page:

Iusti in perpetuum vivent ("The righteous will live for ever,") is another Vespers respond for the Feast of All Saints composed by the Tudor Era English composer John Sheppard (c1515-1558) it is a respond at Second Vespers on All Saints' Day.

Text - Latin:
Iusti in perpetuum vivent
et apud Dominum est merces eorum
et cogitatio eorum apud altissimum.
Ideo accipient regnum decoris
et diadema speciei de manu Domini.
Gloria, laus et honor, decus potestas et iubilatio
Patri ac Nato et Spiritui Sancto.

Respond at Second Vespers on All Saints' Day

English Translation:

The righteous will live for ever,
and their reward is with the Lord,
and their thoughts are on the most high.
Therefore will they receive the glory of the kingdom
and a shining crown from the hand of the Lord.
Glory, praise and honour, virtue, power and rejoicing

The text is from Wisdom 5:

15 But the righteous live for ever,
and their reward is with the Lord;
the Most High takes care of them.

16 Therefore they will receive a glorious crown
and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord,
because with his right hand he will cover them,
and with his arm he will shield them.

A respond for All Saints': Laudem dicite Deo (John Sheppard (c1515-1558))

From the YouTube page:

The English Tudor period composer John Sheppard's "Laudem dicite Deo" was composed as a respond to be given at First Vespers on All Saints' Day

Text: Latin

Laudem dicite Deo nostro omnes sancti eius,
et qui timetis Deum, pusilli et magni:
quoniam regnavit Dominus Deus noster omnipotens.
Gaudeamus et exsultemus et demus gloriam ei.
Genus electum, gens sancta, populus acquisitionis,
memores memorum laudate Deum.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.

English Translation

Speak praise to our God, all you who are his saints,
and all who fear God, both small and great:
for our Lord God almighty is king.
Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory.
O chosen race, O holy nation, O you people who are his,
be mindful of God and praise him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

The text comes from Revelation 19 and 1 Peter 2:9.

The first part of the respond, Laudem dicite Deo nostro omnes sancti eius, et qui timetis Deum, pusilli et magni: quoniam regnavit Dominus Deus noster omnipotens. Gaudeamus et exsultemus et demus gloriam ei, existed as an antiphon used on All Saints' Day in various places (and in the Antiphonale Sarisburiense); see the Cantus database for a listing of some of these. Here's an image of the chant score there - from, it says, Augsburg in around 1580:

This is coded "V2" at that site; I'm assuming this is 2nd Vespers - but I've found this antiphon used at Lauds and Matins as well, in other sources.

I'm interested in learning more about what Sheppard was up to in writing this as a Vespers "respond." It's incredibly beautiful - Sheppard is quite amazing, in my opinion! - but would like to understand how it was used; responsories are sometimes used today as processionals.  He lived, of course, during the time of the English Reformation and the writing of the first Book of Common Prayer.

There's quite a bit more about Sheppard here at this Hyperion Records page.  His works, apparently, had been lost for a long time, and there's not much known about him even now, except that he was "appointed informator choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1543, and that he was a Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal in the 1550s."  The article also notes that "With the exception of a handful of works for the Anglican church, Sheppard’s surviving output consists entirely of Latin music for the Sarum rite: Masses, responds and hymns."

I will try to find out more about this piece.  Meantime, enjoy it for All Saints' Day - in my view, one of the greatest feasts of the year.

Here's The All Saints Day Office.

William Harris: "Holy is the True Light"

As All Saints' Day approaches....

Holy is the True Light,
and passing wonderful,
lending radiance to them that endured
in the heat of the conflict.
From Christ they inherit
a home of unfading splendour,
wherein they rejoice with gladness evermore.
Alleluia!

Words from the Salisbury Diurnal by G.H. Palmer