Setting Liturgical Texts to Music Vladimir Morosan If one of the fundamental goals of reasonale liturgical orship is the effective proclamation of the Gospel in spoken and sung ords, the effective audile communication must e the concern of every liturgical musician Effective audile communication is dependent on many factors among them, voices of good quality, ell developed diction skills, favorale acoustics But even more asic, the starting point, if you ill, is a good musical setting of the text one that takes into account 1 the cognitive meaning and theological content of the text 2 the grammatical structure if the text 3 the sound and cadence of the ords themselvers In the context of tonight s discussion e ill e focusing specifically upon musical settings in English, although in some respects the principles e ill talk aout could e applied to any language When considering English text settings used in Orthodox orship e recognize, first of all, that in the overhelming majority of cases, e are dealing not ith original English texts set from the outset to nely composed music, ut ith translations set to various melodic and harmonic patterns initially composed elsehere, ith another language in mind In other ords, e are dealing ith adaptations I Three generations of adaptation Example 1 a 1 st generation: earliest efforts (1920s and 30s) Literal note-for-note adaptation 2 nd generation: (1950s, 60s, 70s) mechanical accommodation of English text c 3 rd generation (1980s and 90s to present) creative aareness of the sound and cadence of the English language II Basic responses Examples 2a and 2 (Litanies)
III Other examples Magnify, O my soul ; efrain on Paschal Canon Examples 3 and 4 IV Holy God Hierarchal and Processional Examples 5 and 6 V ejoice, O Isaiah Examples 7a and 7 VI Masculine and feminine endings: prolems and solutions Example 8 Concluding thoughts: The history and tradition of singing Orthodox liturgical texts in English is still relatively young The est places to learn good principles of English text setting are, in most instances, outside the realm of Orthodox music, eg English composers such as Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, John Doland, Henry Purcell, alph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, to name just a fe Good models for handling text can e found in English anthems, hymnody, art songs, and even opera opera, We cannot ignore a 500-year-old tradition of sacred choral singing in English as practiced in non-orthodox churches, and expect to estalish a meaningful practice of our on ithin English-speaking Orthodoxy Ne generations of composers and editors are continuing to create 3 rd - generation adaptations of received settings, and ill eventually create 4 th - generation settings: original melodies and harmonies as vehicles for English texts; some are already doing so (Fr Sergei Glagolev, Mark Bailey, John Tavener, Ivan Moody, to name just a fe)
Ex 1 Three Generations of English Adaptation Original Church Slavonic Soprano Alto Tenor Bass Go - spo - di, po - mi - luy Go - spo - di, po - mi - luy 1st Generation: Literal, note for note adaptation Lord, our God, have mer - cy Lord, our God, have mer - cy 2nd Generation: Mechanical adjustment to fit English text Lord, have mer - cy Lord, have mer - cy 3rd Generation: Aareness of sound and cadence of English text Lord, have mer - cy Lord, have mer - cy
Ex 2a The Great Litany LITANIES and ESPONSES Soprano Alto Plain Tenor Bass Lord, have mer - cy Lord, have mer - cy Œ Lord, have mer - cy Œ To Thee, You, O Lord Œ A - men Œ
Ex 2 The Litany of Supplication LITANIES and ESPONSES Soprano Alto Plain Tenor Bass Lord, have mer - cy Lord, have mer - cy Lord, have mer - cy Grant it, this, O Lord Grant it, this, O Lord Œ Œ Œ To Thee, You, O Lord A-men Œ And to your spir - it Œ Œ Œ To Thee, You, O Lord A - men Œ
Ex 3 Soprano Alto A efrain to festal Hymns to the Theotokos n Tenor Bass Ve - li - cháy, du - shé mo - yá, B n Mag - ni - fy, O my soul, C n Mag - ni - fy, O my soul,
Ex 4 Soprano Alto A efrain on the Paschal Canon Tenor Bass Christ is ris - en from the dead! B Christ is ris - en from the dead!
Ex 5 Holy God DIVINE LITUGY Soprano Alto 1 Choir: Ó (HIEACHAL) Common Chant arr V Morosan (2003) Tenor Bass A - men Ó Ho - ly God, Ho - ly # 3 Choir: Might - y, Ho - ly Im - mor - tal, have mer - cy on 2 us! Clergy: epeat No 1 Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mer - cy on us! Soprano 1 Soprano 2 4 Trio: Alto Ho - ly God, Ho - ly Might - y, # Ho - ly Im - mor - tal, have mer - cy on us! 5 Choir: epeat No 3
Hierarchal Holy God - 2 6 Clergy: epeat No 1 7 Choir: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, no and ever, and unto ages of ages A - men Holy Immortal, have mer - cy on us! 8 Choir: epeat No 1
Holy God (HIEACHAL: Clergy) Tenor 1 Tenor 2 V Ho - ly God, Ho - ly Might - y, Bass V # Ho - ly Im - mor - tal, have mer - cy on us!
Ex 6 Holy God Funereal (for processions) Soprano (harmony) Alto (nekidty( Tenor (filler) Bass 1 # # Very sloly c c j J # Ho - ly J God, A traditional melody (rearranged to fit the English language y VM) # Ho - ly Might - y, # # # Ho - ly Im - mor - tal, have mer - cy on us! Soprano (melody) Alto (filler) 2 (Alternative voicing) j # N # Tenor (harmony) Bass Ho - ly j J God, Ho - ly Might - y, # Ho - ly Im - mor - tal, have mer - cy on us!
Ex 7a
Ex 7 THE OFFICE OF COWNING Soprano Alto ejoice, O Isaiah ΠCommon Chant Tone 5, arr VM n Tenor Bass e - joice, O I - sa - iah! ΠA vir - gin is ith child and shall ear a Son, Em - man - u - el He is oth God and Man, and Or - i - ent is His name Magnifying Him, e call the Vir- gin less - ed
COWNING: ejoice, O Isaiah - 2 2 ΠO ho - ly mar - tyrs, ho fought the good fight and Πn have re - ceived your crons; en - treat the Lord that He ill have mer - cy on our souls
COWNING: ejoice, O Isaiah - 3 3 # n Glo - ry to You, O Christ God, the A - pos - tles oast, and the mar - tyrs joy, hose preaching as the consu - stan - tial Trin - i - ty
Ex 8 The Third Antiphon Matthe 5:3-12 (ith efrains) Soprano Alto INTODUCTION: (ight Choir) A Ne Chant V Morosan (1993) Tenor Bass In Your King - dom rememer us, O Lord, hen You come in Your King - dom Left Choir: 1 Bless - ed are the poor in spir - it, for theirs is the King - dom of Heav - en Copyright 1996 y Vladimir Morosan All rights reserved
BEATITUDES (Ne Chant) - 2 EFAIN (After each verse): ALL e - mem - er ight Choir: us, O Lord, hen You come in Your King-dom EF 2 Bless - ed are those ho mourn, Left Choir: for they shall e com - fort - ed A I N EF 3 Bless - ed are the meek, ight Choir: for they shall in - her - it the earth A I N 4 Blessed are those ho hunger and thirst EF af - ter right - eous - ness, for they shall e filled A I N
BEATITUDES (Ne Chant) - 3 5 Bless - ed are the mer - ci - ful, 6 Bless - ed are the pure in heart, Left Choir: ight Choir: Left Choir: for they shall o - tain mer - cy for they shall see God E F A I N EF A I N 7 Bless - ed are the peace - mak - ers, for they shall e called the sons of God EF A I N ight Choir: 8 Blessed are they that are persecut - ed for right - eous - ness sake,
BEATITUDES (Ne Chant) - 4 for theirs is the King - dom of Heav - en EF A I N Left Choir: 9 Blessed are you hen men shall revile you and per - se - cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you false - ly for my sake EF A I N Both Choirs and People (small notes are optional): e - joice and e ex - ceed - ing - ly glad, Broadly for great is your re - ard in Heav - en