Book review: Psalterium Monasticum: horae diurnae

 

Psalterium Monasticum: horae diurnae

I want to alert readings to a wonderful new resource, a Psalterium Monasticum designed to help you sing the Office by 'pointing' the psalms, put together and published by the monks of Chavagnes-en-Paillers (aka The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury).  

The book details are:

Dom Bede Rowe, Psalterium Monasticum: Horae Diurnae, 2023; $US18 for the paperback version; $US22.23 for the hardback), available from Amazon (search in your country's Amazon version to minimise postage costs).

To use it, you will need to download the explanation of the pointing system from the monk's website - they also offer a convenient two page summary of the monastic psalm tones and their endings.

The book will be a key resource for anyone who wants to sing or already sings the Benedictine Office  - and that should be everyone - the Office is intended to be sung, not said, after all!

What the book provides

In essence, the new Psalter sets out 'pointed' versions (ie the text of the psalms with embedded cues for where to change note when chanting it) of the Latin text of the psalms for the day hours. 

It has been designed to supplement the Antiphonale Monasticum of 1934, and so follows the same ordering of the text, and provides the page number for the corresponding page in the Antiphonale.

In essence, if you want to sing the Office, the Antiphonale gives you the chants for the fixed parts of the hours, hymns, antiphons and so forth.  

When it comes to the psalm though, it just tells you which of the several psalm tones and many endings for those tones to use - you then have to apply that psalm tone to the particular psalm being said, and the Antiphonale doesn't give you any help with this. This book fills that gap.  

It therefore includes a complete version of the psalms of the psalter section of the Antiphonale, along with a selection of other psalms needed for particular feasts (such as Christmas, the Triduum, Commons, and so forth).

So if you want to sing Prime on Monday for example, you go to page 1 of the Antiphonale for the hymn, antiphon and other texts, but then turn to the Psalterium for the pointed versions of the psalms.

Universal psalm pointing

There is, it has to be said, a bit of a learning curve involved in the particular system (universal psalm pointing) used in this book, but the learning curve is not a steep one, and once mastered, it is extremely powerful tool indeed.

In general, psalm pointing provides a series of cues (such as bolding and italics) in the text of the verses of the psalm that tell you when to change note for each of psalm chant tones and endings (there are eight basic tones, but several others used at various times in the monastic office, and each chant tone can have a number of different endings).

Most traditional Office books offering pointed psalms (such as the Liber Usualis and assorted older Benedictine books for Vespers) point the psalms for each chant tone and ending individually.  Indeed, there are a couple of excellent psalm tone generators available online that will automatically generate pointed psalms for any particular psalm tone and ending variant that I've long relied on.

This book, however, lets us in on something entirely new to me at least - what appears to be some 'secret monk business' (possibly secret newer office business, in which case this is a wonderful case of 'mutually enrichment!) - namely a 'universal' pointing system that provides one set of pointing for a verse that can be used to sing all of the different psalm tones and endings.

The system uses four different cues - bolding, italics, upper case and a circumflex (^) - but which ones you pay attention to and how depends on the particular psalm tone and ending of the psalm being sung.

The monks have put up an explanation of the system on their website - I hope though, that a version of this will be included in the next edition of the book, as it is not self-evident, and I haven't been able to find anything online that explains the system (or even much that mentions its existence!).

How it works

Consider for example, the first verse of Psalm 1 as it appears in the new Psalter:

Beátus vir, qui non ábiit in consílio impiórum, † et in via peccatôrum non stetit, * et in cáthedra pestiléntiâe non sedit :

To use the universal pointing, you need a key which tells you which of the markings in the psalm to take note of, and how.

For the first half of the psalm (up to the asterix), for example, the flex indicated by the dagger sign aside, some psalm tones (I, III, VII and tonus irregularis) have two change points from the reciting note, so you change on the two bolded syllables. 

For a second group of psalm tones (II and V), the change note occurs at the second bolded syllable, so you simply ignore the first bold.

For tones IV and VI, the note change occurs two syllables before the second bolded syllable, while in the Tonus Peregrinus, you change on the syllable with the cirumflex.

A similar set of cues for each tone is used for the second half of the psalm.

Easy to use

That might all sound a bit complicated, but in fact provided you have the key to the psalm tones  you want to sing, I have found that with a bit of practice, it is actually fairly straightforward to use.

Some of the psalm tones are much easier than others in the universal system (counting back a syllable or two from bolded syllables, for example, takes more effort than simply changing on the relevant symbol).

But after testing it out for a few of the hours, I've found that it quickly becomes normal and with time would become automatic.

The power of the system

And the learning time you put in upfront is worth it for the incredible power of the system: instead of having to leaf through several pages of a book or print out a separate page for each of the ten main chant tones and thirty eight or so possible endings, one set of pointing in combination with the key for each tone will do the job.

That certainly makes it worth the effort to learn the system.

It also means that this book can be a relatively small, relatively slim volume, instead of a massive tome like the Liber Usualis!

Singing the Office

Psalm pointing, I would suggest, is important for all levels of those who sing the Office, from absolute beginner to seasoned monk or nun, so I strongly urge you to buy it.

Psalm pointing is pretty much essential for absolute beginners learning to sing the psalms in chant.

But it is also extremely helpful for the more advanced singer, particularly for days where the standard antiphons (and thus chant tones) are not used, such as feasts and in particular seasons; and useful even to those who know the psalms and psalm tones very well indeed, as a way of avoiding those inevitable slipups that occur from time to time.

It will be particularly useful for monastic communities.

The book also contains, by way of introduction, the relevant sections of the Rule of St Benedict in Latin) dealing with the office, a useful reminder that the version of the Office being used is one that actually follows the Rule rather than more recent experimentation; as well as a longer version of the psalm tones and endings.

I highly recommend buying this, the Chavagnes (Glastonbury) monks have done a great service for us all here.

Learn the Office 2.7 - The psalms Pt 3 - singing the psalms and antiphons

O Antiphons

Let those who have been ordered, intone the psalms or the antiphons in their turn after the Abbot. No one, however, should presume to sing or read unless he is able so to perform this office that the hearers may be edified; and let it be done with humility, gravity, and reverence by him whom the Abbot hath ordered.

Rule of St Benedict, ch 47

SINGING THE PSALMS

This post looks at how the to sing the psalms, and in particular, how to decipher the cues given in the Antiphonale Monasticum.

OVERVIEW

The antiphon determines which tone is used to chant the psalm.

There are eight main chant tones, plus a few others that are regularly used.

The Antiphonale Monasticum provides the number of the chant tone as well as the ending (differentiae), and includes a summary for the ending.

The antiphons

Each of the antiphons have their own chant setting, which you can find in the Antiphonale Monasticum,  either in the psalter section of the book, or the sections for the seasons, saints or commons of feasts.

The antiphon normally used for the first psalm of Sunday Vespers, for example, can be seen on page 125 of the Antiphonale, depicted in the image below.



Note that the Antiphonale only provides a short cue for the antiphons before the psalms for Sunday Vespers - but under the 1962 rubrics, the antiphon is sung on full both before and after the psalm.

The psalms themselves are sung to one of a series of fixed tones, numbered 1 to 8, with a couple of extras thrown in.

The 'mode' of the antiphon determines which chant tone should be used for the following psalm.

The chant tones

Normally the key to which psalm tone to use  is the letter and number combination usually written underneath the 'Ant' in the book (as on page 125 for the second psalm of Sunday Vespers, pictured above, which uses Tone 4 g).

But in the case of the first psalm of Sunday Vespers, for example, the book tells you that the psalm tone is 7 c2.

The first number (VII) for Dixit Dominus tells you to use tone 7. 

Once you know the correct psalm tone to use, you can consult pages 1210-1219 of the Antiphonale Monasticum to find the details of that particular chant set out in generic form.

The second letter/number combination tells you which 'differentiae' or ending, to use.  The image below shows the corresponding entry in the Antiphonale.

The four notes used in the word 'Septimus' (seven) are only used for the intonation of the first verse of the psalm (though they are used for every verse of a canticle) - all subsequent verses start on the note used for 'modus...' (re).

The note change marked 'flectitur' is only used when you see the dagger figure in the text of a psalm.

The note changes for 'sic mediatur', however, are always used in the syllables leading up to the * in the middle of each psalm verse.

The pattern of note changes for the second half of the verse varies depending on the 'differentiae', each of which is indicated by a letter (or letter number combination), such as a, c, c2 or d in the case of tone 7.

Most chant books also include some cues on the page with the antiphon for the ending of the verse, so that if you know the start of tone 7 off by heart (and if you sing them regularly over time you will learn them), you don't have to go check the end of the book.  Instead you just look at the arrangement notes that go with 'Euouae', which stands for  'Et in saecula saeculorum Amen' (ie the end of the doxology).

Audio resources and learning the psalm tones

You can find audiofiles of all of the standard chant tones (as well as many other useful audio resources) on the Chantblog. or sung individually on youtube.

Or you can try the video below.

If you are starting from scratch though, I recommend starting with the simplest tones such as Psalm 8.  Sing the psalms using that tone in the Antiphonale, and once you are comfortable with it, add in the next one (2 then 5, then 6, 4 and 7).




Note that there are some minor differences between the psalm tones as set out in the Antiphonale Monasticum and those used in the Roman form of the Office (mainly affecting tones 3 and 6 and the labelling of some of the differentiae).

 Matching the verses to the psalm tones

In theory you could work out which places to change note on for yourself.

In practice, especially at first, it is simplest to use a book with the psalms 'pointed' for you.

There are several books that have been produced at various times for Vespers and Compline, and some of these can be downloaded from CC Watershed (Tomus 9 Psalmiis in notis).  In addition, the Liber Usualis contains a fair number of psalms pointed to tones used in the Benedictine Office.

The simplest solution these days, though, is to use a psalm tone generator to generate your own set of pointed psalms as needed for the particular season, hour or feast.

The image below gives you a feel for the kind of product you can generate.

Another psalm tone generator, offering a range of different formats, can be found on The Academy of Gregorian Chant website (which contains a lot of other very useful resources as well).


How the antiphons and psalms are sung - rubrics

Finally, a note on the rubrics for singing the psalms.

When the Office is sung in choir or in common, the cantor intones the first part of the antiphon, then everyone joins in the rest of it.

The cantor then sings the first half of the first verse of the psalm or canticle, and his or her side of the choir join in with the second half of the verse.

Verses are then alternated between the two sides of the choir.

Everyone stands for the doxology.

When the antiphon is repeated again after the doxology, it is sung by everyone.

And for the next part in this series, continue on to learn about the hymns of the Office.