Writing in Square Notes / Jesus, Lord, Have Mercy
Sometime in the last year a question was posed on a forum I frequent: do people even bother to write new music in square note notation any more?
Indeed, yes, we do.
I freely confess this to be a rather niche way to go about it (if for no other reason than the number of people who can even read square note notation is comparably small) but it has its advantages.
Insofar as a tradition of interpretation has developed in the last century, square note notation offers subtle cues to interpretation that cannot be conveyed in modern notation—at least not with the same ease or to the same degree. Modern metered music cannot accurately depict the subtleties of flexible rhythm required by chant, nor does it give any cue to the weight certain notes should receive. It is true that you can use certain accents, but the effect is not the same (nor is the affect).
Jesus, Lord, Have Mercy
Last year I stumbled upon a beautiful funerary text by Edward Caswall which begins, “Jesus, Lord, have mercy, on the souls so blest, who in faith, gone from us, now in death find rest…” For reasons that remain a mystery to me to this day, I was inspired to set this text as a chant, and only later compose an organ accompaniment at the behest of a third party. While I do not stick to the strict rules of modal harmony (I end on the “wrong” note, I’m told) the effect is still convincing, and not unlike other hymns with chant melodies (Adoro Te, Tantum Ergo, etc.). For once, the singer is given permission to grieve the dead as they sing rather than be forced to “celebrate” their life.
In the video below you can follow along with the organ part or the original square note version.
