Seasonal Marian Antiphons — with a twist!
A growing trend among liturgically-minded parishes is to restore the use of the “Seasonal Marian Antiphons” (hymns to Our Lady) either as a part of, or adjacent to Mass. Our parish has been singing the SMA’s at the end of every mass for over three years now, and this practice has borne great fruit. Our daily Mass crowd (and even school children!), in particular, can robustly sing all the [Gregorian] Marian antiphons—and many even do so from memory.
So, why this blog post?
I recently stumbled across an incredible book of chant called the Manuel des Processions et Bénédictions du Très Saint Sacrament (Manual of Processions and Benediction of the Most Holy Eucharist) by René Paris. What makes this collection so remarkable is that it retains Gregorian (square note) notation but superimposes it upon a modern, 5-line stave so that the pitches can be read in treble clef.
I have to wonder why such an innovation was never pursued further (†1) when major chant reforms were undertaken in the early 20th century. Chant purists will decry such an innovation as unnecessary, although I’ve found that for both new chanters and organists attempting to accompany chant, this hybrid notation can be a real blessing becayse it retains the rhythmic nuances of the original square notes, whilst rendering the pitches very straightforward to read for modern musicians. It is, in many ways, the best of both worlds!
With this in mind, (and because choir season starts for us tomorrow) I’ve extracted the Seasonal Marian Antiphons from this special book, and superimposed literal, interlinear translations below the Latin text, and I offer this PDF to all of you free-of-charge. I hope that you will share this document far and wide, and that this will help you (or your choir) embark upon implementing the SMA’s.
†1 • There are a few other books that also employ this hybridized system, including a complete Graduale and Vesperbuch produced by Father Karl Weinmann and brought to light by the Corpus Christi Watershed blog.
Click here to download a PDF version formatted to an 11x17 booklet.
