Lauda Sion Salvatorem… but in English!

We are pleased to release a modern-note transcription of the Palmer/Burgess Plainchant Gradual edition of the Sequence for Corpus Christi, Lauda Sion Salvatorem.

The Plainchant Gradual is well worth the look if you have not encountered it before. (You can download the PDFs for free here & here, or purchase reprints here.) It is essentially the Graduale Romanum but in high church English, and I find it an invaluable bridge for those times when you wish to give chant a fuller expression, but remain in the vernacular. This particularly fits the bill where the Lauda Sion Salvatorem is concerned, because of its length. Congregations who might be apt to enjoy communion antiphons or motets in latin, may well be strained by 6 minutes of non-stop chanting. This vernacular adaptation is an excellent option to honor the chant but still meet people where they are.

Since not everyone is comfortable reading from the square note notation of the original, I’ve prepared a modern-notation transcription as well as a practice track.

Some singers may notice the relatively low key; this is due to the fact that the range of the chant is quite wide, so it still goes rather high. One can of course transpose the chant up or down according to the singer(s) needs, although we’ve found this to be the happy middle ground.

It is my prayer that this transcription will be an aid to some of you, or, at a minimum, an inspiration to check out the original (pg. 215 of Vols. I-II).

And if you think that your parish cannot handle (or perhaps your pastor!) singing the entire chant, perhaps consider at least chanting the short form, rather than substituting a hymn. This prayer is too precious to rob it of its proper context, and we are only given the chance to sing it in full once per year.

Pax,
James