Schola Hungarica / The Voice of the Psalms

hungaroton.hu
Hungaroton HCD 32316
june-july, 2004
Calvinist Church, Ócsa





THE VOICE OF THE PSALMS

Gregorian and Ambrosian Chants -
Psalm Chorales by Bach




1 - Communion. Cantabo Domino [0:53]
"I will sing praise to the name of the Lord..."
2 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian). Miserere mihi Domine [0:57]
"be merciful unto me..."
3 - J.S. BACH. Erbarm dich mein (Psalm Chorale) [2:08]
4 - Invitatory. Adoremus Deum [6:16]
"for he made us..."
5 - Tractus. De profundis [3:03]
"Out of the depths..."
6 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian) Sum in tribulatione [1:22]
"I am set for tribulations"
7 - J.S. BACH. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (Psalm Chorale) [1:39]
8 - Alleluia. In exitu Israel (Old Roman) [3:54]
"Judah was his sanctuary..."
9 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian). Canite in initio [1:49]
"Sing aloud..."
10 - J.S. BACH. Es woll' uns Gott (Psalm Chorale) [2:24]
11 - Introit. Deus illuminatio mea [3:00]
"whom shall I fear...?"
12 - Responsory. Bonum est confiteri [1:23]
"To skew in the morning..."
13 - Responsory. Viderunt te aquae [2:19]
"The lightnings lightened the world..."
14 - Responsory. Dicant nunc qui redempti [1:23]
"and gathered them out of the lands..."
15 - Offertory with verses. Jubilate Deo [8:39]
"my mouth hath spoken..."
16 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian). Adjuva nos Deus [1:04]
"purge away our sins..."
17 - J.S. BACH. Aus tiefer Noth (Psalm Chorale) [1:26]
18 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian). Adjuva me Deus [0:53]
"My body shall then flourish..."
19 - J.S. BACH. Wär Gott nich mit uns (Psalm Chorale) [2:01]
20 - Tractus. Deus Deus meus [8:56]
"why hast thou forsaken me...?"
21 - Psalmellus (Ambrosian). Deus canticum novum [2:06]
"which teacheth my hands..."
22 - Psalm with Antiphons. Ad te de luce [4:09]
"early will I seek thee..."
23 - Short Responsory (Ambrosian). Mane oratio mea [0:43]
"my prayer prevent thee..."
24 - J.S. BACH. Wo Gott zum Haus (Psalm Chorale) [0:40]
25 - Gradual. Exsurge Domine non [2:38]
"let not man prevail..."
26 - J.S. BACH. Nun lob mein Seel (Psalm Chorale) [1:52]


SCHOLA HUNGARICA

Soloists:
Kocsis Csaba, Soós András

Conducted by

DOBSZAY LÁSZLÓ
(1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26)
SZENDREY JANKA
(2, 6, 8, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 21, 23, 25)


Sung in Latin and German



SUNG TEXTS

The Voice of the Psalms



"Tehillim", the Book of Psalms, is the first and most important book of prayers and hymns for both the Jewish religion and most of the Christian churches. What makes it appropriate for such distinction? First of all, it is seen as part of the revelation, an inspired text. Christian churches have always considered the Psalter their own. Jesus already explains his mission referring to the psalms. The Apostles too quote from the Psalter as a prophecy for the Messianic era. After them, from Origen and Saint Augustine up to the present day, doctors of the church have always interpreted psalms as if they included the meaning of the New Testament in the light of the Old Testament as well. Psalms reflect on the great themes of religion in a comprehensive way. Praise, glorification, thanksgiving, faith, the cry of pain, the voice of penitence, good will and the fervent rejection of evil are all present in them interrelating and mixing with one another. Although each word of the Psalmist addresses God, they are also about the human soul and fate as well as human occurrences. However, this can also be said the other way around. psalms are deeply human by placing every thought and feeling in divine light. They are simple with the powerful expressions and images of the text; everybody can experience and understand them. They are concrete in their choice of words, however, the content is general enough for everyone in prayer and song to apply it to their own situation. From a literary point of view, our record gives insight into such a colorful context, which is also shown in the highlighted words chosen for each Track.

Liturgy uses Psalms in three different ways. Firstly, they are read out as a sacred text to learn from as well as to contemplate on. (Jewish liturgy considers them a prophetical text). Secondly, a psalm itself becomes the prayer of the community, where reciting and singing it is the liturgical act itself. Finally, it is quite possible that a psalm or one passage of it accompanies and interprets another liturgical act. In such occasions a psalmodie thought and feeling are added to a certain element of the liturgy. According to this, psalms appear in a variety of musical genres, thus chants of psalmodie text guide us through the genres. A farther and indirect effect of psalms is manifested in numerous paraphrases, transcriptions and adaptations that have enriched the repertoire of sacred music throughout the centuries. Our record aims to present bits of this musical diversity in a liturgical-musical sense. Despite its scientific basis, this record is not intended to be scientific. Hence, the Tracks are arranged so that the listeners would get a diverse dramatic experience. Therefore, in the introduction a historical background is given about the psalms chanted on the record.

When Paul the Apostle urges the first believers to sing "psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16) he does not merely think of biblical psalms. However, these are among them as well, since he sings psalms out loud together with his fellow and the prisoners hear them (Acts 16:25). Still, psalms were primarily used as readings in early Christian services. They were chanted by one reader (lector) either reciting them or in a more ornamented "cantillation" manner. Tracts of the Latin liturgy preserve the lector's recitative, but inspirationally ornamented psalmody, which was sung uninterruptedly (hence the expression "tractus"). In essence, the psalm follows one melody, but the singer could also improvise according to the oral traditions to make the chant more expressive and touching. This was done in almost the same manner as Jewish cantors sing the traditional melodies in individual variations today. Latin "tracts" clearly preserved traces of improvisation and the following obligatory melody even when noted down later. Track 20 recalls such a tract. Later, when singers were grouped (schola), more people could sing the tract together. Of course, the melody had to be set as there was no room for improvisation.

In the 3rd and 4th centuries, responsorial psalm (psalmus responsorius) was the most widespread way of psalmody. There was a lector reciting the psalm or its longer part, but there was one verse selected, which the community repeated as a verse or passage. At first, it was decided occasionally which verse the refrain should be; later that could become common use. When Monica, St Augustine's mother died, Augustine's friend began chanting Psalm 88 after the first mourning, and all who were present answered with a refrain-verse befitting the occasion chosen on the scene. Responsorial psalm allowed those who didn't know the psalm by heart (and could not read the Psalter) to join in the chanting. Later, this kind of psalmody lost its importance and only remained in two genres. One of them is the Invitatory, which is the inviting psalm commencing the night office. This psalm encourages worship while its refrain-verse focuses on a main idea (Track 4). On the other hand, by shortening the responsorial psalm, a new genre arose, namely the responsory. It was usually sung after readings to balance the listening of the longer parts which demanded a lot of attention. There were two different types. One was responsorium breve - a short responding chant originating from the shortening of an old responsorial psalm. It consists of a refrain-verse and one or rarely more psalm-verses; its melody is also simpler. On this recording, we evoke some Tracks of various contents from the especially beautiful repertoire of the Milanese Church. The combination of recitation and the short ornament (melisma) is remarkable in them. When performing these Tracks, we follow an old Milanese instruction. Children respond to the chanter (Track 2, 6, 9, 16, 18, 23).

Another kind of responsory evolved in the communities who could also acquire the more demanding melodies by regular practice. There was a psalm-verse chanted to some melismatic model-melodies either with a refrain-verse chosen from it or with an alleluia at Eastertide. The genre is responsorium prolixum (lengthy responsory). Here, a small group takes the role of the solo; the second part of the first verse is usually repeated as a refrain following their verse. On our record, this genre is represented by three Eastern responsories of relating melodies (Track 12-14).

Responsories were used in the Divine Office. However, two of their derivatives were included in the mass among the songs between readings. Gradual (which is called psalmellus in the Milanese Liturgy) might have been evolved from the shortening of the tract. In the beginning, a singer sang it with two verses without any repetition from the steps of the high lectern (hence the name. gradual). Later, it was also taken over by the body of trained singers, the schola, and it was sung responsorially in certain places. after the second verse chanted by the soloists, the first verse was repeated together (Track 25; Ambrosian psalmellus. Track 21).

The Alleluia, preceding the Gospel, is also similar to the responsories, but here the refrain is no more than an "alleluia" with a long melisma at the end. This is followed by the psalm-verse(s) with a repeated alleluia-refrain. In old Latin liturgy it was common to significantly extend and lengthen the melisma of the alleluia in the reprise ("secunda melodia"). Our record includes an Old Roman alleluia together with its secunda melodia. "Old Roman" hymn books arose in the 1lth-13th centuries, however, most probably they preserve the form (prior to the Gregorian reform) of the Roman hymn of the 8th century. This Track is peculiar because of its three verses; where the second verse is extended with some explanatory (not biblical) words; and it preserves the old tradition that the choirmaster supports the memory of the chanting children by pre-intoning the text at the difficult points (Track 8).

From the 4th and 5th centuries on, the dwellers of the increasing number of monasteries were obliged to pray for themselves and for everyone, thus praising the Lord all day. This prayer primarily meant the psalms and in order to chant them even better, the monks had to memorize the complete Psalter. This way, the community could join in the chanting not only with the refrain, but they could sing the complete text as well. A new method of psalmody arose with this called antiphonal psalm singing. In order to maintain attention, and to prevent exhaustion ahead of time, the community was divided into two sections which alternated the psalms from verse to verse and sang the refrain, the antiphon itself, re-united at the end. The method became widespread. This way, lays could only join in a couple of popular psalms; however, this became general within the literate clerical communities. Up to this day, this is the official method of psalmody in the office. This recording includes Psalm 62. as an example. In order to introduce more antiphon-melodies, we break the rules and do not chant the psalm in one antiphon; but rather split it in three parts attaching a different antiphon (in the same tone and from the same psalm) to each one. As it became customary in the Middle Ages, we only intonate the antiphon before the psalm and sing it completely at the end of the part (Track 22).

Antiphonal singing belongs to the office, but in the 6th and 7th centuries it also influenced chorales. An antiphonal psalm was ordered for the entrance (beginning of the mass) and for the communion. Here, the psalm does not only sound in itself, but it accompanies an act as well. Its length is also determined by the length of the act. When the act is over, psalmody is finished, and the chant is completed with the repetition of the antiphon. Introitus is the chant of the introit, whereas communio is the chant of the communion. Antiphon was more important in these parts, its longer and more ornamental melody dominated the psalm. Later, when the entrance shortened and the congregation went to Communion less, the psalm became shorter and shorter. Finally there was only one verse left in the Introit and the antiphon only remained in the communio. It is a compensation for the omission of the psalm that the text of the antiphons is of complete value in itself, whereas the melody belongs to the most beautiful chants of Roman (and other Latin) rituals (Introitus. Track 11, communio. Track 1).

In addition, there was another chant - accompanying an act - attached to the previous ones, the latest of the actual ordinary chants of mass (perhaps dated from the 7th and 8th century). This is the offertorium chanted during the rite of offering. Originally it was a responsorial chant, but it was longer and more expressive than anything else. While the old liturgical chants remained within a strictly determined frame, offertory always broke this. Even the main part is of a big range, with an almost gesticulating melody, differing from the usual motifs. The two or three verses chanted by the soloist go even farther. The long melisma were to captivate the listener's emotions directly in addition to the content stressed by the repetition of words and ardent emotions. With the shortening of the offertory, the verses disappeared from practice from the 12th century, but they can be recalled with the help of old codices. The offertory on this record is one of the most famous of all especially because of the long verse-melisma (labia, holocausta medullata) (Track 15).

The effect of psalms did not remain within the frame of liturgical chant. There were two ways of breaking out. One was the arrangement of biblical psalm-texts in the form of polyphonic art music (as in Stravinsky's Psalm Symphony); the other was the versified adaptation of psalms. Psalms speak in a free prose-poetry according to the biblical style. However, in the Middle Ages, literature mainly focused on rhymed verses with a fixed number of syllables. Reformers gave way to such a change of taste when introducing versified adaptations in their congregations instead of psalmody following the exact text of the Bible. Two of this kind proved to be permanent. the collection of "Huguenot Psalms" in Geneva upon Calvin's urging, and the repertoire of psalm-chorales in Germany in Luther's environment. The latter remained the permanent element of the evangelic chanting repertoire and they are also present in the organ and vocal works of Bach. The two new possibilities therefore meet here. the versified adaptation of psalms is enriched by polyphonic art music arrangement. In order to present the further musical effects of psalms within the frame of liturgical psalmody at least symbolically, there is a psalm-chorale from Bach attached to the short Ambrosian responsories (Tracks 3, 7, 10, 17, 19, 24, 26).

Dobszay László