Saturday, August 06, 2011

A Latin hymn that could make me run from a Tridentine Mass

No more exquisite torture could be imagined to drive me positively apoplectic. I pray this isn't the "fruit" of the cross-fertilization of the two forms of the Roman rite envisioned by anyone in high places. I suppose that if I were sent to hell for my sins and Marty Haugen to heaven for his sanctity, Marty's heaven could well be my hell.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:04 AM

    Philip,

    Shouldn't he come along, for company?
    (Sadly, it's the one line I can't remember from the movie. Did I get it right?)

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  2. When I went to YouTube the first alternate clip listed in the "Suggestions" column was the trailer for FINAL DESTINATION 5. [If you know anything at all about that series, you will understand why this translates into a] ROLOL!!

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  3. Hi Chris,

    If you're thinking of Robert Bolt's play, A Man for All Seasons, here is the exchange between St. Thomas More and Norfolk:

    "Norfolk: Oh, confound all this.... I'm not a scholar, as Master Cromwell never tires of pointing out, and frankly I don't know whether the marriage was lawful or not. But damn it, Thomas, look at those names.... You know those men! Can't you do what I did, and come with us, for fellowship?

    "More: And when we stand before God, and you are sent to Paradise for doing according to your conscience, and I am damned for not doing according to mine, will you come with me, for fellowship?"

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  4. Anonymous8:42 PM

    Would this be called 'carmen' or 'cantus' in Latin?

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  5. Ruth Lapeyre10:33 AM

    Of course it doesn't help that the guy singing on the youtube rendition is off pitch. But I agree with you, its a trite melody. As long as my pastor is in charge there is no fear of us singing this hymn for the Tridentine Mass...I'm safe, for the time being anyway!

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  6. Anonymous8:52 PM

    Philip,

    Yes, that's what I couldn't properly recall from my rusty memory circuits. Thank you. If you get sent to Hell, shouldn't he come with you for fellowship. (Given that a fellowship hall is what adjoins the worship space....)

    I've played the piece convincingly on a pipe organ, using stops which makes it sound as if it had been extracted from the court of Francis I of France or Henry VIII of England. It has quite the dance lilt to it, especially when decorated with Baroque ornamentation. Maybe someone can write a Toccata and Fugue on it? I've already had a go at doing so with On Eagle's Wings, so who knows....

    Under the Mercy,
    Chris

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