New service books > Music

The New Service Books
Part 3: Music

The new Divine Liturgy books promulgated for the Byzantine Catholic Church on January 6, 2007, provide the first complete set of music for the Divine Liturgy since the publication of Byzantine Liturgical Chant in 1970.  Monsignor William Levkulic's The Divine Liturgy: A Book of Prayer (Byzantine Seminary Press, 1978) did not include any music at all, so many parishes continued to use the music in the 1965 booklet, Divine Liturgy of Our Father Saint John Chrysostom, along  a variety of music from other sources.  While parishes may choose to use their own music for the new translation of the Divine Liturgy, the musical settings in the new book provide an opportunity both for parishes with a long music tradition, and for those parishes with only limited musical resources.   

This article describes the musical settings for the cantor's and people's parts as given in People's Book, The Divine Liturgies of Our Holy Fathers John Chrysostom and Basil the Great (2006), sometimes called the Greek Book after its cover.  As the subtitle indicates, the responses and hymns in this book are "set to the Carpathian Plainchant", or prostopinije.  Additional music, as well as directions to the cantor and reader, can be found in the Cantor's Companion. Both books are available in PDF format on the Publications page.

Changes to music - general principles

Like liturgical translations, liturgical music settings in the Byzantine Catholic Church must balance a number of issues. Musical settings must clearly and accurately render the English liturgical text, while keeping both the spirit and the rhythms and melodies of the old Slavonic plainchant.   The Inter-Eparchial Music Commission has chosen to use this opportunity to restore many of the prostopinije melodies which were simplified or modified in the 1960's, when the first official musical settings in English were published.  This restoration has been undertaken in the belief that English-speaking congregations can sing music just as rich and meaningful as that used for celebrations in Church Slavonic - and in fact, that the distinctive and traditional chant melodies can be used in support of congregational prayer, without sacrificing the accents, phrasing and sense of the English liturgical text.

As noted in the Cantor's Companion, this restoration was based on printed sources such the the Prostopinije of Bokšai and Malinič (1906) and Father Sokol's Plain Chant (not dated, c. 1955);  on oral tradition;  and on variety of manuscript sources and traditional parish arrangements.  The original musical setting created at the start of the preparation of the new translation was reworked and revised by the Inter-Eparchial Music Commission, and used for several years at the Cathedral in Munhall, the Saints Cyril and Methodius Byzantine Catholic Seminary, and the Metropolitan Cantor Institute.

Cantors will notice the following changes in the new musical settings:

  1. The prostopinije melodies are presented in a fuller form than in the 1965 and 1970 musical settings.  These editions of English plainchant often abbreviated the prostopinije melodies, particularly for the prokeimena and alleluia.  Because English liturgical texts usually have fewer syllables than their Slavonic counterparts, the Music Commission has not always used the full-length version of the Slavonic plainchant settings, particularly where the Slavonic version repeated a musical phrase.  But the prostopinije melodies are more recognizable in the new settings.

  2. Prostopinije melodies are applied consistently.  If a text is used at several points in the service with the same melody, the settings are identical;  where a short form of a melody is used to set a very short text phrase, the same "short form" is used wherever possible.  This resolves one of the drawbacks in existing settings, where sometimes one note, sometimes another, was simply omitted to match the English text, making it much more diffiicult to sing these melodies "at sight."

    This principal is particularly noticeable in those hymns of the Divine Liturgy which use the samohlasen and podoben melodies commonly associated with Vespers and Matins.  Where these melodies are used in the Divine Liturgy, settings have often usually been revised to use the full form of the original samohlasen and podoben melodies.  In a small number of cases, an "adapted" form of the samohlasen or podoben melody has been kept;  these adapted melodies are explicitly marked in the musical settings.

  3. Where the prostopinije tradition provides several melodies for a text, the Music Commission has usually provided several settings in English, choosing those which are most commonly used, or which are of particular value and beauty.

  4. Some melodies from outside the prostopinije tradition have also been kept, particularly where these melodies have become associated over time with a particular text.  In some cases, the Music Commission has chosen to re-set these texts to a more complete or authentic form of the original melody.

  5. English word and phrase accents are respected.  Great care has been taken to avoid settings in which words are accented on the wrong syllables, less important words in a phrase are highlighted musically, texts are broken in the middle of a thought, or unconnected texts are sung together without a pause.

  6. Finally, the liturgical context has affected some settings.  For example, shorter musical settings have been chosen for some hymns which used to be sung at great length to "cover" silent prayers of the priest - prayers which are now to be taken aloud.

Many of the new musical setting are either identical or very similar to existing settings in common use.  (Since each parish uses a slightly different repertoire of music, it is impossible to make universal statements!)  Others will involve change, particularly for cantors and members of the faithful who have committed the existing settings as used in their parish to memory.  Most of these changes are minor.  Others will seem unfamiliar at first, especially where a prostopinije melody was greatly abbreviated or a melody from another tradition was borrowed and greatly modified.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chysostom

What changes will a cantor notice in the new musical settings for the Divine Liturgy?
  1. The older settings for the Sunday and weekday antiphons used a different pattern for the cadence at each antiphon;  in fact, sometimes different cadences were utilized within a single antiphon.  On the other hand, most cantors used a single, tradtional pattern when singing "proper" or feast-day antiphons.  This pattern (ending re-fa-mi) is used consistently in the new setting, with an accented text syllable always falling on the re which marks the start of the cadence.  

    (This pattern of aligning cadences to match text accents is also used consistently when chanting psalms and psalm verses.  As a result, the drop in the usual psalm tone from re down to ti always occurs on an unaccented syllable, and the last accented syllable is always sung on do - even if that means that one or two final unaccented must be sung on do as well.  See the Cantor's Companion for examples.)

  2. Two settings of the Typical Psalms (used as alternatives to the Sunday first and second antiphons) are provided, a simple setting and a solemn setting. (Many parishes which have added the Typical Psalms to their services have been using Russian melodies for these psalms.)  The simple settings are marked with a letter A in a small square; the solemn settings are marked with a B in a small square.  Where the Green Book presents several settings of the same hymn, this pattern is used for each.  Also, where there are several settings or possibilites for a hymn, each is followed by a page-turn marker consisting of a while arrow within a black circle, containing the page number of the next part of the service.

  3. The Green Book gives three different settings of the Hymn of the Incarnation, "O only-begotten son."   None are taken from Bokšai;  they represent local parish melodies of long standing in the United States.

    The first setting is a reworked version of the Galician melody which quite a few parishes use for this hymn.   (Many cantors have observed over the years that this version is "hard to harmonize" - a result of the different harmonic material behind the Galician setting.) In Byzantine Catholic use, this Galician melody was heavily adapted;  the Music Commission have chosen to reset the text to the original Galician melody, still in use among Ukrainian Catholics.  This melody is easier to sing than it appears, but deserves some care when first introducing it in a parish setting which is accustomed to the adapted version.  

    The second setting of "O only-begotten son", to the tone 7 troparion melody, has been been re-phrased slightly to match the English text, but otherwise involves no real difficulties.

    The third setting, in a minor key, is very easy to learn and might be suitable for use during fasting periods or at liturgies for the departed (this version is marked "Requiem" in Sokol's Plain Chant).  Note the marks over "who, being immortal";  they indicate that the first note is not accented, and that the sung emphasis should fall on the first syllable of "being."

  4. The musical settings for the Sunday and weekday third antiphons are followed by the Beatitudes, set to the tone 8 kontakion melody.  As noted in the rubrics, the Beatitudes are sung at the Divine Liturgy (in place of the third antiphon) whenever the Typical Psalms are used earlier in the service.
      
  5. The first setting of the entrance hymn ("Come, let us worship") provides a good example of the methodology adopted by the Music Commission.  In Slavonic, the five notes that precede the Alleluia consist of four quarter notes and a half note: so - la - so - mi - RE.  Since this pattern follows a series of half notes, the sung accents naturally fall on the two occurences of so, and on the final re.  But in the 1965 setting, the accented syllable ("sing" in "Save us who sing to you") is placed on the la, changing the duple meter to triple, and breaking up the four-note pattern.  In the new setting, "sing" is assigned to so - la and "us" is matched with so - mi, preserving the meter, the musical phrase, AND the English accent.  

    Thus, when you encounter something that seems "different", it may be an attempt on the part of the Music Commission to retain aspects of the melody that have long been neglected.  Whenever this happens, try approaching the setting from scratch and seeing how it "works" before discarding it - and if possible, compare it with the Slavonic setting.  For changes like these, congregations quickly learn to follow the cantor if he sings with assurance.

    The second or B setting of the entrance hymn is a minor melody, marked in Bokšai and Sokol as "Requiem" (for the departed).
     
  6. The Green Book has six settings of the Trisagion, "Holy God", labelled A-F;  the last is marked "for the departed."  Some have been adjusted slightly to match the Slavonic originals.  Note that in four of the six settings, the Glory, now and ever has been set to the same melody as Holy God, rather than to a recitative melody.

  7. The new setting also includes two versions of the baptismal hymn, "All you who have been baptized into Christ", and two versions of "We bow to your cross, O Christ."    The first melody of each is a traditional Rusyn melody from Bokšai;  the new settings are much closer to the Slavonic originals.  The second melody for each is a simpler Galician chant.

  8. The Green Book melodies for the Cherubikon (also called the Cherubic Hymn: "Let us who mystically represent the cherubim"), the acclamation at the Anamnesis ("We praise you, we bless you") and the various Communion Hymns are organized around the traditional preference that the same melody be used for all three.

    There are seven melodies given for the Cherubikon, labelled A-G, with the last being a melody "for the departed". All seven have corresponding settings (with the same letter) for the anamnesis acclamation and the Sunday Communion Hymn.  Most of the melodies are found in Bokšai, and in the new settings have been reworked to adhere more closely to the Slavonic originals, while maintaining proper English accents.

  9. Two settings of the Creed are given.  The first is a simple (traditional) recitative, and the second is the 1965 melody, adapted to the textual changes in the Creed.  Use care with either version, since the rewordings in the text of the Creed are easy to stumble over until cantors are used to them - and congregations learn the new text much more quickly if they can follow the cantor.
     
  10. The dialog at the start of the Anaphora uses the old melodies, but the text differences are significant, and the new settings should be practiced until they are second nature;  this is a very important moment in the Divine Liturgy.  As noted in the article on changes in the text, "It is proper and just" is no longer followed by "... to worship the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit..."  This addition is no longer sung because the priestly prayers it used to "cover" are now taken aloud.

  11. The Green Book provides three settings of the triumphal hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy";   the first is almost identical to the 1965 version, and the others are similarly easy to sing.
     
  12. Both Amens at the our Lord's words of institution (the "Consecration") are SHORT.  Byzantine theology emphasizes the Epiclesis, or calling down of the Holy Spirit, which follows these words, while Latin theology emphasizes the words of institution themselves.  The Music Commission has chosen to follow our own traditional theological emphasis by having the faithtful sing an identical, short (but solemn) Amen after the words over the bread and over the wine being consecrated.
     
  13. As noted above, there are settings of the next acclamation, "We praise you, we bless you" in each of the Cherubic Hymn melodies.  There is an eighth melody (H) for this acclamation which can be used with any of the Cherubic Hymn melodies - or if, for example, a choral Cherubic Hymn is used.  This "common" melody is the same as in the 1965 setting.  In some settings, watch out for a change in the number of times "and we pray to you" is repeated, since the number of repetitions changes from one setting to another, and the Music Commission did not always use the same number as in previous English settings of each melody
     
  14. A total of ten versions of the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father") are provided:  one in each of the eight samohlasen tones;  one in the familiar adapted form of the tone 4 podoben Udivisja Josif,  and one in a traditional recitative melody.

  15. Seven settings (A-G) of the Sunday Communion Hymn, "Praise the Lord from the heavens", are provided, corresponding to the seven settings of the Cherubic Hymn.  For weekdays, use the Communion Hymn for the feast, class of saint, special intention, or day or the week, according to the texts and readings selected by the celebrant for the Liturgy.  All Communion Hymns in the Green Book are keyed to one or another of the Cherubic Hymn settings.   The Cantor's Companion provides a table that lists all the settings of the various Communion Hymn texts, and where the various musical settings can be found in the Green Book.

    The Music Commission has expressed a strong desire that the Communion Hymn of the day, with the psalms verses from the same psalm, each followed by a triple Alleluia refrain, be used as the ordinary singing during Holy Communion, and that other hymns be sung only after the Communion Hymn and psalm verses are concluded.  See the Cantor's Companion for more information.
     
  16. Two settings of the post-Communion hymn, "We have seen the true light", are provided: one in tone 2 samohlasen, and one in tone 2 bolhar.  Both may be slightly more ornate than parishes are used to, but instead follow the traditional full melodies for these tones, as used at Vespers and in other services.
     
  17. The Green Book gives three settings of the second post-Communion hymn, "May our mouth be filled with your praise."  The first two will be familiar to most congregations, but have slight rephrasings.  In particular, "so that we may sing of your glory" is only repeated once in the first setting, and not repeated at all in the second, and "of your holy, divine immortal" is only sung once in each setting. On the other hand, the Music Commission kept several of the phrase-end melodic patterns which are not in Bokšai, but which have become traditional in America.   The third setting, marked "for the faithful departed", uses a melody familiar from the post-Communion hymn in the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts.
  18. Four settings are provided for "Blessed be the name of the Lord", with the last being "for the faithful departed";  none involve any particular difficulty.
     
  19. The section ends with two settings each of the intonation for the living "God grant him (her, them) many years)" and the intonation for the departed, "Eternal memory."  Note the text change in the intonation for the living ("blessed years" rather than "happy years").


The Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great

The first section of the Green Book is used for both the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great.  A pointer in this section indicates when the special materials for the Basil liturgy begin;  they are given altogether on pages 96-103.


Two complete settings of the hymns for the Liturgy of Saint Basil are given.  The first setting follows the usage of  Užhorod;  the second setting follows the usage of Prešov.  In each setting, all the hymns for the anaphora are given in order, with the priest's parts indicated.  Each setting is somewhat shorter than the corresponding Slavonic version (since the long prayers of the priest are now taken aloud and do not need to be "covered"), but each setting retains the distinctive melodic material of the Slavonic materials, and are still very ornate while being fairly singable by a congregation.  They should be practiced by the cantor (and supporting singers) well in advance of the Christmas season and the Great Fast.

The Vigil Divine Liturgy

The next section of the Green Book provides the first part of Vespers for the vigils of Sundays and feasts, including two versions of Psalm 103 (a simple chanted version, and the festal version "with melody" from Bokšai), "O Joyful Light", the chanted verses for the Lamplighting Psalms,and the weekday Vespers prokeimena.  The sung introduction and stichera at the Lamplighting Psalms, in each tones, are given in the next section.

Note than the principal hymns of the second part of Vespers, "Make us worthy, O Lord" and the Canticle of Simeon, "Now you may dismiss your servant", are given at the back of the Green Book  Parishes that occasionally celebrate Vespers can use the Green Book for the people parts of an ordinary Vespers service on the eves of Sundays or feastdays.

The Sunday Eight Tones

The next section of the Green Book provides the Sunday hymns for each of the eight tones:

The Vespers hymns are essentially identical to those in the various Vespers books from the Metropolitan Cantor Institute.

The troparion and kontakion in each tone have been reset in most cases, in part because of changes in the text, and also because these hymns were often abbreviated or treated inconsistently in early settings.  In each case, cantors will find that the same basic troparion melodies are used throughout the rest of the Green Book;  once each phrase of the melody is learned using the Sunday hymns, it is a fairly straightforward matter to learn the festal troparia and kontakia in the same tone.

In most cases, the prokeimenon and alleluia melodies will be longer and more ornate than those in the 1970 Byzantine Liturgical Chant and other settings based on it, since they follow the Slavonic more closely.  They also follow the principal that the prokeimenon and the alleluia in a tone have essentially the same melody;    this relationship was obscured in the 1970 settings, which abbreviated the two sets of melodies in different ways.  In most cases, the prokeimenon and alleluia are not quite as long as the Slavonic originals, but where they are shortened, then are shortened consistently each time they occur.   Note: all of these melodies are sung with facility in Slavonic by parishes familiar with the old prostopinije melodies. Singing them in English is no harder!

Music for the Liturgical Year - Movable Feasts and Fixed Feasts

The next 200 pages or so of the Green Book provide the proper parts of the Divine Liturgy for the liturgical year:  the moveable feasts, from Pascha to Pentecost, and the Sundays f rom Pentecost through Palm Sunday;  and the fixed feasts, from September 1 through August 31.  

As with the Sunday eight tones, many of the musical settings be slightly different from those used in the past;  the melodies for these hymns were treated used very inconsistently in Byzantine Liturgical Chant,  which also had its fair share of "bad accent".  The new settings include some text changes, combined with a consistent application of the complete prostopinije melodies to the texts, whether revised or not.  Note that many of the pre- and post-festal hymns are also provided;  the rubrics provide general rules for their use.  

The magnification and irmos for each feast are provided in these sections, where one is appointed.  The magnification ("Extol, O my soul") is always set to the same traditional melody, which is slightly more ornate than the one often used in English;  this melody should be practiced beforehand.  For more feasts, two different versions are provided for each irmos:  a "simple setting" using the Sunday irmos melody in tone 6, and a setting using the original Slavonic melody for the irmos from the Bokšai Prostopinije.  These melodies are among the hardest in our tradition, but are very ancient, quite beautiful and can be sung by congregations once the melodies are familiar.  

An aside: some cantors and parishioners have complained over the years that the tone 6 irmos melody "sounds like a funeral".  In fact, the Canon from the funeral service ("When Israel walked through the waters") is the same canon  used at Matins on an ordinary Sunday in tone 6!  Because so few of our parishes celebrate Matins, the Canon which was meant to give a feeling of Sunday and the Resurrection to the funeral service, is now associated in some minds ONLY with the funeral service.  Such misunderstandings are best resolved by patient education, and the restoration of a fuller cycle of services and melodies.  After a few years, many of the original relationships among the services will become clearer to all who participate in them attentively.

Common Hymns

The next section of the Green Book provides the hymns used at the Divine Liturgy for the various classes of saints, for certain special intentions, and for the days of the week.  These hymns are give in the Metropolitan typikon, but not provided in the Lekvulic service book, and are often little used.  (For years, many parishes simply celebrated the requiem liturgy on weekdays, or the Liturgy of the preceding Sunday.)  They deserve to be more widely known.   None of the hymns in these sections should offer any particular problem to the cantor.

They are followed by the short Panachida and the short General Moleben (written out in full).

Hymns

The final musical settings in the Green Book are those of hymns drawn from the liturgical books themselves, but not found in the other sections.  Several of these texts have been retranslated, in whole or in part;  all use traditional musical settings.  The Music Commission has recommended that these be used in parishes along with, of even in preference to, other devotional hymns.  They include settings of 

The Music Commission plans to publish an interim, softbound hymnal, containing most of the hymns from the Lekvulic service book, with text and music.


The new service books:
Introduction - text and rubrics - music - musical comparison - introducing the new books