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:

Anonymous said...

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?)

JFM said...

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!!

Pertinacious Papist said...

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?"

Anonymous said...

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

Ruth Lapeyre said...

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!

Anonymous said...

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