Wednesday, May 13, 2020

BRAND SPANKIN' NEW!!! Laud, O Sion, Thy Salvation

In working on the Christus Vincit Gradual project, I'm now (as I write this) well into the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly known as "Corpus Christi", though we still call it that in conversation to conserve words, ha ha!).

In my former project, Psalm 151, I failed to add the optional Sequence of Corpus Christi (which, until the advent of the 1969 Missal, was mandatory).  In the Christus Vincit Gradual, I hereby fill that void.

Introducing Laud, O Sion, Thy Salvation, the classic translation of the sequence Lauda Sion Salvatorem penned by the great Eucharistic hymn author himself, St. Thomas Aquinas.

I used the Mode VII chant tune, of course, to be chanted a capella, but added an alternate original SATB tune for the even-numbered verses.  The original tone is also in a chant-style, and in compatibility with the Mode VII tune.

I also lowered the key signature to A-flat (E-flat tonic, or "mixolydian"), to make the chant melody as user-friendly as possible for the average congregation (which in many Catholic parishes seems to be mainly altos and basses, lol).