On Thu, 11 Jul 96 20:55:49 -1000 [log in to unmask] wrote:
> From: [log in to unmask]> Date: Thu, 11 Jul 96 20:55:49 -1000
> Subject: hymn help
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Help Help!
> It is late at night, I am way behind on getting this Readings Book done
> (a year?), and I can't seem to write an intelligible blurb to preface a section
> on one of the 7 great hymns. I need a short intro for undergrads who know
> nothing of Latin or music, but who will now have the opportunity to read Veni
> Sancte Spiritus in Latin with a parallel literal English translation. But as a
> historian (of the early Middle Ages) who has more love for Latin hymns than
> knowledge of them, I can't quite figure out what wonderful things to say about
> them. I want them to see how the Latin works (but is my explanation of inflected
> languages intelligible?), and to understand just how famous these hymns become
> (like who are all the great composers who have set Veni Sance Spiritus to
> music?). Most of all, I don't have the resources at hand here in my office that
> would help me, filled as it is with medieval history and Anglo-Saxon stuff.
> So...what follows is a ROUGH DRAFT (ie, I just wrote it...) of my intro which
> sounds exceedingly blah and flat to me. Any helpful hints from liturgists,
> musicologists, Latinists...? Thanks in advance.
> [Note: the title of this book is _Tradition and Diversity: European Christianity
> in a World Context to 1500_, and yes, it is way too long already).
> [BTW: an earlier chapter has one of Hildegard's songs, so this is not the first
> instance of Latin lyric in the book].
>
>
>
> Music played a central role in the services of the church. The
> Divine Office of the monks was chanted and sung, with the Psalms
> as a central component. The mass and other liturgical services
> included chants, antiphons, as well as lyrics especially written
> for the services. Of the many hymns written in the medieval
> period, a group of seven are considered classics. One of the
> seven great hymns is reprinted below, with a literal translation.
> All of these hymns were composed in Latin. Latin, like Greek, is
> an inflected language: it uses endings on words to indicate
> grammatical function (subject, direct object, indirect object)
> rather than position in the sentence, as with modern English (Man
> bites dog? or Dog bites man? It makes a big difference where you
> put the words). Consequently, Latin sentences are leaner and can
> get by with less helper words (such as "by" and "with"). Latin
> poetry then has a clean simplicity in its appearance, in which
> each word bears a great deal of weight and often multiple
> meanings. The structure of the sentences are
> aesthetically satisfying and can serve to enhance meaning.
> Although no translation does justice to another language, it is
> possible to examine the original side-by-side with a literal
> translation and see how the poetry works. No effort has been made
> in the translation on the right to invent English rhyming or
> meter. To hear the patterning of this poem, read the Latin on the
> left side. This hymn, and the other classic hymns, are also available
> in innumerable versions by later composers, including....
>
>
>
> Karen Jolly
> History
> University of Hawai'i at Manoa
> [log in to unmask]
Dear [log in to unmask] - or may I call you kjolly? I'd regard myself as a liturgist, and a Latinist,
though not alas a musicologist. I'm not however familiar with the term 'the seven great hymns'.
You say, 'a group of seven are considered classics'. By whom? Is the term in general use? As I
say, I've never seen it before. What are these hymns? Oriens.
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