I'm back! It's been just over a year since my last post. I have included with this post the notes in the Liber Hymnarius, using my own notation. If you would like to learn how to sing it, see below.
6 6.5 32 5 68 87 67 7.
O sancta mundi dómina,
O holy lady ruling over the world
9 98 7 87 6 76 56 6.
regína cæ-li ín-cli-ta,
O queen of heaven renowned
9 9 7 9 9109 8 7 6765.
o stella maris fúlgida,
O star of the sea, bright & shining
7 89 7 87 6 76 56 6.
virgo mater mirí- fi-ca,
O virgin mother most wonderful
6 6.5 32 5 68 87 67 7.
Appáre, dulcis fí – li -a,
Appear to us, sweet daughter
9 98 7 87 6 76 56 6.
nitésce iam, virgúncula,
shine forth now, young maiden
9 9 7 9 9109 8 7 6765.
florem latúra nóbilem,
as the one carrying noble offspring
7 89 7 87 6 76 56 6.
Christum Deum et hóminem.
the Christ-child, God and man.
6 6.5 32 5 68 87 67 7.
Natá - lis tu - i án-nu-a
Your birthday each year
9 98 7 87 6 76 56 6.
en cólimus sollémnia,
we mark with solemnity
9 9 7 9 9109 8 7 6765.
quo stirpe delec-tíssima
when most highly favored of our race
7 89 7 87 6 76 56 6.
mundo fulsísti gé-ni-ta.
you shone forth to the world at your birth.
6 6.5 32 5 68 87 67 7.
Per te sumus, terrí-ge-næ
Through you we are, though born of earth
9 98 7 87 6 76 56 6.
simúlque iam cælígenæ,
now at the same time born of heaven
9 9 7 9 9109 8 7 6765.
pacáti pace nó-bi-li,
granted rest by that well-known peace
7 89 7 87 6 76 56 6.
more non æstimá-bi - li.
in a manner beyond all reckoning.
6 6.5 32 5 68 87 67 7.
Sit Trini - tá-ti gló - ri - a
All glory be to the Trinity
9 98 7 87 6 76 56 6.
per sæculórum sæcula,
throughout ages of ages
9 9 7 9 9109 8 7 6765.
cuius vocáris múnere
by whose gift you are called
7 89 7 87 6 76 56 6. 676 5.6.
mater beáta Ecclésiæ. Amen.
the blessed Mother of the Church. Amen.
The tenth century author is unknown.
OK, the real reason for this blog is that I wanted to place these hymns in my handy little digital device because I find it difficult to pray sitting in front of the computer screen. For whatever reason, I don't have the same problem holding an iPod or Palm, (perhaps because holding a PDA-type-thing is sort of like holding a small book.). SO I wanted to start putting in the hymns of the Latin Liturgia Horarum in an easy convenient form so I don't have to haul a Liber Hymnarius everywhere I want to be praying. But I also wanted my mind to be more aware of what words I was actually praying, hence the need for these (pretty so-so) translations. The method of notation the melodies is something I came up with years ago; here's how it works:
If you are not familiar with Gregorian chant already, this might be difficult. Those who are familiar know that there is always a clef which indicates "do" or the tonic. I call that note "8" and then just sign down the major scale: "8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1", then since this hymn starts on "6" I sing the downward scale once again, but this time I stop at 6. The hymn then can be sung "by the numbers" by singing the pitch corresponding to the number in the downward scale I sang before.
Just a few other rules of the notation:
When numbers are NOT seperated by a space, they indicate a single neume, that is one syllable is sung for more than one note.
When a number is followed by a "." (period or dot) that indicates a slight holding of that note longer than the others.
I have tried as much as possible to space the numbers so that they are over the VOWELS on which they are sung. In order to line up the numbers with the correct vowels I occasionally had to put dashes in the text. I composed this in MSWord and pasted it into Blogger, so if it doesn't come out right, it's Blogger's fault and the numbers are pretty useless.
One thing about hymns: most hymns (including this one) repeat the same melody for each verse, so once you have the simple melody in your head, the numbers become easier to follow. Sometimes when I am going to sing a hymn I haven't sung in a while, I will just sing the actual numbers through once to get the melody in my head, then sing verse one really slowly with the melody, and usually by verse 2 the singing is more fluent. Good luck to you if you are going to try it. Some day I may add a sound file so you can check to see if you are doing it correctly.
