Transfiguration irmoi?

[RichardRBarrett]

I'm trying to wean my congregation and singers off of Kazan. Does anybody have an English setting of the irmoi for Transfiguration?

Thanks,

Richard

 

[Anthony]

Hi Richard,

Do you mean the katavasiae? If so, these should be from the Elevation of the Cross, which can be found on their own here: http://ematins.org/Music/Katav-w/MW-Katavasias-Cross.pdf or with the rest of Transfiguration Matins & Liturgy, including all the troparia for the 9th ode, here: http://ematins.org/AMM/08-06.pdf

If you mean the actual irmoi, according to the Festal Menaion there are two canons for Transfiguration. The irmoi of the first canon, in 4th mode, can be found here: http://ematins.org/Music/Katav-w/MW-Katavasias-Summer.pdf This website calls them the Summer Katavasias, but I compared the texts and they're the same ones used as Irmoi for the first Transfiguration canon.

As for the irmoi of the second canon, in Pl. 4th mode, it appears that Odes 1 and 3 are from the Paraclesis Canon, Ode 4 is unique to the feast, Odes 5, 6, & 8 are from the Pl. 4 Resurrection Canon (I've just posted Byzantine notation music for this in the forum), and Odes 7 & 9 I'm not sure about, maybe they're unique to the feast.

I hope that helps!

Anthony

 

[RichardRBarrett]

Thanks -- I'm looking for the fourth mode canon. I was hoping that somebody might perhaps had done a setting using the HTM texts, since that's roughly the register of English my parish (Antiochian) is accustomed to, and that perhaps somebody had done something with Byzantine notation. Since that doesn't appear to be the case, I guess I'll have to stick with Kazan for the time being.

 

[Anthony]

Fr. Seraphim also has posted these hymns in Byzantine notation, here: http://ematins.org/Music/Katav-b/MB-Katavasias-Summer.pdf

Regarding the translation, the best one could do with this version would be to substitute thee's, thou's, etc.

 

[Michael L. Smith]

Enclosed are some recent arrangements of the Katavasia of the Cross (sung on the Transfiguration as well). They are done with HTM's translation.

In Christ,
Rdr. Michael

 

[GabrielCremeens]

Enclosed are some recent arrangements of the Katavasia of the Cross (sung on the Transfiguration as well). They are done with HTM's translation.

In Christ,
Rdr. Michael

Hi Michael,

Thanks for working on this. I don't want to criticize (I'm trying to learn composition myself right now), but there are multiple places where the theseis (formulas) don't fit the words well, or are linked to other theseis in ways that simply don't sound "right" to the ear. (I'm saying this as someone who hears Byzantine chant multiple times every day, in the context of the daily services here at Hellenic College/Holy Cross.) I wish that I could expound upon this in greater detail, but I unfortunately can't really articulate what I'm hearing when I look at and chant the arrangements. I'm sure there are people on this forum (Papa Ephraim, Basil, et al) who could tell you exactly what the problems are and what should be changed so that the arrangements flow. Until then, perhaps simply trying to study classical pieces and arrangements a little more? Listening to pieces chanted by experienced chanters from Greece and elsewhere?

Here are a few definite problems I can't think of in the arrangements; I wish I could be more exact in suggestions for improvement.

Here are some problems that are simply orthographical or errors in the characters you used.

1) In the first pdf, midway through the fourth line, the martyria of Di should have the sign for Pa (the same one that you used on line three), not the sign for Di. This is due to the mode being plagal fourth triphonos, in which Ga, essentially, becomes Ni.

2) 3rd pdf, line 1: the oligon/kentemata on the word "belly" should have a psefiston.

3) 3rd pdf, line 3, right before the martyria of bou: no reason why there should be an omalon underneath the ison/klasma of "ly". ("manifestly")

4) 3rd pdf, line 4: "ner" of "supernal" should have a psefiston underneath the oligon on which this word is found.

5) 4th pdf, line 1: the oligon/kentemata of "Tri" should have a psefiston underneath. However, I would recommend a different thesis, as this one, while preserving some of the Greek melody, nonetheless sounds awkward when the English text is shoved into it.

6) 4th pdf, line 3: the psefiston underneath the oligon/kentemata of "preme" "supremely" should be removed, as it is not followed by a second descending note.

7) 4th pdf, ode 9, second line: there should be a psefiston underneath the oligon/kentema of "life".


Here are some spots that I would suggest working on... there are others, but these are the ones where I can tell you exactly what the problem is, as opposed to others where, unfortunately, I have nothing better than "it sounds wrong/awkward."

1) PDF 1, 3rd ode, 2nd line: the half of the line up to the martyria is an attempt to mirror the melody of the Greek original, but it does not function well rhythmically or melodically with the English words, which have a different pattern of accentuation.

2) I feel like the second-to-last line of the second pdf is quite a stretch, in terms of extending the word "granteth" over five notes/four beats, when this thesis should normally have more syllables. The same applies the words "peace unto our souls". Going off my memory (I don't have the Greek text in front of me", the Greek goes:

"τω παρέχοντι την ειρήνην ταις ψυχαίς ημών."

(sans the polytonic, because I don't remember it. I probably spelled some words wrong, too.) The accentuation is:

00100 (martyria of di) 001000101.

Whereas the English runs:

"He who granteth peace unto our souls"

00101X001

You've preserved the original melody for the phrase "τω παρέχοντι", but this phrase is 00100, whereas "He who granteth" is only 0010. Thus, the word is more stretched out than it should be, thereby distorting both the word and the proper application of the thesis. It might be advisable to abandon the original Greek melody and try to come up with an English one that sticks with the formulas, not the original Greek melody where it is not suitable for the English text.

3) Same pdf, 5th ode, first line: the thesis is used incorrectly on the word "outstretched". The thesis in question typically ends with a word accented 10. However, the word you have used it for is accentated 01. Thus, it sounds awkward musicall and linguistically, because it makes it sound as if the word were "OUTstretched", not "outSTRETCHED". (Unless perhaps it is pronounced differently elsewhere in the USA...)

4) 4th pdf, line 2: on the phrase "praise ye the Word", I cannot recall ever having heard his common thesis used in this manner. I believe it normally spends more time on di, and does not immediately descend back to Bou... did you perhaps cut off the thesis partially?


Unfortunately, I can't be any more exact with my comments... hopefully Basil or Papa Ephraim, or someone else withmore experience, can speak more directly to what you're working on here.

In Christ,
Gabriel

 

[Michael L. Smith]

Thank you, Gabriel, for taking so much time to review these. I was erroring on the side of trying to stay close to the original melodies, since I knew these were prosomia -- pattern melodies for the rest of the canon. But since, understandably, HTM did not meter the canons in their Menaion, this is very difficult and problematic.

Enclosed are my corrections still keeping some of the original melodic formulae where they are very close to the English meter.

In Chrst,
Rdr. Michael