For the most part these are old hymns in the public domain. When I look at a new hymn book I am looking for something that liturgically useful but fresh and appropriate to the culture of the worshiping assembly. Many of these songs are foreign to the culture of the suburban parishes I have attended.
… and there are no guitar chords for most songs.
On the other hand if you wanted to the collate old hymns that are freely available in the public domain and are used in cathedrals this is your tome.
I have covered most of them already on the blog.
I did a new backing for that one:
OK that is a fine song.
327 The Royal Banners Forward Go (tune VEXILLA REGIS)
I haven’t done this one by Venantius Fortunatus (c530-600) and translated by John Mason Neale. It seems triumphal in a bad way to me.
The text and sheet music are at Hymnary. I used the version in Worship for my backing, as it attempted to make it metrical and I guessed the chords.
328 Were You There When They Crucified My Lord
I’ve actually blogged that one twice by accident. This one is even worse. I doubt many Australian assemblies have the wherewithal for spirituals. I’d avoid it on that basis unless you are sure.
329 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
It looks like I used my little copy of Together In Song for most of these when I blogged them but there are generally available and in the public domain. (except “O Jesus Crucified”)
You’re obviously not a fan of CWB2, but things could be worse. We recently had a clean up of the music room and came across a 1971 hymnal which had had a great deal of effort towards its production including art work throughout. It includes songs by the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, the Bee Gees, and others, all focusing on social justice mixed in with material like some Gelineau psalms! Imagine: Please stand for our opening hymn, “Eleanor Rigby”. It’s in there! There’s a good reason that outside of McAuley/Connolly and Deiss, you’ll only find a handful of hymns still in use with a 1960s copyright! With some of the songs in the P & W genre, I sometimes think we’re heading back to this era. Classic example: Tom Booth’s “Let Your Face Shine on Us” which includes the 60s chorus from “Hair”, “Let the Sun Shine In”.
I wish we could have a sensible compromise that bears in mind the realities of music possibilities in Australian churches: CWB2 is not suited to many churches; AOV is past its use-by-date; GA is also past its use-by-date and out of print; many chuches now use projection in preference to hymnals.
Here’s a thought bubble: why not put together an official three part electronic hymnal (much cheaper than hard copy hymnals, and I suspect that most people in music groups these day have devices for access): one part for those preferring traditional organ-based hymns; one part for main-stream contemporary hymns; and another for youth-style hymns. For each field, find collators with an expertise and love for that particular genre; encourage input from parish-level folk to see what’s really being used; weed out the theologically unsound texts; check to make sure that the hymns cover every Sunday, holy day of obligation and rite; only use songs that, if not in the public domain, can be easily licensed (i.e. OneLicense or CCLI); make sure electronic versions of all songs are available for purchase electronically in accompaniment, choral and congregation edition (all appropriate for use on tablets); have a publish-on-demand service for those not using screens or weekly worship aids; add new material at least every two years. Perhaps something like a cut-down equivalent to OCP’s expensive Breaking Bread / Spirit and Song electronic libraries (https://www.icrmusic.org/en-us/14/page/331) would be the aim if it could be done for a price that parishes could afford. It probably sounds like I’ve been typing this while smoking something illegal!
I should mention that I look after the Saturday evening Mass at a small cathedral with piano and small unison choir, and that we primarily use SATB style hymns because they work best with our resources and congregation, but most of my adult life has been spent with parishes having mainstream contemporary music, so I have no objection to that style. P & W music I dislike at Mass, but will often have that style of song playing from Google Play Music at home!
I think you’ll find there’s a lot more non-public domain texts in CWB2 than you realise, though I grant that many of the tunes are from times past. We have the accompaniment edition of CWB2 and would use it more except that many (if not most) of the contemporary SATB style texts are not able to be licensed from OneLicense. I’ve mentioned this before on this blog. Because previous management purchased the American Gather 3 hymnals a few years ago, so purchase of the CWB2 pew hymnals is not going to happen any time soon!
G’Day Chris
I’m not sure my snarky rant deserved such a considered and sensible response, but I very much appreciate your thoughts.
Your correct of course in that with CWB II unsuitable for many parishes and all the alternatives dated we still don’t have a hymnal for the Australian Catholic Church. It is frustrating that after all that effort CWB II has to be regarded a failure from that perspective.
Maybe the whole physical object hymnal thing is the problem and your virtual hymnal is the way to go. I’d prefer a wiki model (to break the OCP/GIA/WLP hegemony) with moderation of theological content and liturgical suitability, but I like your model as a framework and I don’t think you’re high. I suspect parishes have moved in this way already and the effort might be in future to provide guidance and assistance in curating a parish repertoire that ticks all the boxes.
BTW just as you say quite a lot of the texts with PD tunes are still in copyright although rarely recent.
We now have a parish policy that if it isn’t OneLicence it no longer exists so we have have lost a few favourites, but on the bright side “How Great Thou Art” is CCLI I believe so I don’t have to play that one anymore.
Thanks again and have a restrained Lent so you can have the energy left over to get through the Tridium.
Geoff
A few years ago I was in a church that used “How Great Thou Art” for the responsorial psalm!