Listen to the Improperia

18 Replies to “Listen to the Improperia”

1. Loved it thanks.

2. We've done it in English, but not in several years.

   I'm reposting this.

3. Question: In this youtube, is it the Greek (my Greek extends exactly as far as the Kyrie) that is actually being chanted before the Latin "Sanctus Deus, Sanctus Fortis…"? Is the Greek actually in the Missal?

   And, is this 'refrain' (apologies if that is not the correct terminology) the source of the section of the Divine Mercy Chaplet?

4. So our bishop will be saying Mass in our parish for Good Friday. In checking over our music, he made us drop one of our instrumentals during the veneration (yes!) and then asked that we implement this in some form. It'll be some contemporary rendition, but as Fr. Z says, brick-by-brick.

5. I quake when I hear our Bishop is coming. He was at out Easter Vigil last year and never missed a chance to complain about how long it was (we've been doing all the readings for about 7 years now). He'd have been apoplectic if we'd done anything in Latin.

   So much of the hidden stuff in the missal remains hidden. We don't even chant the responses for the Good Friday intentions and prayers.

6. Thanks to Aristotle who posted Reproaches in English in the Forum, our schola is singing it for the first time. (Hopefully we will sing it in Latin soon.) It was like a miracle that the pastor actually encouraged us to sing it while the music director didn't know it at all.

   Is the pronunciation of Greek "Ischyros" [ees-kee-ros]?

7. Our choir will sing the Reproaches…in our Anglican parish.

8. We will be singing the Victoria Improperia in alternatim with chanted verses. We've used Paul's BFW in the past. Along with works by Aristotle (Crux Fidelis), Heath Morber's Mandatum piece for Maundy Thursday, and Kevin Allen's "Tantum ergo," with classics by Anerio, Palestrina et al, it's going to be a profound Triduum.

9. I hear an organ drone throughout the setting shared here. Is that standard practice? What do folks here think about that?

10. JP, that is the Greek that is chanted before the Latin, and the Latin is, in each case, a translation of it (and it is in the Liber Usualis – not sure about the Missal).

    Hagios o Theos – Santus Deus
    Hagios ischyros – Sanctus Fortis
    Hagios athanatos, eleison hymas –
    Sanctus immortalis, miserere nobis.

    Ischyros is pronounced as one of the "Anon" commenters suggested, "ees-kee-ross".

11. The Improperia is a difficult text because of its (arguably) anti-Semitic valences. I do hope that priests also acknowledge the possibility that Melito of Sardis penned the Improperia as an inversion or parody of the Seder Dayenu. An acknowledgement of this perspective could accompany a sermon on St. John's passion. It is crucial that both the Improperia and Passion are interpreted through Nostra Aetate.

    Certainly, the Reproaches should also be interpreted as a narrative account of the offenses of Christians against Christ. The exegetical complexities of the triduum require a great sensitivity and willingness to acknowledge both the glories and great failings of Christians and Christian liturgy.

12. We sing the reproaches every year on Good Friday. For years we used the Twynham setting in English, which is beautiful, but lately we've been doing the Latin/Greek setting.

13. @Precentor

    Thank you! I meant to check the Missal after Mass today, but forgot.

14. We sing the Reproaches in English, but I don't know the setting.

15. Thanks to your linking us to the English version, our "Vatican II parish" has permitted our Schola to sing the Reproaches. Remarkably, this was supported in our Liturgy Committee by our Monsignor, who is not a Traditionalist, but who has supported our efforts to incorporate Gregorian Chant into the Mass with greater frequency. Msgr. responded very positively to the suggestion that the Good Friday Reproaches form part of the ancient Tenebrae service, which is, by the way, often incorporated into Protestant Good Friday services. May God bless the ongoing efforts of the Chant Cafe, whose work is surely inspired by the Holy Spirit.

16. JP said…

    I quake when I hear our Bishop is coming. He was at out Easter Vigil last year and never missed a chance to complain about how long it was (we've been doing all the readings for about 7 years now). He'd have been apoplectic if we'd done anything in Latin.

    So much of the hidden stuff in the missal remains hidden. We don't even chant the responses for the Good Friday intentions and prayers.
    ———————————————–

    JP, apart from the fact you need a new bishop, if he thinks chanting all the lessons for Holy Saturday is too much of a draw on his precious time, can you imagine if he had to endure 12 prophecies, as we had before 1955? Our parish by the way, not Anglo Catholic or SSPX, reads the 12 prophecies with the anointing of the baptismal water, public baptism, a Latin Improperia, and all in the evening too, the whole bit. It takes almost three hours, but is the finest Roman vigil for Easter, I've ever attended since Pius XII's time. It represents a wonderful blending of the old rites before 1955 reforms with the best of the more modern rite.
    It is a true vigil and not simply a quickie intro to public baptisms and then out the door in time before the local restaurants close.

    Catholicism returns to a sense of the sacredness of time, of place, and an appreciation for the sacredness of old holy rites, or it dies on the vine.

17. At age 40, I'm among many Catholics who had never heard this before. Ever.

    Since Jeffrey posted this I've listened to it dozens of times. I'm absolutely struck by its beauty. And thanks, everyone here, for adding your insights as you have in the comments. @sortacatholic… very interesting.

    Question (if anyone's still following this thread): Is there any particular significance to the responses being presented in both Greek and Latin? I see that this is an ancient text, probably penned by someone in the eastern Church. I didn't even know that there was any Greek chant to be found in the Gregorian Missal, aside from the Kyrie.

18. Guess I'm one of the few lucky ones who did indeed hear this on Good Friday. (I attend an FSSP parish.) It is so moving.

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