MusicaSacra Forum

I sent for a free copy of St. Augustine - it came today. I'll second BMP's comparison to a low-budget GC (which my parish uses, BTW, along with the brown People's Mass Book). There's a lot to like, but there's also a lot NOT to like.

LMAO Mark! I'm guessing the PMB is the 1984 edition?
BMP

As a musician in the Catholic Church I've found The Saint Augustine Hymnal to follow the Hermeneutics of Continuity (Pope Benedict XVI) to a tee. I also like the aesthetic quality of the Vatican II hymnal, but it doesn't address the entire church. However, no hymnal exists that can be everything to everyone and I stand by that completely - No. 5 states in the preface.

Gather Comprehensive (GC), while being a great publication, caters to a different concept of the teachings of the church. I have used Gather on and off for some years and not until recently did I get hit with a realization about several its hymns. For example, whilst about to sing the first line of music from a well-loved German Christmas hymn from the 14th Century, I was shocked to find that they took it upon themselves to change the title and thus, the lyric to "Good Christian FRIENDS, Rejoice" was born. The song loses its historical meaning and context - not only that, but it would be like changing any well-known document that has had high circulation or exposure (ex: Declaration of Independence). It looses its candor and charm, its effectiveness as a well-known hymn.

It is understandable that publishers who are not rooted in the Catholic faith would adhere to modernistic or feminist principles like this language of inclusivity, but it does not honor the Language of God or the theological teachings of our beautiful faith to do so (look at No. 6 of the preface in SAH). Also, by no means would I imagine vilifying GIA. They have some finely published music written by various well-loved composers and I think that many smaller publishers look to GIA for examples, as they should. In the matter of this particular issue, and possibly several others that have yet to be unearthed, I cannot say they should.

H4M

Prompted by H4M's post, I see that the publisher's website is offering sound samples for the Saint Augustine Hymnal, so I checked out the site and spent a few minutes listening.

This is definitely not a hymnal for parishes that rely on traditional repertoire, because nearly everything in it is contemporary music in theatrical styles. This sort of makes sense, given that the company was founded (and presumably is still directed) by contemporary composer Vince Ambrosetti.

The website bills this as a book full of "widely sung titles". Widely sung? Where? Not in any Catholic church I've ever visited. I listened to thirty-five tracks and only recognized six at all. Of the 35, just three of the songs were traditional hymns.

The book's contemporary songs are designed for soloists and small vocal ensembles, not congregations. They use syncopation quite a bit, and the sample arrangements are sweetened with strings and use piano rather than organ. They'd fit in well on easy-listening Evangelical radio.

While I think the texts of the songs present little if anything to complain about, I can't agree with H4M's suggestion that this hymnal represents continuity.

You've painted a very clear picture of the situation, Prof Kwasniewski. Thank you!

Chonak and ProfKwasniewski,

I went on the website and noticed that not all of the actual titles in the Saint Augustine Hymnal are actually on there. So, "I listened to thirty-five tracks and only recognized six at all. Of the 35, just three of the songs were traditional hymns" is in part true. I called there the other day and evidently they are recording the entire hymnal. It looks like they actually ARE following continuity because they comparison charts online are most varied.

In their hard cover edition they have (and I'm reading off of the net here) 74 OCP (whereas GIA only has 61), 36 WLP titles (whereas GIA has only 17); in their 3-yr soft cover ed. they have 68 OCP titles (WLP only has 14, GIA doesn't offer something like this), 43 GIA titles (OCP only has 20; WLP has 37). So far it looks like they are more varied in their compilation of titles than any other publisher. This is just the facts.

Another comment I'd like to address is ProfKwasniewski's mention of the Vatican II Hymnal. It is a wonderful resource for the church and addresses much of the lost sacred liturgy. Yes we need to hold on to what has been and must be renewed, but we must also take into account that we are moving into a new time with our sacred liturgy and there are hundreds of churches celebrating contemporary styles and doing quite well with that. They also seem to be incorporating chant and traditional hymnody because any church that recognizes the beauty and value of what the church has fostered before will also recognize the growth of the church musically now.

Very disappointed in the Saint Augustine Hymnal. Very few traditional hymns. Most are written by International Liturgy Publication composers. We looked at the index and thought we were getting the traditional hymns because we saw their titles. However, the hymns themselves had been written by the International Liturgy group of composers. Only the title had been kept. I agree with chonak's evaluation of this hymnal. In a hymnal of this size, there are few hymns that the congregation knows and it is difficult for them to learn. The Responsorial Psalms are very difficult to sing/learn. Lots of syncopation, strange phrasing and therefore, the text is not easy to understand by the congregation.

Dear Benedict Gal,

Thanks for the message!

The Vatican II Hymnal does contain the TEXTS for the Sung propers (a.k.a. Graduale Propers) which allows the congregation to follow along.

However, our book has the flexibility to allow congregations to follow the Propers NO MATTER which version is sung: PSALM TONES, SIMPLE ENGLISH PSALM TONES, SIMPLE ENGLISH PROPERS, FULL VERSION IN THE GRADUALE ROMANUM IN LATIN, etc.

Here is what has been on the website since August: