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Structures of the Liturgy
Topic Started: Jan 29 2015, 06:32 PM (329 Views)
Kati Ihnat
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Today I thought I'd post something about the structures of the liturgy. The liturgy included lots of different elements that were arranged in a particular order, and these were followed in very methodical fashion. The Old Hispanic liturgy, like that of other areas and times, interspersed sung and intoned/read texts: chants, prayers, readings. I thought I'd include a couple little lists of the main offices (matins and vespers). Some of these terms have come up in other posts, so I thought it might be useful to see exactly how they were found in the liturgy.

Vespers
(evening service)

Vespertinus (the main vespers chant) + its verses
Sono (an elaborate chant) + its verses X 3

Antiphon (a normally short chant) + Psalm verse/psalm section/full psalm (this last bit is something we're currently trying to work out)
Alleluiaticum (an antiphon with lots of 'alleluias' in it) + Psalm verse

Hymn + Verse
Completuria (the main vespers prayer)
Benedictio (another blessing)

Psallendum (an antiphon sung while processing) + Oration (a prayer that corresponds thematically to the psallendum)



Matins
(midnight service)

Antiphon + Psalm 3 + Oration

Antiphon + Psalm verse + Oration
Antiphon + Psalm verse + Oration
Alleluiaticum + Psalm verse + Oration
Responsory + Verse + Oration
READING (either from a saint's life or a theological text or from the Bible)
[note: this combination: 3 antiphons plus a responsory is called a missa, confusingly; there could be multiples of this unit up to seven indicating the importance of the day in the liturgical calendar]

Antiphon + Psalm 50 + Oration
Antiphon + Canticle
Antiphon + Benedictions
Sono
Antiphon + Psalms 148-150
Hymn
Completuria + Pater Noster + Benedictio
Psallendum + Oration

This may seem rather arcane, but what's interesting is the cyclical nature of the liturgy: through the different hours of the day, through the days, weeks, months and years. Some of the elements change according to the day, others are constant. Also, what could be interesting is the combination of sung and spoken/intoned elements. Antiphons were sung to pretty simple melodies (usually), psalm verses simpler still, but others like the sono could be incredibly elaborate. There were also 'spoken word' sections, like the readings. All this would have produced a very varied aural experience for the congregation, which would have participated in some stuff (like the 'Pater Noster' - the 'Our Father'), but just listened to other stuff, just as today.

I've included a prettier outline in a document attached and will try to post links to some of the images of manuscripts so you can see how the different elements are laid out on the page.
Attached to this post:
Attachments: Liturgical_Structure.docx (148.34 KB)
Edited by Kati Ihnat, May 5 2015, 11:39 AM.
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Lindsay
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Thank you, this is really helpful, I have been trying to get to grips with the structure.
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Kati Ihnat
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Glad it helped! Let me know if I should post more on specific aspects.
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David Greenhorne
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In the book"Music and Meaning in the Old Hispanic Lenten Chants" one can see the particular psalms that are chanted for each day of the Lenten period. Where can I find the psalms that are chanted in Easter, for example.
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Emma Hornby
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The psalm incipits are given in the Leon antiphoner (http://bibliotecadigital.jcyl.es/i18n/consulta/registro.cmd?id=4930 image 221 is the beginning of the Easter weekdays), but they don't give the biblical origin of the text so that's not an easy way to find them.

I'll ask my colleagues - it feels like someone must have listed them somewhere, but I don't know where off the top of my head!
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Emma Hornby
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I'm afraid I've drawn a blank on this. I don't know of anyone who has already done this collation work, and nor do my colleagues. It really would be a matter of working our way through the Leon antiphoner edition, finding each antiphon verse and working out which Psalm it belongs to. We can do that, if it would be useful to you! Let us know.
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