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Exsultet - how much to sing?

AravisAravis Shipmate
in Ecclesiantics
I’ve volunteered to be cantor for the Exsultet at the Easter Vigil this year, but hadn’t realised it is nearly 8 pages of plainchant! I don’t think the congregation will want me to sing for that long. Could anyone advise which parts it would be acceptable to miss out? We haven’t used it for a few years and the vicar isn’t sure.

Comments

  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    Versions I've seen have a section bracketed, suggesting it could be left out.
  • angloidangloid Shipmate
    edited March 2024
    Why would you want to miss anything out unless you think your voice isn't up to it? Common worship has alternative settings: see https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/common-worship/churchs-year/times-and-seasons-6#p410 [scroll down]. One of them is drastically shortened which might be your answer, though IMHO it would be a pity. There is also a version which could be sung to a hymn tune like Woodlands. Or it would be feasible just to proclaim in a spoken voice the main text, interspersed with a sung response.

    If you want to use the traditional plainchant, which is beautiful, you probably need to sit down with your vicar and a discreet pencil, to edit it suitably.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    Might you just sing the bidding with the rest of the prayer said?
  • AravisAravis Shipmate
    I’d like to use the traditional plainchant, and my voice is probably up to it, but I’m not sure the congregation will want to listen while I sing the whole thing.
    We have a modern building with indifferent acoustics. Until a few years ago we had two churches; it was the other building which had a choir and a good organ, and where the Easter Vigil would be held for the whole parish.
    I’ll check the shortened version from your link and work something out from that - thanks.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    I've been asked to sing it at St Pete's, and like Aravis I was horrified at how much of it there is.

    Despite my forty-mumble years in church music, I don't know that I've ever heard it, let alone sung it!

    When I voiced my doubts, the Rector (who has a decent alto voice) suggested we both sing it; I'm not at all sure how that'll work out.

    It didn't help that the manuscript I was shown was practically illegible ...
  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    I wouldn’t pare it down at all, particularly based on a thing as fickle as congregational attention span. It’s the Vigil Mass of the Highest Feast we have — people ought to gear-up for that & understand that they are bringing themselves to Something, and not the other way around.
  • SojournerSojourner Shipmate
    Seconded.

    It moves fast and if you listen carefully it commands all your attention.

    My erstwhile choir director Madame la Directrice has a fine tenor voice and a sound knowledge of chant; I have listened for 30 years and will never tire of it.
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    Piglet wrote: »
    I've been asked to sing it at St Pete's, and like Aravis I was horrified at how much of it there is.

    Despite my forty-mumble years in church music, I don't know that I've ever heard it, let alone sung it!

    When I voiced my doubts, the Rector (who has a decent alto voice) suggested we both sing it; I'm not at all sure how that'll work out.

    It didn't help that the manuscript I was shown was practically illegible ...
    @Piglet, I have a copy of the Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society’s Services in Holy Week (1952 reprint of 1933 edition - mainly the work of G.H. Palmer and Bp. W.H. Frere). If you PM me I could send you scans of the relevant pages. Alternatively the RSCM sells, as a digital download plainchant music for the text in Common Worship: Times and Seasons for a mere £4.30.
  • Alan29Alan29 Shipmate
    The better performances I have heard have been when it has been sung at a normal reading speed and phrased as the text dictates. The least successful have been where the text has been sung with every syllable equally stressed without meaning. It is a song of great joy and should be sung that way, not like a dirge.
    There are plenty of versions on line including some with congregational responses that break it up and keep the congregation engaged for those willing to use the RC text.
  • angloidangloid Shipmate
    Alternatively the RSCM sells, as a digital download plainchant music for the text in Common Worship: Times and Seasons for a mere £4.30.
    [/quote]
    First question is, are you going to be using the original Latin, the pseudo-Cranmerian of 19th century adaptations, or modern English?
    If the latter, and assuming you are C of E (other Anglican provinces presumably have their own versions), the plainchant version is available for free on the Common Worship website. I don't know if the RSCM add any bells and whistles to this (they come later in the service!!!) to make the charge worthwhile.

  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    A good point, and I don’t know either. Here’s the link for the relevant Common Worship page.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    I think it's likely to be said at Our Place (we barely get a Baker's Dozen to the Vigil :disappointed: ), but it will include the Bees - Madam Sacristan will insist on that...

    FWIW, I quite like the metrical version to Woodlands.
  • OblatusOblatus Shipmate
    Sojourner wrote: »
    Seconded.

    It moves fast and if you listen carefully it commands all your attention.

    My erstwhile choir director Madame la Directrice has a fine tenor voice and a sound knowledge of chant; I have listened for 30 years and will never tire of it.

    I was relied on to sing it in a previous parish for several years (although every year I reminded the rector it's meant for a deacon or priest), and our version (BCP 1979) seemed to go by all too quickly, probably because I was enjoying it and got into a groove only to have it end. :)
  • CyprianCyprian Shipmate
    Aravis wrote: »
    I don’t think the congregation will want me to sing for that long.

    Does. Not. Compute.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    Thanks for the offer, @BroJames, but I think Rev'd Rosie's found a version she thinks will work. Heaven knows when I'm going to learn it, as she forgot to bring it to church on Sunday ... 😳
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