Matins from Concordia University Mequon on the Transfiguration
You can see the rest of the service there. They use some Russian chants ahead of Matins itself, and within the actual service. But it's LSB Matins. Some have asked to hear how the tones went in that service, well here you go!
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Fr. Weedon,
Russian Orthodox Chants are the exclusive property of the Holy Orthodox Church. Let me know whom to contact at Concordia to demand a fee of no less than $30,000 for their use. If you wish to use them, free of charge, you could at least become Eastern Rite-Lutherans. :)
Russian Orthodox Chants are the exclusive property of the Holy Orthodox Church. Let me know whom to contact at Concordia to demand a fee of no less than $30,000 for their use. If you wish to use them, free of charge, you could at least become Eastern Rite-Lutherans. :)
Usually we only do the order of Matins as printed in LSB. Sometimes though, such as in the case of the Transfiguration, I like to supplement the service with "extra festivities". Since I and many of my friends at Concordia enjoy Eastern church music, sometimes we use chants from that tradition. In fact, this past September for the Feast of the Archangel Michael we used an edited version of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (much like the Ukrainian Lutherans) as well as Eastern Christian church music. I hope to get some more services posted such as Compline, Vespers, and a Matins service when our organist isn't absent due to illness.
I saw these somewhere else. To be honest I had to surpress an unidentifiable negative reaction when I saw the icons on the altar...I mean there was nothing in my former Lutheran experience to explain such a thing. I don't know that Lutherans share the same theology regarding the use of icons as Orthodox do so I don't know what they mean when I see them on a Lutheran altar.
I don't mean to say the service wasn't nice...it was surely that...but it seemed to me that it was an attempt to recreate past forms of worship rather than to merely continue in them. Virge's response seems to confirm that notion. They like Eastern Church music so they sometimes use it. How different is that from liking Contemporary worship music and sometimes using it? Should a worship service to be crafted to our "likings"?
Again...I don't mean to suggest the service wasn't appealing or irreverent or anything like that...I just don't understand where or how it fits in everyday Lutheranism.
That said...I wouldn't complain one iota if my husband were able to access to this form.
I had the same reaction, believe it or not. The icons simply struck me as out of place. Don't get me wrong: I love icons, and value the entire spiritual tradition that is attached to them. But that is a private matter for me, not one of the Lutheran Church. Lutheran Church art has its own tradition and it seems to me that that is what we should be nurturing.
As for the chants, the same argument could be made again, but our liturgy does borrow Russian music - Lutherans have always had an ear for what's good music. In Evening Prayer, we use a Russian setting, I believe for the Litany ("In peace let us pray to the Lord..."). We also have the Russian setting of "Kyrie eleison" in our LSB. So while we borrow music from that tradition, it still struck me as a bit odd to use so much of it in a single service. There's some fine Lutheran music that celebrates Transfiguration too (though the simple tones of the Russian make it easier to use than the more complex polyphonic settings common to Lutheranism).
P.S. We do use icons at St. Paul's, but never upon the altar. We sometimes have an icon hanging before the Lectern that signals the season: Nativity at Christmas, etc.
Please allow me to clarify what I mean by saying "like" Eastern chants. We appreciate their unique versification of the text. Byzantine hymnology has a wonderful way of expressing the message of the Festival. Also the musical tones serve as good messengers of the text they bear.
As for the icons on the altar, perhaps that was not the wisest placement, and I doubt they will be placed there in the future. To an outsider not aware as to what is going on, or their purpose, it may appear to be something it is not.
However, I have seen icons used in an LCMS church. Here in Milwaukee I occasionally attend a church has icons on the walls of the nave, as well as a large pantocrator on the altar.
In the class on worship that is offered here at Concordia, one of the topics we discussed was liturgical art. Icons fall into that category and can be used for that purpose quite well. They can also serve as a catechetical aid (as I learned from a friend of mine who serves as an admissions counselor at our Synod's seminary in Fort Wayne).
I apologize for any mispercetion I may have given as to intention or belief.
Nothing to apologize for, but something to be sensitive of in the future. I suspect it is the placement of the icons upon the altar itself which seems most "off" - if you will - from Lutheran sensibilities. Usually upon the Lutheran Altar there is nothing but the crucifix and the candles, the missal stand and altar book, and when the Divine Service is held, the elements. And in some places, the lectionary reposes on the altar.
10 comments:
Fr. Weedon,
Russian Orthodox Chants are the exclusive property of the Holy Orthodox Church. Let me know whom to contact at Concordia to demand a fee of no less than $30,000 for their use. If you wish to use them, free of charge, you could at least become Eastern Rite-Lutherans. :)
Fr. Weedon,
Russian Orthodox Chants are the exclusive property of the Holy Orthodox Church. Let me know whom to contact at Concordia to demand a fee of no less than $30,000 for their use. If you wish to use them, free of charge, you could at least become Eastern Rite-Lutherans. :)
You wouldn't work at a certain publishing house now, would you, Dr. Palo? ;)
No, Fr. Weedon, I don't. I just like to give crap to people who mix traditions. And that applies to myself.
For instance at my parish, we frequently mix Byzantine chant with Russian style 4 part stuff. It's OK, but sometimes you just want to say choose one!
Usually we only do the order of Matins as printed in LSB.
Sometimes though, such as in the case of the Transfiguration, I like to supplement the service with "extra festivities". Since I and many of my friends at Concordia enjoy Eastern church music, sometimes we use chants from that tradition.
In fact, this past September for the Feast of the Archangel Michael we used an edited version of the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (much like the Ukrainian Lutherans) as well as Eastern Christian church music.
I hope to get some more services posted such as Compline, Vespers, and a Matins service when our organist isn't absent due to illness.
I saw these somewhere else. To be honest I had to surpress an unidentifiable negative reaction when I saw the icons on the altar...I mean there was nothing in my former Lutheran experience to explain such a thing. I don't know that Lutherans share the same theology regarding the use of icons as Orthodox do so I don't know what they mean when I see them on a Lutheran altar.
I don't mean to say the service wasn't nice...it was surely that...but it seemed to me that it was an attempt to recreate past forms of worship rather than to merely continue in them. Virge's response seems to confirm that notion. They like Eastern Church music so they sometimes use it. How different is that from liking Contemporary worship music and sometimes using it? Should a worship service to be crafted to our "likings"?
Again...I don't mean to suggest the service wasn't appealing or irreverent or anything like that...I just don't understand where or how it fits in everyday Lutheranism.
That said...I wouldn't complain one iota if my husband were able to access to this form.
Dixie,
I had the same reaction, believe it or not. The icons simply struck me as out of place. Don't get me wrong: I love icons, and value the entire spiritual tradition that is attached to them. But that is a private matter for me, not one of the Lutheran Church. Lutheran Church art has its own tradition and it seems to me that that is what we should be nurturing.
As for the chants, the same argument could be made again, but our liturgy does borrow Russian music - Lutherans have always had an ear for what's good music. In Evening Prayer, we use a Russian setting, I believe for the Litany ("In peace let us pray to the Lord..."). We also have the Russian setting of "Kyrie eleison" in our LSB. So while we borrow music from that tradition, it still struck me as a bit odd to use so much of it in a single service. There's some fine Lutheran music that celebrates Transfiguration too (though the simple tones of the Russian make it easier to use than the more complex polyphonic settings common to Lutheranism).
P.S. We do use icons at St. Paul's, but never upon the altar. We sometimes have an icon hanging before the Lectern that signals the season: Nativity at Christmas, etc.
Please allow me to clarify what I mean by saying "like" Eastern chants. We appreciate their unique versification of the text. Byzantine hymnology has a wonderful way of expressing the message of the Festival. Also the musical tones serve as good messengers of the text they bear.
As for the icons on the altar, perhaps that was not the wisest placement, and I doubt they will be placed there in the future. To an outsider not aware as to what is going on, or their purpose, it may appear to be something it is not.
However, I have seen icons used in an LCMS church. Here in Milwaukee I occasionally attend a church has icons on the walls of the nave, as well as a large pantocrator on the altar.
In the class on worship that is offered here at Concordia, one of the topics we discussed was liturgical art. Icons fall into that category and can be used for that purpose quite well. They can also serve as a catechetical aid (as I learned from a friend of mine who serves as an admissions counselor at our Synod's seminary in Fort Wayne).
I apologize for any mispercetion I may have given as to intention or belief.
-Andrew
Andrew,
Nothing to apologize for, but something to be sensitive of in the future. I suspect it is the placement of the icons upon the altar itself which seems most "off" - if you will - from Lutheran sensibilities. Usually upon the Lutheran Altar there is nothing but the crucifix and the candles, the missal stand and altar book, and when the Divine Service is held, the elements. And in some places, the lectionary reposes on the altar.
Pax!
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