The week after Pentecost is Trinity Sunday, and this year (liturgical year A) the Responsorial Psalm prescribed in the Missal is a canticle from the book of Daniel, chapter 3.
In form it’s actually more like a litany, a sequence of short lines followed by a Response. It was quite tricky to set even in the old version before the new translation, because that was divided into four line stanzas and the Response occurred twice in each stanza, as line 2 and line 4. Both lines were nearly the same, but the first one went up, to show we were still in the middle, and the second one went down, for the full stop. Simple, obvious, and easy to grip on first hearing. Even though it was not the usual format for a Responsorial Psalm, we made it work and I found that the congregation sang it with enthusiasm. That’s still on the website, and I did reuse the tune where I could for this version.
Fast forward to this year, and we have the new translation of the psalms (and other words used as psalms). This new Trinity Responsorial Psalm is really bad. It is so bad that I’ve decided to post a link to the music for it here to help any other struggling Church musician who would like it.
It’s not authorised in any way. But it might help someone else because I had to go back and draft it practically from scratch. The new translation is in single-line stanzas, or two-line if you count the Response. I’ve changed the format of the lead sheet to make it a bit easier to read, I hope. It’s like a sea shanty, or a call-and-response folk song. That is not a problem. The problem is the words.
Like all Responsorial Psalms, it starts with the Response. The cantor sings it, the congregation repeats it, and then they know what they are singing after each stanza or, here, line. The Response line we are given is “To be praised and highly exalted for ever!” – no subject, no verb except a passive infinitive, and then an exclamation mark to top it all off. I don’t care how exactly it translates the original text, this is bad English. It is difficult to put across as a cantor and difficult to sing with any enthusiasm (presumably that is why we are allowed a rare exclamation mark, even though our Alleluias still don’t have one). It makes sense only once the Psalm has started, because the verse line gives the subject, but that’s not the way any Responsorial Psalm is either sung or even laid out on the page. The Response is written at the head and sung first, and then repeated. So there’s plenty of time for everyone to think, “What?”
I’ve set it very simply as a call-and-response. I haven’t got time to road test it before I put the link here, because it’s coming up so soon. As I said, it’s not authorised or cleared with anybody (no time), but if anyone wants a Responsorial Psalm for Trinity Sunday which has the correct words for the (poor) new translation, here is one.
I am planning to explain to my congregation before we start that it’s like a shanty, with us taking alternating lines. The Response begins as the beginning of the tune and then comes down again, so it will work to end each stanza of the psalm as well, but I think we’ll be singing the last Response twice, just to finish it off. It should go with a swing.
Good luck with it, and any feedback welcome!
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