“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)
In the 1599AD Preface, Richard Verstegan says: “Notwithstanding the difficulty, these hymns have been so turned into English meter that they may be sung unto the same tunes in English that they bear in Latin.” For this particular translation, the harmonic rhythm must be that of Solesmes Abbey, generally known as the “Classical Solesmes Method.” See the following: (1) Daily Hymn Book (Westminster, 1949) p. 64, by Henri Potiron (d. 1972), Maître de Chapelle de la Basilique du Sacré Coeur et Professeur a l’Institut Grégorien; (2) Liber Cantualis Comitante Organo (Solesmes, 1981) p. 37, by Abbé Ferdinand Portier; (3) Accompaniment to the Music of Holy Week (Gregorian Institute of America, 1957) p. 83, by Dr. Eugene Lapierre, organist at Saint-Alphonse-d’Youville in Montréal.