Night Prayer (Compline)

This service is sung at St. Peters from time to time, and all are invited to join in.
If you are interested, please contact me.

Night Prayer (or Compline as it used to be known) is an ancient office deriving its name from a Latin word meaning 'completion' (completorium).

It is above all a service of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day. The ending is indeed an ending, without additions, conversation or noise. Those present depart in silence.

Plainsong

Its origin

'Plainsong', 'Plainchant', or 'Gregorian Chant' is the unique music of Western Christianity, and our closest living link with the Church of the first centuries. Moreover, it lies at the very foundation of all our western music.

The chant grew originally out of the music of the Jewish ritual. The first Christians, being Jews, brought into their worship the ancient Jewish custom of chanting aloud the books of the Bible. The melodies they used brought out the meaning of the words, made the text audible to a large gathering, and added beauty and dignity to the reading. Even to-day, the melodies used for chanting the psalms - the eight Gregorian Tones (or 'tunes') - have their recognisable counterparts in Jewish practice. And chanting the psalms - albeit to complicated settings - is a feature of Anglican worship.

Several Plainsong chants have found their way into the hymn book vernacular, the most notable derivative being perhaps the hymn tune Veni, Creator Spiritus (Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire AMNS 93).

The ideal implied in the use of the Plainsong Tones is that of a reverent and intelligent recitation of the words, following the natural rhythm of spoken words, lightly, flexibly and smoothly.

From Plainchant for Everyone, Dr. Mary Berry, RSCM Handbook No. 3

The Psalm Tones

The psalm tone is essentially a pair of reciting notes (corresponding with the half verses), each followed by a more or less elaborated inflexion of the voice, and the words should follow on uninterruptedly and smoothly, without any break between the reciting note and the inflexion in which it ends.

The rhythmic flow of the words should be carefully preserved; but there should be a slight slowing and softening at the end of each half verse, particularly of the last half.

Each half verse should be sung in one breath, except where a vertical bar line is printed to show where breath should be taken.

A substantial pause should be made at the colon (:) or (black dot) . This is in accordance with the old rule, and has the advantage not merely of marking the parallelism of the Hebrew poetry, but also of giving the singers time to grasp the second half of the verse in their minds before starting to recite it.

The "intonation" (the opening pair of notes leading up to the reciting note) should be used for the first verse only. Hollow notes are used when extra syllables occur.
Plainsong needs no accompaniment: the Tones are complete without any harmonies. But, if an accompaniment is desired, it should be quiet and unobtrusive.

From Evening Canticles, The Plainsong & Mediaeval Music Society