www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship The Kliros Hail Marys

Christ is Risen!

Hi folks - have quick and urgent query - can anyone give me the Arabic transliteration for the Byzantine text of the Hail Mary? Even better if someone can give me the music for the Melkite chant for the Theotoke Parthene sung at the end of Vespers!

Many thanks in advance,

Edward

Edward,

voilà the Hail Mary transliterated from Arabic, and then in the original text. Capitalised letters are either the pharyngealised Hah or the emphatics. The voiced pharyngeal fricative is shown as a number "3".

"al-salaamu 3layki ya maryam. yaa mumtali'atu ni3ma. al-rabbu ma3ki. mubaarakatun enti fiy nisaa'. wamubaarakatun thamaratu baTniki.

yaa qadiysa(tu) maryam. yaa waalidat ul-ilaah. Salliy li-'ajlinaa naHnu al-khaTaa. al-'aana wafiy saa3ati-mawtinaa. 'aamiyn."

السلام عليك يا مريم - يا ممتلئة نعمة - الرب معك - مباركة انت في النساء - ومباركة ثمرة بطنك يسوع - يا قديسة مريم - يا والدة الله - صلي لأجلنا نحن الخطاة - الآن وفي ساعة موتنا. آمين


Which chant do you mean by "theotoke parthene"? Do you mean the "O all-holy Theotokos, save us! ... More honourable than the cherubim ..." said as the priest makes a sign of the cross in front of the icon of the Theotokos? If so, we do not chant it at Vespers, but say it.

If you want the music (as sung for Orthros or the Divine Liturgy), in which tone do you want it? You'll have to PM me with your e-mail address. (And I presume you want the music and lyrics in English?)

One can only wonder where our brother,, Edward, is chanting this time?

Christ is Risen!

Matta,

Thanks- but I was looking for the Byzantine text as sung at Great Vespers, with the short ending 'for thou hast given birth to the Saviour of our souls'. Would you happen to have that? As for sheet music, ideally in the First Plagal Tone.

Dear Irish Melkite,

I've formed a wee polyphonic cappella in Singapore, and we're calling ourselves Oecumene - we're hoping to sing stuff from both East and West (hence the name). Our first concert is in two weeks, with a Rosary theme (basically an excuse to trot out lots of favourite Ave Maria settings), and I'd like a good half of the settings to be Eastern.

So far, we have the Our Father by Kedrov Sr, to be sung in English, then these Ave Maria settings:

Trubachev a 4, Church-Slavonic
Russian 'Greek Chant' a 4, Church-Slavonic
Znamenny two-part, Church-Slavonic
Georgian a 3, Church-Slavonic
Byzantine, Greek

Gregorian, Latin
Victora a 4, Latin
Monteverdi a 3, Latin
Josquin Despres a 4, Latin

Gloria Patri a 4, by Thomas Tallis, Latin
Sicut Erat, Gregorian, Latin

Salve Regina a 4, Rivaflecha, Latin

Shen Khar a 3, Georgian hymn, Georgian
Ave Maris Stella a 4, Gregorian arr. James Michael Thompson, Latin
Stapana Primeste, Transylvanian Chant, arr. David Mastroberte
Salve Mater Misericordiae, 12th C Carmelite Processional, Latin.

Attentive readers will note two arrangements by members of this forum!

Also, just for the fun of it, Church-Slavonic pronunciations will be of the Old-Ritualist variety. Latin pronunciation will be as close to that used at the period and country of the composer, so we will use 15th C Franco-Flemish Latin for Josquin, 16th C Spanish Latin for Victoria and Rivaflecha, 16th C English Latin for Tallis and so on. No chees and chaws for us! The fact that this will irritate any SSPX types that choose to attend is entirely a happy coincidence.

Hello Edward!

I may have it in my hard-disk somewhere. I'll give you the text. I think I know what you're looking for. How soon do you need it?

Collin - anytime by next weekend =)

Edward,

I'm most impressed! I suspect that it's merely a matter of time before a formal EC presence is established in Singapore. If not, it won't be for lack of trying. May the concert be a rousing and blessed success!

Many years,

Neil

Edward,
could you mean the Resurrectional Theotokion on tone 2? It would be the theotokion that is sung after the toparia near the end of the Vespers service--on Sundays of tone 2, or on feasts where the previous troparion was in tone 2.

It words are: "All your Mysteries, O Theotokos are beyond understanding and most glorious, sealed by purity and preserved by virginity, you have indeed been acknowledged as the mother who gave birth to the true God. Interced with Him to save our souls."

Aha! Now we're cooking with gas, or swimming in oil as the French say! You mean Compline, not Vespers.

In English:
"Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. For you have given birth to the Saviour of our souls."
In Arabic, but transliterated:
"al-salaamu 3layki ya maryam. yaa mumtali'atu ni3ma. al-rabbu ma3ki. mubaarakatun enti fiy nisaa'. wamubaarakatun thamaratu baTniki.
li-'annaki waladti mukhallaSa nufuwsinaa"

I have sent you the music you requested by e-mail (Megalynarion in tone 5; lyrics in English, music in Western notation; tone 5.)

By the way, we also sing the Hail Mary mentioned above in tone 5.

Edward,

I have just transcribed the hymn Hail O Theotokos (tone 5) from Byzantine psaltiki into Western notation for you. I think this is what you wanted.

I have sent the PDF of the score and a recording as well, since you may not know that in the Diatonic scale in tone 5, the B (Solfège = Si; Psaltiki = Zo) is always flattened by 33.3 cents--i.e., one third of a equal-tempered semi-tone. (Thus the B-natural in Western equal tempered scales with A-natural above Middle C @ 440 Hz is 493.8833013 Hz; the Byzantine Diatonic B [one-sixth flat] is 484.46499 Hz.) The recording is in Byzantine tuning.

I did not mark this flat in the text, because if you are singing it to Western tuning, the B-natural is a better approximation to the true tuning that the B-flat. I find that even if I mark it with a symbol for one-sixth flat, people not used to Byzantine music will attempt to sing a full Western flat (i.e., a semi-tone lower than the B-natural, not one-third of a semi-tone).

Note also that the words are slightly different to those I gave you. Here they are as chanted:

"al-salaamu 3alayki ya waalidatal illaa-hil 3adhraa'a maryam. yaa mumtali'ata ni3matan. al-rabbu ma3aki. mubaarakatun anti fiy nisaa'. wa-mubaarakatun thamaratu baTniki.
li-'annaki waladti mukhallaSa nufuwsinaa."