I'm trying to decipher this text, or find at least part of a sentence so I can find the complete text online. I believe it's Latin, but stand to be corrected. The primary reason is I wanted to see if there is a recording of this. I suspect it's Gregorian chant, and I looked through a lot of such lyrics but couldn't find text that looks similar in any of the books I had.
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luchonacho
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Malcolm McCaffery
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Can you tell us anything about the manuscript itself and/or the source of the photo? – cnread Jan 28 '18 at 02:18
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1If you're interested in reading the music, this might help. Looks like it's in F-clef and composed mostly of "longs". – user1118321 Jan 28 '18 at 03:16
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This was on display at Trinity College, Dublin, a friend sent me the photo, didn’t get more details though. I’ll have a go reading the music... – Malcolm McCaffery Jan 28 '18 at 03:33
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2@Penelope, Yes, all my research kept taking me in the direction of The Myroure of Our Ladye as well. Although I did find a recording of music from the order of St. Bridget, the invitatory on the recording was different (that is, the non-Psalm 94 bits were a different text). – cnread Jan 28 '18 at 04:33
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@Penelope Can you post your comments as an answer? It would nicely complement the existing ones. Answering in a comment (especially as completely as you did) is against SE policy, and I am obligated to delete such comments. (I will give you some time though; this is not the fastest-paced site in the network.) – Joonas Ilmavirta Jan 28 '18 at 21:22
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1@JoonasIlmavirta I'm surprised by your interpretation of SE policy. On other SE sites, Penelope's valuable contribution would be deemed "not an answer" because it doesn't actually provide the requested transcription of the text. – Michael Kay Jan 28 '18 at 23:17
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@JoonasIlmavirta Done. I originally posted it as a comment for the same reasons Michael Kay gives - it doesn't actually answer the question but was more of an interesting aside. I didn't realise there was a policy against doing that. To be honest, I feel a little silly posting it as an answer because it clearly isn't one; people will think I haven't understood what was being asked :( – Penelope Jan 29 '18 at 00:31
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@MichaelKay The transcript was already provided in another answer, but that answer was lacking in context. Providing such extra context would be a useful answer in my view. A partial answer, yes, but still an answer. I admit that my comment was written a little hastily, but the point is that significant contributions should rather be given in answers than comments. Comments can be cleaned out (by either local mods or SE staff (both do happen)), and comments are harder to find and interpret to outsiders. – Joonas Ilmavirta Jan 29 '18 at 00:35
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@Penelope My original comment didn't come across quite as well as intended... Your comments were in the direction of an answer, but I agree it's debatable whether they actually constitute one. We've been discussing methods to reduce answers given as comments, and I may have overshot here. I tend to view comments as something transient whose permanence should not be relied on, and my point was that your comment was too valuable information to be wasted. Sorry for making this complicated and being grumpy! – Joonas Ilmavirta Jan 29 '18 at 00:41
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@JoonasIlmavirta No worries :) This and your reply to Michael Kay explain the reasons well. Perhaps I'll change my intro to the answer, making it clear that it's an adjunct to the previous answers. – Penelope Jan 29 '18 at 00:49
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The text says:
Trinum deum et unum pronis men-
tibus adoremus virginique matri
gratulantibus animis iugiter iubilemus.
Venite exultemus domino iubilemus de-
o salutari nostro praeoccupemus faciem e-
ius in confessione et in psalmis iubilemus
ei. Quoniam deus magnus dominus
et rex magnus super omnes deos quoniam
I failed to find this specific text anywhere, but it certainly looks like some kind of a chant with elements pulled from the Psalms. The individual parts starting with capital letters might have different origins. Perhaps someone else can point you to the source(s).
brianpck
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Joonas Ilmavirta
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Lines 4 and following are Psalm 94. As to lines 1–3, I believe what we have is an example of an antiphon, where a bit of chant that is extraneous to a psalm precedes, follows, and sometimes (I believe) is also repeated between the verses of that psalm. Specifically, this should be an example of an invitatory, since it uses Psalm 94. The details from the courses in early music that I took as an undergrad are a bit sketchy, unfortunately, but I just found this nice-looking illustrated guide.
cnread
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In addition to the above answers, the following may provide some further background to your text.
Following the trail to Trinity College, Dublin, I found the text online. The caption reads (in part): "This manuscript was created for the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, also known as the Bridgettines, a monastic order of Augustinian nuns." It dates from the 15th century, second half. You can see it (and the rest of the exhibition) here.
The anitphon (lines 1-3) seems to be unusual, even perhaps unique to this order, because all my Googling of it kept taking me back to them and to a book called "Myroure of Our Ladye", a book of instructions for the nuns. I mention this because you said you wanted to find a recording. But while the Venite/Psalm 94 itself is widely recorded, I couldn't find versions with this antiphon. But now we know the specific order that used this psalter, perhaps you could find it.
Penelope
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