Presumably, you refer to the well‐known musical version of the Our Father by Albert Hay Malotte, which has the soaring doxology at the end: “For thine is the Kingdom and the power and glory for ever and ever. Amen”
Liturgically, this presents two problems. One is the translation of the doxology, which though the difference is minor, is at variance with the approved Catholic translation. The second problem is that the musical arrangement does not reasonably allow the celebrant to proclaim or sing what is known as the “embolism,” the prayer that begins “Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant peace in our days….” This is because the musical arrangement of the Malotte Our Father is reaching a climax and moves right into the doxology. To stop the song at that moment and have the celebrant recite the embolism is clumsy at best, and does dishonor to the musical setting as well. It is almost like stopping the National Anthem at its musical climax “For the land of the free…!” and inserting a verbal interjection. It just doesn’t work well. Hence, when the Malott Our Father is proposed for use in the Catholic Mass it is usually sung straight through. But this is improper liturgically. Thus, beautiful though it is, the Malotte Our Father cannot reasonably be used during the Mass. It would seem that it can, however, be used in other liturgical settings with minor adaptions, since in those liturgies the embolism is not required. |
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