Brush up your rubrics: Getting ready for Advent Part I - Prime and Compline in Advent

I want to offer a short series of notes and links on the Office of Advent to encourage you to start preparing now.

Advent is easily the most complex period when it comes to saying the Office, due to the mix of texts that need to be juggled for the season, week of Advent, day of the week and date.  But on the positive side, Advent also includes some of the most beautiful texts and chants in the repertoire, which are well worth learning.

Accordingly, today a look at Compline and Prime, which are relatively straightforward.

Compline

At Compline, apart from chant tones, the only change is in the Marian antiphon, which becomes Alma Redemptoris Mater.

For the psalms, the most commonly utilised chant tone is actually the one (in directum) that appears in most chant books (I haven't been able to find the other seasonal tones in a printed book - do let me know if you know of a good source for these!).  You can get a feel for it by listening to one of the archived podcasts from Le Barroux).

For the hymn tone, you can listen to Te lucis ante terminum sung to the Advent tone (page 183 in the Antiphonale Monasticum) over at Liber Hynarius.

For the Marian antiphon, on weekdays use the simple tone:



On Saturdays, Sundays and major feasts, the Solemn tone.  Here it is sung by the nuns of Argentan:

Prime

The key change to Prime is that instead of the normal antiphons for each day of the week, there are antiphons for each week of Advent (up to December 16), and then each day of the week (December 17-23).

Up to and including December 16

Up until December 16, the antiphon for Prime (except where displaced by feasts) is the first antiphon of Lauds on Sunday.

So for week I of Advent, the antiphon is In illa die; in week 2 of Advent, Ecce in nubibus caeli.

As well as under Sundays in Advent, you can also find them in the section that sets out the Ordinary of Advent, on MD 13* (right at the front of the Diurnal).

The psalms (of each day of the week), chapter, versicles and collect all stay as usual.

The text of the hymn remains unchanged (Iam lucis), but there is an Advent hymn tone to use - the tone is the same for all of the hymns from Prime to None, and you can find it in the Antiphonale Monasticum. 

December 17-23

Between December 17 and 23, there is a different antiphon for each day of the week, and you can find these on pages 37*-40*.

The antiphon for Prime is, as usual, the first antiphon of Lauds.