TONUS PEREGRINUS

In the musical tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, Psalms 114 & 115 are treated as one psalm, with its own special chant, called Tonus Peregrinus (the wandering tone). There are two explanations for this name, one musical and the other literary.  The musical explanation is that in this chant (unlike most others) the verse-halves are sung and concluded on different pitches, the second half-verse one full step lower than the first.  The pitch "wanders", so to speak.  The literary explanation of the name Tonus Peregrinus is that Psalm 114 tells of the wandering of Israel.

The Gregorian Tonus Peregrinus is strikingly similar to certain traditional Jewish chants for Psalm 114, notably the one that Lithuanian Jews have used on Passover (v. E. Werner The Sacred Bridge, p. 448 et passim.)  It may be, as Werner claims, that the Jewish use of this chant is very old, even two thousand years old, and is evidence of the common musical origins of some Jewish and Christian lithurgical music.

Transliteration Ps. 114 English translation Ps. 114 Vulgate Ps. 114 
1  betset yisra'el mimitsrayim,
beit ya'akov me'am lo'ez.
2  haytah ye'hudah lekodsho,
yisra'el mamshelotav.
3  hayam ra'ah vayanos,
hayarden yisov le'ahor.
4  heharim  rakdu khe'elim,
geva'ot kivnei tson.
5   mah lekha hayam ki tanus,
hayarden tisov le'ahor?
6  heharim tirkedu khe'elim
geva'ot kivnei tson?
7  milifnei adon huli arets,
milifnei elo'ah ya'akov.
8  hahofkhi hatsur agam mayim,
halamish lemayno mayim.

1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a strange nation,
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw and fled,
the Jordan turned back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, 
the hills like young sheep.
5 What was with you, sea, that you fled? And you, Jordan, that you turned back?
6 Mountains, that you skipped 
like rams? Hills, like young sheep?
7 Before the Lord, tremble,  earth! 
before the god of Jacob.
8 Who turned the rock into a lake,
and the stone into a water-source.

1  In exitu Israel de Aegypto,	domus Jacob de populo barbaro,
2  facta est Judaea sanctificatio eius,
Israel potestas eius.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit;
Jordanis conversus est retrorsum.
4  Montes exsultaverunt ut arietes
et colles sicut agni ovium.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugisti?
et tu, Jordanis, quia conversus es retrorsum? 6  Montes, exsultastis sicut arietes? 
et colles, sicut agni ovium?
7  A facie Domini mota est terra, 
a facie Dei Jacob;
8 qui convertit petram in stagna aquarum, et rupem in fontes aquarum.
English translation Ps. 115 Vulgate Ps. 115 
1  Not to us O lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for your mercy and for your truth's sake. 
2  Why should the heathen say, where is their god? 
3  But our god is in heaven; he has done whatever he has willed. 4  The nations' idols are silver and gold,the work of men's hands. 5  They have mouths but speak not: 
they have eyes but see not.  
6  They have ears but hear not: they have noses but smell not. 
7  They have hands but handle not: they have feet but walk not: nor do they speak through their throat.  
8  They that make them are like unto them; 
so are all who have trusted in them.
9  Israel has trusted in the Lord; 
he is their help and their shield.
10 The house of Aaron has trusted in the Lord:  
he is their help and their shield.
11 Those who fear the Lord have trusted in the Lord:
he is their help and their shield.               
12 The Lord has been mindful of us and has blessed us:  
he has blessed the house of Israel and the house of Aaron.
13 He has blessed those that fear the Lord,
both small and great.
14 The Lord shall increase you more and more, 
you and your children. 
15 You are blessed by the Lord who made heaven and earth.  
16 The heavens are the Lord's heavens: 
but the earth he has given to people.
17 The dead will not praise the Lord, 
nor those that go down into silence.
18 But we will bless the Lord
from this time forth and for evermore.
 
1  Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam, super misericordia tua et veritate tua; 
2  nequando dicant gentes: Ubi est deus eorum?
3  Deus autem noster in caelo; omnia quaecumque voluit fecit.
4  Simulacra gentium argentum et aurum, opera manuum hominum.
5  Os habent, et non loquentur, oculos habent, et non videbunt.
6  Aures habent, et non audient; nares habent, et non odorabunt. 7  Manus habent, et non palpabunt; pedes habent, et non ambulabunt; non clamabunt in gutture suo.
8  Similes illis fiant qui faciunt ea, 
et omnes qui confidunt in eis.
9  Domus Israel speravit in Domino; 
adjutor eorum et protector eorum est. 
10  Domus Aaron speravit in Domino; 
adjutor eorum et protector eorum est. 
11  Qui timent Dominum speraverunt in Domino; 
adjutor eorum et protector eorum est.
12  Dominus memor fuit nostri, et benedixit nobis. 
Benedixit domui Israel; benedixit domui Aaron.
13  Benedixit omnibus qui timent Dominum,
pusillis cum majoribus. 
14  Adjiciat Dominus super vos, 
super vos et super filios vestros.
15  Benedicti vos a Domino, qui fecit caelum et terram.
16  Caelum caeli Domino; terram autem dedit filiis hominum.

17  Non mortui laudabunt te, Domine; neque omnes qui descendunt in infernum.
18  Sed nos qui vivimus  benedicimus Domino, 
ex hoc nunc, et usque in saeculum.

OTHER MUSICAL SETTINGS