Domine Rex, Deus, Abraham

Here is my suggested rendering of the supplicatory Responsory pro serenitate/pluviam, “Domine Rex, Deus, Abraham” in ELGB #273, evidently based on 1 Kings 18:36, 37, 45, a “prayer of the Christian congregation in time of need, for rain or fair weather.” This Latin text is in origin an ancient Antiphon for Litany processions which concluded with an Alleluia, and was evidently taken by Grabau from the Pomeranian Church Order, where it is found re-worked as a Responsory. Grabau indicates that the German version is found in the same Buffalo Synod hymnal as #435 (“Herr Gott, Schöpfer aller Dinge”). The English translation here is based on that of Blunt in his Annotated Book of Common Prayer. No melody is indicated in the hymnal for the Latin text, though the German designates “proper melody.” Grabau curiously numbers the phrases of the Responsory in the manner of hymn stanzas, and perhaps intends the whole to be spoken or sung in unison, or more likely, sung to the standard Agenda tones used for Responsorial singing otherwise (i.e., the versicle tone). As an illustration of the original Antiphon melody, I include that of Cantica Sacra, Magdeburg 1613 (Bezeli), which includes both options (serenitatem / pluviam):

 

℟. O LORD, King, God of Abraham, give us fair weather (or rain) over the face of the earth:
†. That this people may learn that Thou art the Lord our God.
℣. Arise, O Lord, deliver us and defend us for Thy name’s sake.
†. That this people may learn that Thou art the Lord our God.
Amen. 

LATIN

Domine Rex, Deus Abraham, dona nobis serenitatem (pluviam) super faciem terrae:

2 Ut discat populus iste, quia Tu es Dominus Deus noster.

3 Exsurge Domine, libera nos et protege nos propter nomen tuum.

4 Ut discat populus iste, &c. Amen.