The Communio for the Feast of the Transfiguration: Visiónem quam vidístis ("The Vision you have seen")

The Communio for the August 6 Feast of the Transfiguration is the lovely Visiónem quam vidístis:



This beautiful chant is also the Communion song for the second Sunday of Lent; at one time the Transfiguration was celebrated on that day.  The August 6 Feast is relatively recent in the West.

The text comes from Matthew 17:9. a passage that immediately follows the story of the Transfiguration on the Mountain in that Gospel:

Visionem quam vidistis, nemini dixeritis,
donec a mortuis resurgat filius Hominis.

Tell the vision you have seen to no man,
till the Son of man be risen from the dead.

 Here's the chant score:

Transfiguration has been celebrated at different times and dates throughout history, but in the West the August 6 date was fixed in 1456. Here's a bit from the Wikipedia article about the feast:

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus is celebrated by various Christian denominations. The origins of the feast are less than certain and may have derived from the dedication of three basilicas on Mount Tabor.^[1] The feast was present in various forms by the 9th century, and in the Western Church was made a universal feast on August 6th by Pope Callixtus III to commemorate the raising of the Siege of Belgrade (1456).^[2]
 
In the Syriac Orthodox, Indian Orthodox, Revised Julian calendars within Eastern Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, and Anglican churches, the Feast of the Transfiguration is observed on 6 August. In those Orthodox churches which continue to follow the Julian Calendar, August 6 falls on August 19 of the Gregorian Calendar. The Transfiguration is considered a major feast, numbered among the twelve Great Feasts in Orthodoxy. In all these churches, if the feast falls on a Sunday, its liturgy is not combined with the Sunday liturgy, but completely replaces it.

 
Here's the section about Transfiguration's significance in the East, from the same page:

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Transfiguration falls during the Dormition Fast, but in recognition of the feast the fast is relaxed somewhat and the consumption of fish, wine and oil is allowed on this day.

In the Orthodox view the Transfiguration is not only a feast in honor of Jesus, but a feast of the Holy Trinity, for all three Persons of the Trinity are interpreted as being present at that moment: God the Father spoke from heaven; God the Son was the one being transfigured, and God the Holy Spirit was present in the form of a cloud. In this sense, the transfiguration is also considered the "Small Epiphany" (the "Great Epiphany" being the Baptism of Jesus, when the Holy Trinity appeared in a similar pattern).

The Transfiguration is ranked as one of the Twelve Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical calendar, and is celebrated with an All-Night Vigil beginning on the eve of the Feast.

Grapes are traditionally brought to church to be blessed after the Divine Liturgy on the day of the Transfiguration. If grapes are not available in the area, apples or some other fruit may be brought. This begins the "Blessing of First Fruits" for the year.

The Transfiguration is the second of the "Three Feasts of the Saviour in August", the other two being the Procession of the Cross on August 1 and the Icon of Christ Not Made by Hand on August 16. The Transfiguration is preceded by a one-day Forefeast and is followed by an Afterfeast of eight days, ending the day before the Forefeast of the Dormition.

In Eastern Orthodox theology, the Tabor Light is the light revealed on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration of Jesus, identified with the light seen by Paul on the road to Damascus.

The article also notes that Transfiguration is one of the "Luminous mysteries" of the rosary, chosen as such by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

And from another Transfiguration page:

The theology of the Transfiguration received the attention of the Church Fathers since the very early days. In the 2nd century, Saint Irenaeus was fascinated by the Transfiguration and wrote: "the glory of God is a live human being and a truly human life is the vision of God".^[25]

Origen's theology of the Transfiguration influenced the patristic tradition and became a basis for theological writings by others.^[26] Among other issues, given the instruction to the apostles to keep silent about what they had seen until the Resurrection, Origen commented that the glorified states of the Transfiguration and the Resurrection must be related.^[26]

The Desert Fathers emphasized the light of the ascetic experience, and related it to the light of the Transfiguration – a theme developed further by Evagrius Ponticus in the 4th century.^[26] Around the same time Saint Gregory of Nyssa and later Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite were developing a "theology of light" which then influenced Byzantine meditative and mystical traditions such as the Tabor light and theoria.^[26] The iconography of the Transfiguration continued to develop in this time period, and there is a sixth-century symbolic representation in the apse of the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe and a well known depiction at Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai in Egypt.^[27]

Byzantine Fathers often relied on highly visual metaphors in their writings, indicating that they may have been influenced by the established iconography.^[28] The extensive writings of Maximus the Confessor may have been shaped by his contemplations on the katholikon at Saint Catherine's Monastery – not a unique case of a theological idea appearing in icons long before it appears in writings.^[28]

In the 7th century, Saint Maximus the Confessor said that the senses of the apostles were transfigured to enable them to perceive the true glory of Christ.^[29] In the same vein, building on 2 Corinthians 3:18, by the end of the 13th century the concept of "transfiguration of the believer" had stabilized and Saint Gregory Palamas considered "true knowledge of God" to be a transfiguration of man by the Spirit of God.^[30] The spiritual transfiguration of the believer then continued to remain a theme for achieving a closer union with God.^[18][31]

One of the generalizations of Christian belief has been that the Eastern Church emphasizes the Transfiguration while the Western Church focuses on the Crucifixion – however, in practice both branches continue to attach significance to both events, although specific nuances continue to persist.^[32] An example of such a nuance is the saintly signs of the Imitation of Christ. Unlike Catholic saints such as Padre Pio or Francis (who considered stigmata a sign of the imitation of Christ) Eastern Orthodox saints have never reported stigmata, but saints such as Seraphim and Silouan have reported being transfigured by an inward light of grace.

August 6 is also the anniversary of the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II - a sad commentary on the human condition, indeed.  (And as noted above, the Feast itself was made universal as a commemoration of a victory in battle.)



Here are all the chants for the day, from ChristusRex.org:

In Transfiguratione Domini

Introitus: Ps. 26, 8.9 et 1 Tibi dixit cor meum (cum Gloria Patri) (2m59.6s - 2808 kb)
Graduale: Ps. 44, 3 et 2 Speciosus forma (4m20.2s - 4068 kb) score
Alleluia: Sap. 7, 26 Candor est lucis æternæ (2m36.223s - 1223 kb) score
Offertorium: Ps. 8, 6.7 Gloria et honore (1m22.047s - 643 kb) score
Communio: Mt. 17, 9 Visionem (2m36.4s - 2446 kb) score

Here are posts about chant propers for this day on Chantblog:

• The Introit for the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6):  Tibi dixit cor meum quaesivi vultum tuum
• The Gradual for the Feast of the Transfiguration: Speciosus forma
• The Alleluia for the Feast of the Transfiguration:  Candor est lucis æternæ 
• The Communio for the Feast of the Transfiguration:  Visiónem quam vidístis ("The Vision you have seen")
• Office hymns On the Feast of the Transfiguration (August 6)

This icon comes from the Novgorod school, 15th century (see this page).

The Akathist hymn of St. John the Baptist

For today's Feast of the Nativity of St. John Baptist, here's a recording of an Akathist hymn to John;  the video is 51 minutes long!



According to OrthodoxWiki:

An akathist (Greek, akathistos) is a hymn dedicated to a saint, holy event, or one of the persons of the Holy Trinity. The word akathist itself means "not sitting." The akathist par excellence is that written in the 6th century to the Theotokos. In its use as part of the Salutations to the Theotokos service (used in the Byzantine tradition during Great Lent), it is often known by its Greek or Arabic names, Chairetismoi and Madayeh, respectively.

The writing of akathists (occasionally spelled acathist) continues today as part of the general composition of an akolouthia, especially in the Slavic tradition, although not all are widely known nor translated beyond the original language. Isaac E. Lambertsen has done a large amount of translation work, including many different akathists. Most of the newer akathists are pastiche, that is, a generic form imitating the original 6th century akathist into which a particular saint's name is inserted.

I've not been able to find the words so far, but continue to search....

"Festival Te Deum in E": Benjamin Britten

In honor of the Sunday of the Trinity, here's the Guildford Cathedral Choir singing this piece; pretty dramatic! 



Some parishes sing the Te Deum at the end of the mass on Trinity Sunday; at St. Mary's, two thurifers stand at each end of the altar and swing their thuribles throughout.   Always wonderful, and I highly recommend this to anybody.  The smoke swirls up, up, up....

In my new parish, we've been singing the Te Deum (#S205 in the 1982) in place of the Gloria all throughout Easter; I've never seen that done before, but I like it.

Here, apparently, is Arvo Pärt's Te Deum - and as with everything else I've heard of his, I find it extremely compelling and beautiful.  It's 32 minutes long!



The YouTuber writes that the performers are the Akademisk Kor and the Akademisk Orkester, with Nenia Zenana conducting and Marianne G. Nielsen, solist.  S/he also writes that:

Te Deum employs Pärt's signature tintinnabuli compositional style. Tintinnabuli is often described as a minimalistic compositional technique, as its harmonic logic departs from that of the tonal tradition of Western classical music, creating its own distinct harmonic system. Tintinnabulation is a process in which a chosen triad encircles a melody, manifesting itself in specific positions in relation to the melody according to a predetermined scheme of adjacency. In its most rudimentary form, Pärt's tintinnabuli music is composed of two main voices: one carries the usually stepwise melody (M-voice) while the other follows the trajectory of the melody but is limited to notes of a specific triad (T-voice.) In the case of Te Deum, it is a D triad that is featured in the T-voice, and as such provides the harmonic basis for the entire piece.

The work is scored for three choirs (women's choir, men's choir, and mixed choir), prepared piano, divisi strings, and wind harp. According to the Universal Edition full score, the piano part requires that four pitches be prepared with metal screws and calls for "as large a concert grand as possible" and "amplified." The wind harp is similar to the Aeolian Harp, its strings vibrating due to wind passing through the instrument. Manfred Eicher of ECM Records "recorded this 'wind music' on tape and processed it acoustically." The two notes (D and A) performed on the wind harp are to be played on two separate CD or DAT recordings. According to the score preface, the wind harp functions as a drone throughout the piece, fulfilling "a function comparable to that of the ison in Byzantine church music, a repeated note which does not change pitch."

Here's the Gregorian Chant version - the Solemn Te Deum - sung here by the monks at Solesmes:




Here are all the words, in Latin and English, from Wikipedia:

Latin text

Translation from the Book of Common Prayer

Te Deum laudámus: te Dominum confitémur. Te ætérnum Patrem omnis terra venerátur. Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi coeli et univérsae potestátes. Tibi Chérubim et Séraphim incessábili voce proclámant: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus Sábaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra majestátis glóriæ tuæ. Te gloriósus Apostolórum chorus; Te Prophetárum laudábilis númerus; Te Mártyrum candidátus laudat exércitus. Te per orbem terrárum sancta confitétur Ecclésia: Patrem imménsæ majestátis; Venerándum tuum verum et únicum Fílium; Sanctum quoque Paráclitum Spíritum. Tu Rex glóriæ, Christe. Tu Patris sempitérnus es Fílius. Tu ad liberándum susceptúrus hóminem, non horruísti Vírginis úterum. Tu, devícto mortis acúleo, aperuísti credéntibus regna coelórum. Tu ad déxteram Dei sedes, in glória Patris. Judex créderis esse ventúrus. Te ergo quǽsumus, tuis fámulis súbveni, quos pretióso sánguine redemísti. Ætérna fac cum sanctis tuis in glória numerári. [added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] Salvum fac pópulum tuum, Dómine, et bénedic hæreditáti tuæ. Et rege eos, et extólle illos usque in ætérnum. Per síngulos dies benedícimus te. Et laudámus nomen tuum in sǽculum, et in sǽculum sǽculi. Dignáre, Dómine, die isto sine peccáto nos custodíre. Miserére nostri, Dómine, miserére nostri. Fiat misericórdia tua, Dómine, super nos, quemádmodum sperávimus in te. In te, Dómine, sperávi: non confúndar in ætérnum.

We praise thee, O God :     we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee :     the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud :     the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :     continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy :     Lord God of Hosts; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :     of thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world :     doth acknowledge thee; The Father : of an infinite Majesty; Thine honourable, true : and only Son; Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :     thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :     thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :     whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting. [added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] O Lord, save thy people :     and bless thine heritage. Govern them : and lift them up for ever. Day by day : we magnify thee; And we worship thy Name : ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :     as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted :     let me never be confounded.

The Introit for Pentecost Ember Friday: Repleatur os Meum ("Let my mouth be filled with your praise")

Here's a recording of this beautiful introit, sung by the "Choralschola of the Niederaltaicher Scholaren":



The text is taken from various verses of Psalm 71:

Repleatur os meum laude tua, Domine. Alleluia.
Ut possim cantare. Alleluia.
Gaudebunt labia mea dum cantavero tibi. Alleluia.
In te, Domine, speravi,
non confundar in aeternum:
in iustitia tua libera me (et eripe me).

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, O Lord. Hallelujah.
That I may sing. Hallelujah.
My lips shall rejoice when I sing to you. Hallelujah.
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be confounded:
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me.

And what is "Pentecost Ember Friday," you ask?  Here's an explanation from the Catholic Encyclopeida of 1913; my bolding below:

Ember days (corruption from Lat. Quatuor Tempora, four times) are the days at the beginning of the seasons ordered by the Church as days of fast and abstinence. They were definitely arranged and prescribed for the entire Church by Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085) for the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after 13 December (S. Lucia), after Ash Wednesday, after Whitsunday, and after 14 September (Exaltation of the Cross). The purpose of their introduction, besides the general one intended by all prayer and fasting, was to thank God for the gifts of nature, to teach men to make use of them in moderation, and to assist the needy. The immediate occasion was the practice of the heathens of Rome. The Romans were originally given to agriculture, and their native gods belonged to the same class. At the beginning of the time for seeding and harvesting religious ceremonies were performed to implore the help of their deities: in June for a bountiful harvest, in September for a rich vintage, and in December for the seeding; hence their feriae sementivae, feriae messis, and feri vindimiales. The Church, when converting heathen nations, has always tried to sanctify any practices which could be utilized for a good purpose. At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December; the exact days were not fixed but were announced by the priests. The "Liber Pontificalis" ascribes to Pope Callistus (217-222) a law ordering the fast, but probably it is older. Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Gelasius (492-496) speaks of all four. This pope also permitted the conferring of priesthood and deaconship on the Saturdays of ember week--these were formerly given only at Easter. Before Gelasius the ember days were known only in Rome, but after his time their observance spread. They were brought into England by St. Augustine; into Gaul and Germany by the Carlovingians. Spain adopted them with the Roman Liturgy in the eleventh century. They were introduced by St. Charles Borromeo into Milan. The Eastern Church does not know them. The present Roman Missal, in the formulary for the Ember days, retains in part the old practice of lessons from Scripture in addition to the ordinary two: for the Wednesdays three, for the Saturdays six, and seven for the Saturday in December. Some of these lessons contain promises of a bountiful harvest for those that serve God.

Here's some of the entry for "Ember Days" from Wikipedia; unfortunately there's no mention of the very important purpose described in bold in the entry above:

In the liturgical calendar of the Western Christian churches, Ember days are four separate sets of three days within the same week — specifically, the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday — roughly equidistant in the circuit of the year, that were formerly set aside for fasting and prayer. These days set apart for special prayer and fasting were considered especially suitable for the ordination of clergy. The Ember Days are known in Latin as the quattuor anni tempora (the "four seasons of the year"), or formerly as the jejunia quattuor temporum ("fasts of the four seasons").

The four quarterly periods during which the ember days fall are called the embertides.

Ember Weeks

The Ember Weeks—the weeks in which the Ember Days occur—are the weeks:

• between the third and fourth Sundays of Advent (although the Common Worship lectionary of the Church of England places them in the week following the second Sunday in Advent);
• between the first and second Sundays of Lent;
• between Pentecost and Trinity Sunday; and
• the week beginning on the Sunday after Holy Cross Day (September 14), the liturgical Third Week of September.

Origins

The origins of the observance are open to considerable debate. Some hold that the concept of the observance predates the Christian era, and that since Ember days have never been observed in the Eastern Churches, any pagan origins must lie in the west.^{[citation needed]} Some point to specific Celtic origins, linked to the Celtic custom of observing various festivals at three-month intervals: Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain. In any event, the ancient Christian church often sought to co-opt pagan feasts and reorient them to different purposes, and that seems to have been applicable in this instance^{[citation needed]}.

In pagan Rome offerings were made to various gods and goddesses of agriculture in the hope that the deities would provide a bountiful harvest (the feriae messis in July), a rich vintage (the feriae vindimiales in September), or a productive seeding (the feriae sementivae in December). At first the Church in Rome had fasts in June, September, and December. The Liber Pontificalis ascribes to Pope Callixtus I (217-222) a law regulating the fast, although Leo the Great (440-461) considers it an Apostolic institution. When the fourth season was added cannot be ascertained, but Pope Gelasius I (492-496) speaks of all four.

The earliest mention of four seasonal fasts is known from the writings of Philastrius, bishop of Brescia (died ca 387) (De haeres. 119). He also connects them with the great Christian festivals.

The Christian observation of this seasonal observance of the Ember days had its origin as an ecclesiastical ordinance in Rome and spread from there to the rest of the Western Church. They were known as the jejunium vernum, aestivum, autumnale and hiemale, so that to quote Pope Leo's words (A.D. 440 - 461) the law of abstinence might apply to every season of the year. In Leo's time, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were already days of special observance. In order to tie them to the fasts preparatory to the three great festivals of Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, a fourth needed to be added "for the sake of symmetry" as the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911 has it.

From Rome the Ember days gradually spread unevenly through the whole of Western Christendom. In Gaul they do not seem to have been generally recognized much before the 8th century.

Their observation in Britain, however, was embraced earlier than in Gaul or Spain, interestingly, and Christian sources connect the Ember Days observations with Augustine of Canterbury, AD. 597, said to be acting under the direct authority of Pope Gregory the Great. The precise dates appears to have varied considerably however, and in some cases, quite significantly, the Ember Weeks lost their connection with the Christian festivals altogether. Spain adopted them with the Roman rite in the eleventh century. Charles Borromeo introduced them into Milan in the sixteenth century.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church ember days have never been observed.^[1]

Timing

The Ordo Romanus fixed the spring fast in the first week of March (then the first month), thus loosely associated with the first Sunday in Lent; the summer fast in the second week of June, after Whitsunday; the autumnal fast in the third week of September following the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14; and the winter fast in the complete week next before Christmas Eve, following St. Lucy's Day (Dec. 13).

Other regulations prevailed in different countries, until the inconveniences arising from the want of uniformity led to the rule now observed being laid down under Pope Urban II as the law of the church, at the Council of Piacenza and the Council of Clermont, 1095.
These dates are given in the following mnemonic:

Dant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia

Ut sit in angariâ quarta sequens feria

Or in an old English rhyme

"Fasting days and Emberings be

Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie."

Another way to remember it, in the form in which I've heard it recently:  "Lenty, Penty, Crucy, Lucy"!

More from the article:

The ember days began on the Wednesday immediately following those days.

^.....

They may appear in some calendars as "days of prayer for peace".^[4]

....

Etymology

The English name for these days, "Ember", derives from the Anglo-Saxon ymbren, a circuit or revolution (from ymb, around, and ryne, a course, running), clearly relating to the annual cycle of the year. The occurrence of the Anglo-Saxon compounds ymbren-tid ("Embertide"), ymbren-wucan ("Ember weeks"), ymbren-fisstan ("Ember fasts"), ymbren-dagas ("Ember days") makes this etymology quite certain. The word imbren even makes it into the acts of the "Council of Ænham"^[6] (1009): jejunia quatuor tempora quae imbren vocant, "the fasts of the four seasons which are called "imbren'".^[7] It corresponds also with Pope Leo the Great's definition, jejunia ecclesiastica per totius anni circulum distributa ("fasts of the church distributed through the whole circuit of the year").

However, others maintain that the term is derived from the Latin quatuor tempora, meaning "four times" (a year), while folk etymology even cites the phrase "may ye remember (the inevitability of death)" as the source. J. M. Neale's Essays of Liturgiology (1863), Chapter X, explains the etymology:

"The Latin name has remained in modern languages, though the contrary is sometimes affirmed, Quatuor Tempora, the Four Times. In French and Italian the term is the same; in Spanish and Portuguese they are simply Temporas. The German converts them into Quatember, and thence, by the easy corruption of dropping the first syllable, a corruption which also takes place in some other words, we get the English Ember. Thus, there is no occasion to seek after an etymology in embers; or with Nelson, to extravagate still further to the noun ymbren, a recurrence, as if all holy seasons did not equally recur. Ember-week in Wales is Welsh: "Wythnos y cydgorian", meaning "the Week of the Processions". In mediæval Germany they were called Weihfasten, Wiegfastan, Wiegefasten, or the like, on the general principle of their sanctity.... We meet with the term Frohnfasten, frohne being the then word for travail. Why they were named foldfasten it is less easy to say."

"Quattuor tempora" was rendered into Irish quite literally as Laethanta na gCeithre Thráth, meaning "the days of the four times", and into somewhat archaic English as "Quarter tense".

This is a beautiful setting of the Introit text composed by Jacquet de Mantua, a name new to me.



This is actually a shorter take on Psalm 70/71, including only vv. 7-8 (note that the numbering system for the verses in this Psalm varies from translation to translation):

Repleatur os meum laude, ut cantem gloriam tuam, tota die magnitudinem tuam.
Ne projicias me in tempore senectutis; cum defecerit virtus mea, ne derelinquas me.

Let my mouth be filled with your praise, and I will sing a hymn to your glory and magnificence all day long.
Do not reject me in the time of old age; do not abandon me when my strength fails.

The YouTube page lists this group of singers:

Paolo Costa y Claudio Cavina, contratenores.
Fabio Fùrnari y Giuseppe Maletto, tenores.
Marco Scavazza, barítono.
Marcello Vargetto, bajo.
Delitiae Musicae.
Marco Longhini.

And Wikipedia says this about de Mantua in its intro; there is more at the link:

Jacquet of Mantua (Jacques Colebault, dit Jachet de Mantoue) (1483 – October 2, 1559) was a French^[1] composer of the Renaissance, who spent almost his entire life in Italy. He was an influential member of the generation between Josquin and Palestrina, and represents well the transitional polyphonic style between those two composers.

The Communion Song for Pentecost: Factus est repente de caelo sonus ("Suddenly there came a sound from heaven")

The Communio for Pentecost is taken from the story from Acts 2 of the original day of Pentecost; no word on who the singers are here:




CPDL has the Latin text for this chant, plus an English translation by "the St. Ann choir":

Factus est repente de coelo sonus,
tamquam advenientis spiritus vehementis ubi erant sedentes,
alleluia;
et repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto,
loquentes magnalia Dei,
alleluia, alleluia.

Suddenly there came a sound from heaven,
as of a mighty wind coming where they were sitting,
alleluia;
and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
speaking the wonderful works of God,
alleluia, alleluia.

Here's the full score:

Here's another video of this, sung in a bit of a different style; very pretty:



The video was uploaded by "La Mission de la Maison du Coeur" - about which I am trying to find more.  Not sure if the singers are somehow related to that group or not.


Here's a polyphonic version of the song; the composer is Gregor Aichinger, who lived during the 16th Century. The singers are the Ensemble Vocale di Venezia (dir: Gianandrea Pauletta).




Don't forget to read Full Homely Divinity's Pentecost entry!  And whatever you do, don't forget to sing The Pentecost Sequence (Veni, Sancte Spiritus) and "Come Down, O Love Divine".  And that's not even to mention Veni Creator Spiritus!  The Holy Spirit certainly inspires some spectacular music.

Here are links to all the propers on the day, from the Benedictines of Brazil:

Dominica Pentecostes ad Missam in die

Introitus:  Spiritus Domini (cum Gloria Patri)(5m07.0s - 4798 kb)  view score
Alleluia: Emitte Spiritum tuum (1m55.4s - 1806 kb)  view score
Alleluia: Veni, Sancte Spiritus (2m02.9s - 1922 kb)  view score
Sequentia: Veni, Sancte Spiritus (2m29.7s - 2341 kb)  view score
Offertorium: Confirma hoc, Deus (1m35.3s - 1491 kb)  view score
Communio: Factus est repente (1m16.3s - 1195 kb)  view score
Ad dimittendum populum: Ite missa est (28.7s - 451 kb)  view score

And here are Chantblog posts on the Pentecost propers:

• The Introit for the Day of Pentecost: Spiritus Domini ("The Spirit of the Lord")
• Alleluia, Emitte Spiritum Tuum ("Send forth Thy Spirit") - an Alleluia for Pentecost
• Alleluja, Veni Sancte Spiritus ("Come Holy Spirit"), the second Alleluia for Pentecost
• The Pentecost Sequence (Veni, Sancte Spiritus)
• The Communion Song for Pentecost:  Factus est repente de caelo sonus ("Suddenly there came a sound from heaven")
• The Sarum Pentecost Office

Here's a beautiful, delicate piece of Pentecost art I haven't seen before: it's "tempera and gold on parchment," from a "Bohemian Master (1400 - 1425)."  It currently resides in the Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest).

Veni, Sancte Spiritus....

The Ascension Antiphon on the Magnificat: O Rex Gloriae

While working on my last post, "Vespers for the Feast of the Ascension: Hymnus: Salutis humanae Sator," I noticed something really fascinating.

Listen to this recording of the Ascension Antiphon on the Magnificat, O Rex Gloriae, and see what you notice:



Here's the chant score, from the Liber Usualis:

Does this remind you of anything?   It should.

Now listen to this recording of O Rex Gentium, the Great O Antiphon (that is, the Antiphon on the Magnificat) for December 22 (December 21 in Anglican reckoning):




Here's the chant score for that one:

There's no doubt about it; O Rex Gloriae is a deliberate echo - it even starts with a "Great O"!  - of the Great O Antiphons sung at Advent in the days leading up to Christmas.

Put another way:  the Great O's are sung at Christ's coming;and O Rex Gloriae is sung at Christ's going. 

I truly love discovering this kind of thing....