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This Joyful Eastertide!

One of my absolute favorite things about the season!  A fantastic text and a glorious tune; we sang it at the Sequence this past Sunday:

This, from the YouTube page:

The words of this Easter carol was written by George R. Woodward (1848-1934) in 1894. The melody is Dutch and fist showed up in the 1680s.

The arrangement from 1901 is by the Irish composer Charles Wood. He studied with Stanford at the Royal College of Music in London, and he would himself become a Professor of Music there, where his pupils would include Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells.

Die deutsche Fassung stammt von Jürgen Henkys (1983). In wunderbarer Weise bringt es die Bilder des Osterevangeliums, den Ruf „denn nun ist er erstanden“ mit unserer eigenen Auferstehung in Beziehung. Die schwungvolle Melodie und die kraftvolle Aufwärtsbewegung beim „erstanden“ machen dieses Lied zu einem mitreißenden Osterjubel.

Happy Easter - Frohe Ostern !

This joyful Eastertide,
Away with sin and sorrow!
My Love, the Crucified,
Hath sprung to life this morrow.
Had Christ, that once was slain,
Ne'er burst his three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain:
But now hath Christ arisen.

My flesh in hope shall rest,
And for a season slumber:
Till trump from east to west,
Shall wake the dead in number.
Had Christ etc.

Death's flood hath lost its chill,
Since Jesus cross'd the river:
Lover of souls, from ill
My passing soul deliver.

(George Radcliffe Woodward, 1894)

Der schöne Ostertag!
Ihr Menschen, kommt ins Helle!
Christ, der begraben lag,
brach heut aus seiner Zelle.
Wär vorm Gefängnis noch der schwere Stein vorhanden,
so glaubten wir umsonst.
Doch nun ist er erstanden.

Was euch auch niederwirft,
Schuld, Krankheit, Flut und Beben –
er, den ihr lieben dürft, trug euer Kreuz ins Leben.
Läg er noch immer, wo die Frauen ihn nicht fanden,
so kämpften wir umsonst.

Muss ich von hier nach dort -
er hat den Weg erlitten.
Der Fluss reißt mich nicht fort, seit Jesus ihn durchschritten.
Wär er geblieben, wo des Todes Wellen branden,
so hofften wir umsonst.

(Jürgen Henkys, 1983)

The Cambridge Singers
Conducted by John Rutter

The score was created in Sibelius First (version 6.2), based on the edition in '100 carols for choirs' (Oxford University Press). Please note that Cambridge Singers sings the carol one semitone higher than reflected in the score.

And not only that!  We had this one, too, as the first hymn on the day:

1. He is risen, he is risen!
Tell it out with joyful voice:
he has burst his three days' prison;
let the whole wide earth rejoice:
Death is conquered, we are free,
Christ has won the victory.

2. Come, ye sad and fearful-hearted,
with glad smile and radiant brow!
Death's long shadows have departed;
Jesus' woes are over now,
and the passion that he bore,
sin and pain can vex no more.

*3. Come, with high and holy hymning,
hail our Lord's triumphant day;
not one darksome cloud is dimming
yonder glorious morning ray,
breaking o'ver the purple east,
symbol of our Easter feast.

Words: Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895), alt. Music: Unser Herrscher, Joachim Neander (1650-1580)

And this lovely thing, for Communion; people can sing the refrain - just "Alleluia, alleluia!" - as they walk forward, without needing the hymnal.  Beautiful and tuneful:

And this, for the final hymn; sung to the Christmas chant tune, Puer Nobis:

#193 from The Hymnal 1982: Closing Hymn for the Second Sunday of Easter at St. Bartholomew's, an Episcopal church in New York City on May 1, 2011.

This hymn is an English translation of the 5th century Ambrosian hymn "Aurora lucis rutilat". The translation is based on John M. Neale's 19th century text. The tune, "Puer Nobis", is a tune used for different hymns. Its origins lie in the 15th century Trier manuscript, adapted by Michael Praetorius in the 17th century, and harmonized by George Woodward in the 20th.

Really, sometimes I think I could go just for the music.  Lucky us!
Posted by bls at 4/21/2015 05:23:00 PM No comments: Labels: audio, easter, hymns, liturgy, video


The Second Alleluia for the 3rd Sunday in Easter: Oportebat Pati Christum ("It behoved Christ to suffer")

Here's this chant, beautifully sung by the Benedictine Nuns of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation, Le Barroux:

Here's the full chant score: Here's a literal-ish translation of this text:

It was necessary for Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead, and so to enter into his glory.

This Latin Vulgate/English translation of Luke 24:26 and Luke 24:46 shows how this text is a mashup of two different verses:

And this section of Luke, which follows on from the Year A reading for this Sunday describing the supper at Emmaus, is in fact read on this day; the action here, though, takes place back in Jerusalem:

Luke 24:36b-48

Jesus himself stood among the disciples and their companions and said to them, "Peace be with you." They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, "Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have." And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

The collect for today is this one, also read on Wednesday of Easter Week:

Hatchett's Commentary says, about the collect, that:

This is a revised version of the collect for the Monday in Easter Week of the 1928 Book, composed by the Rev. Dr. John W. Suter, St.  It is associated with the story of our Lord's appearance to the disciples at Emmaus after the resurrection , when He made Himself known "in the breaking of bread" (Lk 24:35).  The original form of the result clause read, "The we may behold thee in all thy works."  This collect is also appointed for the third Sunday of Easter.

The chant propers for the Easter season seem to have been shifted around quite a bit from the old, Tridentine, version.  Some of these chants were once used for the "Third Sunday after Easter," which I think means that the numbering system was different then as well.  I'll have to take a closer look at that at some point.

Here are a couple of images from a very interesting old chant book housed, I believe, in the Bamberg State Library in Germany.  This chant begins at the bottom of the first page here and continues at the top of the second: The book itself is quite unusual!  Here's a side-view image of its binding, followed by - if I'm not mistaken - images of its front and back covers. It looks to me like the book's covers are made of wood, and those are carved images.

I don't read German very well, so can't really follow what's being said there; I don't know what this book actually is - but I can make some guesses.   This page, at the (French) gregorien.info site, links to it and refers to it as "Bamberg, D-BAa lit. 7, Cantatorium de Seeon," which I think probably refers to "Kloster-Seeon," a one-time Benedictine monastery "in the municipality of Seeon-Seebruck in the rural district of Traunstein in Bavaria, Germany."

And, according to this page, "a ‘cantatorium’ is a book that contains the gradual and alleluia chants that a soloist would perform during the Mass."

More, I cannot tell you at this moment; if I do find out something else, I'll come back and post it, as always.

Posted by bls at 4/18/2015 11:22:00 PM No comments: 


The second Alleluia for the Sunday after Easter: Post dies octo ("After eight days")

Post dies octo is the beautiful 2nd (or "Greater") Alleluia for the Sunday after Easter:

Post dies octo, jánuis clausis, stetit Jesus in médio discipulórum suórum from Corpus Christi Watershed on Vimeo.

The text for this "Greater Alleluia" comes from John 20:26:

Allelúja.   Vs. Post dies octo, jánuis clausis, stetit Jesus in médio discipulórum suórum, et dixit: Pax vobis.  Allelúja.

Alleluia.  Vs. And after eight days, all the doors being shut, Jesus stood in the midst of his disciples and said: “Peace be with you.” Alleluia.

William Byrd (among others) set this text, labeled on this video as "Dominica in Albis, in Octava Paschae - Antiphona ad Magnificat" - i.e., the Antiphon upon Magnificat [at Vespers] for Dominica in Albis in the Easter Octave (that is, today, the Sunday after Easter).   Very pretty indeed!  Not sure who the singers are here, though.

(And sure enough, enter 4/12/2015 and click "Vesperae" at Divinum Officium, and you'll see it listed there as the Mag antiphon, both in Byrd's time and in our own.)

The readings for today, in Year B, are quite beautiful ones; the Gospel reading from John is read in all three years:

Acts 4:32-35

Psalm 133 Page 787, BCP

Ecce, quam bonum!

Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *
when brethren live together in unity!
It is like fine oil upon the head *
that runs down upon the beard,
Upon the beard of Aaron, *
and runs down upon the collar of his robe.
It is like the dew of Hermon *
that falls upon the hills of Zion.
For there the LORD has ordained the blessing: *
life for evermore.

1 John 1:1-2:2

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

John 20:19-31

The Collect for the day is the same one as used on Thursday in Easter week:

Hatchett's Commentary says, about this collect, that:

This collect, new to this Book, is also appointed for use after the seventh lesson in the Great Vigil of Easter and as the collect of the day on the second Sunday of Easter.  It dates to the Gregorian sacramentary (no. 423).  The translation is a revision of that by William Bright in Ancient Collects (pp. 56-57).  In the Gregorian sacramentary and the Sarum missal it is provided for the Friday of Easter Week.  It might be compared with the collect for the third Sunday after Easter in earlier Prayer Books.  The 1549 version reads:

Almighty God, which showest to all men that be in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; Grant unto all them that be admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion, that they may eschew those things that be contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as be agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ.

That collect was the initial collect for one of the April Masses of the Leonine sacramentary (no. 75), and of the Mass for the second Sunday after the paschal octave in the Gelasian sacramentary (no. 546) and the supplement to the Gregorian (no. 1117).

Hebdomada secunda paschæ

Here are Chantblog posts on some of these:

The Eastertide Office hymns are here.

Here's Duccio's beautiful "The Incredulity of st.Thomas," from his "Maesta Altarpiece," created in 1308. This is from the intro to the "Maesta Altarpiece" entry at Wikipedia:

The Maestà, or Maestà of Duccio is an altarpiece composed of many individual paintings commissioned by the city of Siena in 1308 from the artist Duccio di Buoninsegna.[1] The front panels make up a large enthroned Madonna and Child with saints and angels, and a predella of the Childhood of Christ with prophets. The reverse has the rest of a combined cycle of the Life of the Virgin and the Life of Christ in a total of forty-three small scenes; several panels are now dispersed or lost. The base of the panel has an inscription that reads: "Holy Mother of God, be thou the cause of peace for Siena and life to Duccio because he painted thee thus." [2] Though it took a generation for its effect truly to be felt, Duccio's Maestà set Italian painting on a course leading away from the hieratic representations of Byzantine art towards more direct presentations of reality.

I can't get enough of Duccio these days....

Posted by bls at 4/11/2015 07:20:00 PM No comments: 


The Maundy Thursday Gradual: Oculi ómnium in te sperant ("The eyes of all creatures look to you")

The Gradual for Maundy Thursday is the same one as that for Corpus Christi, and in fact was borrowed from that feast day.   The propers for Maundy Thursday have changed from the Tridentine era; the old Gradual was Christus factus est, today used on Good Friday.

Here's Oculi ómnium:

The text is taken from Psalm 144: 15-16; the English translation below is from CCWatershed:

Oculi ómnium in te sperant, Dómine: et tu das illis escam in témpore opportúno. Vs. Aperis tu manum tuam: et imples omne ánimal benedictióne.

The eyes of all creatures look to you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. Vs. You open your hand and fill every living thing with your blessings. Today's Gospel is from John 13:1-17, 31b-35:

The Epistle and Gospel readings for today are essentially the same as those in the Tridentine lectionary; a few verses have been added on or removed, in each case.

But I have loved the BCP Old Testament reading for this day since the first time I heard it; it's the Passover reading from Exodus, which explicitly ties into the Pascha theme that's so prominent at the Easter Vigil.  This also helps tie the Hebrew and Christian scriptures more closely together, which in turn reminds us - me, at least - how much of what we believe comes directly out of the much older Jewish understanding of God's acts for us in the world:

William Byrd set this Gradual text, sung here very nicely by, I'm assuming, an Hungarian choir:

This setting includes a more explicit reference to the Eucharist, in the form of the familiar text from John's Gospel; following is the Latin, plus an English translation, from CPDL:

Ps.144:15  Oculi omnium in te sperant Domine: et tu das illis escam in tempore opportuno.
Ps.144:16  Aperis tu manum tuam: et imples omne animal benedictione.
Jn 6:56  Caro mea vere est cibus: et sanguis meus vere est potus:
Jn 6:57  qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet, et ego in eo.

Ps.145:15  The eyes of all wait upon thee, [O Lord]; and thou givest them their meat in due season.
Ps.145:16  Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
John 6:55  For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
John 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. Alleluia. (KJV)

And here's the Hungarian, too, from the YouTube page!

Mindeneknek szemei tebenned bíznak, Uram, és te adsz nekik eledelt alkalmas időben.
Feltárod kezeidet, és betöltesz mindene élőt áldásoddal.
Az én testen valóban étel, és az én vérem valóba ital., aki eszi az én testemet, . és issza a én véremet, bennem marad, és én őbenne. Alleluja,

Here's a beautiful setting of this text (along with an explicit grace-before-meals text) from Eric Whitacre; it's called the "Sidney Grace" (referring to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge):

This is a table grace, in other words.  From the page linked above:

The centuries-old words of the grace used here in Sidney Sussex are:

Oculi omnium ad te spectant, Domine;
tu das eis escam eorum in tempore opportuno.
Aperis tu manum tuam,
et imples omne animal benedictione tua.
Sanctifica nos, quaesumus, per verbum et orationem;
Istisque tuis donis,
quae de tua bonitate sumus percepturi, benedicito.
Per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.

The traditional English translation of these words is:

The eyes of all look toward thee, O Lord;
thou givest them their meat in due season.
Thou openest thine hand
and fillest every living thing with thy blessing.
Sanctify us, we beseech thee, through word and prayer;
and give thy blessing
to these thy gifts, which of they bounty we are about to receive,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ad lotionem pedum

Ad liturgiam eucharisticam

Ad translationem SS.mi Sacramenti

Here are other posts on Chantblog for some of the propers:

This is "The Washing of Feet and the Supper, from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308-1311": But this year, I'm really liking this one, by Bouveret: Blessed Holy Thursday to all.

Posted by bls at 4/02/2015 10:59:00 AM 2 comments: Labels: art, audio, chant propers, chant scores, holy week, maundy thursday, video