Gregorian Chant: Four Antiphons of the Virgin Mary

The last four melodies in Rutter's Eleven Gregorian Chants are Four Antiphons of the Virgin Mary, compositions from between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries which closed the office of Compline (the last Office of the day). An Antiphon is the root of 'Anthem' (Old English antefne), meaning a song of praise or devotion. The Marian antiphons are anthems sung to the Virgin Mary, using independent texts without psalms. Here are some links to Gregorian notation and performances. These Marian hymns can also be found gathered here.
Alma Redemptoris Mater

Written by Hermannus Contractus (Herman the Cripple, 1013-54). Like the others below, this is given int he longer version known as 'Solemn Tone'. Opening with a long melisma, this is sung at the Advent to Candlemas. There are some comments by musicologists and other information here.



Ave Regina caelorum (Candlemas to Holy Week). The Marian hymns were used as the basis for many arrangements in the Renaissance and later. There is a useful gathering here of some of these polyphonic versions.



Regina caeli laetare (Easter Even to Pentecost). See this site for different versions and performances.



Salve Regina




Sources and Further Reading
History and background to Marian Antiphons
Entry by Richard Taruskin from Oxford History of Western Music

Gregorian Chant: Victimae Paschalis laudes

Eleventh-century chant. Sequence sung on Easter Sunday. Attributed by some to Notker the Stammerer. Rutter, Eleven Gregorian Chants, p.8

Gregorian Chant: Vexilla Regis, Pange Lingua, Adoro te devote

More Gregorian chants, following the selection in Rutter's Eleven Gregorian Chants.

Vexilla Regis

Text (and possible melody) by Venantius Fortunatus (c.530-c.600/609), who composed this hymn in 569 to celebrate a procession bringing a fragment of the True Cross to Poitiers.  Unsurprisingly, it is concerned with the Cross and Christ's Passion; in the Church calendar, it is sung at Vespers in Passiontide (Holy Week).  A selection of Venantius' poems can be found on the Latin Library, including the text below. More Venantius poems, with facing translation, are printed in Helen Waddell's Medieval Latin Lyrics (4th ed., 1933), 58-67.

Vexilla regis prodeunt

Vexilla regis prodeunt
Fulget crucis mysterium
Quo carne carnis conditor
Suspensus est patibulo.

Quo vulneratus insuper
Mucrone diro lanceae
Ut nos lavaret crimine
Manavit unda et sanguine.

Impleta sunt quae concinit
David fideli carmine
Dicens In nationibus
Regnavit a ligno Deus.

Arbor decora et fulgida
Ornata Regis purpura
Electa digno stipite
Tam sancta membra tangere.

Beata, cujus brachiis
Saecli pependit pretium
Statera facta corporis
Praedamque tulit tartari.

O Crux ave, spes unica
In hac triumphi gloria
Auge piis justitiam
Reisque dona veniam.

Te summa Deus Trinitas
Collaudet omnis spiritus:
Quos per crucis mysterium
Salvas, rege per saecula. Amen.

For text with Blount's 1717 translation, see here.
Text and literal translation here

Performance by Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis

Text, video and Gregorian notation are given by the excellent Brasil-based gregoriano.org site

Two Hymns by Thomas Aquinas

Pange Lingua

Text written in 1263 by St Thomas Aquinas, to an earlier melody. Hymn sung at the Feast of Corpus Christi.



Adoro te Devote

Eucharistic Hymn.

Gregorian Chants: Hodie Christus Natus Est, Kyrie de Angelis, Veni Creator Spiritus

I have been enjoying geeting to know Eleven Gregorian Chants, edited (in modern notation) by John Rutter. Here are some notes and links to the first three chants in this publication, which may help in appreciating and, above all, singing them.

Hodie Christus Natus Est
Ad Magnificat, Antiphona, In II Vesperis In Nativitate Domini (Antiphonale Monasticum (1934)p.249; Liber Usualis (1961), p.413). Mode 1, Dorian (D to D on white notes, with the final, or home note D)


Hodie Christus natus est:      Today Christ is born:
hodie Salvator apparuit:        today the Saviour has appeared:
hodie in terra canunt angeli,  today on earth the angels sing,
laetantur archangeli:               the archangels rejoice:
hodie exsultant justi,              today the righteous exult,
dicentes:                                 saying:
Gloria in excelsis Deo,          Glory to God in the highest
alleluia.                                    alleluia.

Here is a beautiful rendition, with neumatic notation, by the Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Notre Dame d'Argentan.

Kyrie VIII (de Angelis)

This is the opening of the Missa de Angelis, from the 15th / 16th century. Note the extended melismas (one syllable sung across many notes). Mode VIII (Hypomixolydian: 'Mixolydian', a so-called authentic mode has the scale dewscribed by G to G, with D as the dominant; Hypo- indicates a 'plagal' mode, ie an even-numbered mode lying 'beneath' the authentic. Hypo-mixolydian has the same final as Mixolydian (G) but runs from domiannt to dominant (D to D).



Solo voice:




Other performances:

Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (organ accompaniment)

Veni Creator Spiritus

This is one of the great hymnns of the Western Church, attributed to Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century, and in general use by the 12th century. It is sung at the Feast of Pentecost, and at important ceremonies such as Ordination. (Mode VIII)


A splendid blog entry by Clerk of Oxenford gives links to various performances and an interesting account of various translations.

For Gregorian notation, Latin text with literal English translation, see Chants of the Church (pdf text, p.175)

Unaccompanied:



Accompanied: