Tag Archives: Canticle

From Lupercalia to Valentine’s Day, cont’d

02 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Feasts

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Presentation_of_Christ_in_the_TemplePresentation of Christ in the Temple, from the Sherbrooke Missal c. 1310 – c. 1320
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Candlemas

Today is Candlemas, now better known as “grounhog day” or “pancake day.” When I was a child, Candlemas, la Chandeleur, was a religious holiday that was also a festival of lights: la fête des lumières. We didn’t know it was groundhog day, nor did we know it was pancake day. We lived in the very Catholic province of Quebec, which was then a priest-ridden province and is now, otherwise ridden.

However, times have changed. In Quebec, today is le jour de la marmotte and la fête des crêpes. Quebec has therefore caught up to the rest of the world. Apparently, Groundhog Day is a German tradition. (See Groundhog Day, Wikipedia.) Ironically , it could be that many Quebecers do not remember la Chandeleur, or Candlemas.

Candlemas commemorated and still commemorates:

  • the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple
  • the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin
  • the Meeting of the Lord (see Simeon, Gospel of Luke, Wikipedia)

Saint Gelasius I

  • St Gelasius
  • a commemoration
  • the seasons

We owe Candlemas to Pope Gelasius I who died in Rome on the 19 November c. 496 CE and is now a saint. Saint Gelasius wanted to replace Lupercalia, a disorderly pagan feast with a Christian feast, celebrated about 12 days later than 2 February. It was Candlemas, which eventually would take place on 2 February, according to the Gregorian calendar. Most Christian feasts are celebrated on the same day as a pagan feast and they inaugurate or close a season, the four seasons and liturgical seasons.

Humans have also celebrated the day of the longest night, the winter Solstice, and the day of the longest day, the summer Solstice. They have also celebrated the days when day and night are the same length: equinoctial points, or an Equinox.  This is the logic according to which Christian feasts are celebrated. It is a matter of season and one of continuity.

In 2016, solstices and equinoctial points are on:

Christmas is celebrated on 25 December, near the winter Solstice.
Easter is a movable feast, near the spring Equinox, 27 April 2016.
St John’s Day is celebrated on 24 June, near the summer Solstice.
Michaelmas is celebrated on 29 September, near the fall Equinox.

Easter is the only movable feast, but it occurs near the vernal equinox. As for Candlemas, it is celebrated on 2 February and is a festival of lights or la Fête des lumières. It closes Epiphany Season and introduces a new Marian antiphon: Ave, Regina Cælorum, of which there are four. Moreover, it is the day when the canticle entitled Nunc Dimittis (Now let me leave) is sung. Antiphons are call and respond songs: a responsory, but canticles are songs of praise, such as the Magnificat.

Beginning today the Marian antiphon is the Ave Regina Cælorum. It will last until Good Friday.

800px-Aert_de_Gelder_-_Het_loflied_van_Simeon
Simeon’s Song of Praise by Aert de Gelder,
around 1700–1710 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Canticle of Simeon or the Nunc Dimittis

According to the book of Luke (Luke 2:29-32), Simeon, a devout Jew, had been promised by the Holy Ghost that he would see the Saviour before his death. He recognized Jesus when he was brought to the Temple for the ceremony of the Presentation of the first-born son. Having seen Jesus, a Jew, with his own eyes, he sang a canticle in which he says that now (nunc) he could leave: “Now let me leave…”

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Book of Common Prayer, 1662

Houghton_MS_Richardson_5_-_92
The Houghton ms Richardson, Harvard (c. 1400)

The Ave, Regina Cælorum is as follows:

Hail, O Queen of Heaven enthroned.
Hail, by angels mistress owned.
Root of Jesse, Gate of Morn
Whence the world’s true light was born:

Glorious Virgin, Joy to thee,
Loveliest whom in heaven they see;
Fairest thou, where all are fair,
Plead with Christ our souls to spare.

V. Vouchsafe that I may praise thee, O sacred Virgin.
R. Give me strength against thine enemies.

(See Raphael & Marian Liturgy at Notre-Dame de Paris)

Tides

There are equinoctial tides that occur near the time of an equinox. In France, they are called marées d’équinoxe. They were spectacular where I lived in Normandy. One could not see the water from the shore. When the water returned, it did rapidly. Sheep grazed on the prés salés (salted meadows), called présalés, at Mont-Saint-Michel. It could be that the tides brought the salt. Before or after walking to the Abbey, we would eat crêpes. There was a lovely restaurant at the foot of the hill. Sometimes we drove to Saint-Malô to eat crêpes. Tides occurring on solstices are less dramatic than equinoctial tides.

The Christian seasons are also called “tides:” Christmastide, Epiphanytide, Eastertide, etc. Christianity has more seasons than nature’s four seasons. We are not entering a tide, but an Ordinary Time that will end on Ash Wednesday (10 February, this year) or Pentecost. (See Eastertide, Wikipedia.)

The RELATED ARTICLES, listed below, will lead you to all relevant posts and songs.

RELATED ARTICLES

Kindest regards to everyone. ♥

 


Presentation_of_Christ_in_the_Temple

© Micheline Walker
2 February 2016
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Candlemas: its Stories & its Songs, updated

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by in Feasts, Hymnology

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Putti, by Raphaël

Putti (Chérubins), by Raphaël

Marian Antiphons (Antiennes)

Today, 2 February 2015, we are entering the Marian year’s second season, the first takes us from Advent to Candlemas (la Chandeleur), once an observed feast commemorating the presentation of the child Jesus at the Temple. The second lasts until Good Friday.

In other words, as of today the Marian song is the Ave Regina Cælorum. From the beginning of Advent until today, it had been the Alma Redemptoris Mater. Several composers have set the words of the Alma Redemptoris Mater and the same is true of the Ave Regina Cælorum.

In the Church of England, today, Candlemas, is the end of the Epiphany season which follows the Christmas season.

The “Nunc dimittis” or Canticle of Simeon (Cantique)

Also sung today is the Nunc dimittis (“Now you dismiss…,” Luke 2:29–32), The Song of Simeon or Canticle of Simeon). Simeon had been promised he would see Jesus and did.  A canticle is a song of praise. In this respect, the Nunc Dimittis resembles the Magnificat, or Canticle of Mary.  Mary sang the Magnificat when she heard her cousin Elizabeth was with child. To listen to the Nunc Dimittis and read its story, simply click on one of the links below:

Groundhog Day

Moreover, today is Groundhog Day. How long will winter last? See the link below.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/groundhog-day-what-do-meteorologists-think-1.2940617

Humans have always situated their feasts when a change occurs in the weather. We go from season to season and the following year, we also go from season to season and this continues year after year.

The Labours of the Months

Remember Jean de France’s Très Riches Heures. (See Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry). It’s a Book of Hours, but it is also a calendar. The Très Riches Heures has a large illuminated (enluminures) page for each month of the year illustrating the Labours of the Months.  With Jean de France, there was another motive. In the background of each page, we see one of his castles.

Greek poet Hesiod, who is believed to have been active between 750 and 650 BCE, wrote Works and Days, a book Wikipedia describes as a farmer’s almanac. In Works and Days, he is teaching his brother Perses about the agricultural arts. (See Works and Days.)

Although we are leaving the first Marian season, I am including both the Alma Redemptoris Mater and the Ave Regina Cælorum.

—ooo—

During Canonical Hours, the Antiphon (antienne) is a liturgical chant that precedes and follows a Psalm or a Canticle.  In a Mass, it is also a chant to which a choir or the congregation respond with a refrain.  It is therefore a call and response chant.

Sources and Resources

Hesiod’s Works and Days (r. 700 BCE) is an online publication (click on the title).

—ooo—

Posts on Marian Hymnology & More

composer: Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (3 February 1525 or 2 February 1526 – 2 February 1594)
piece: Alma Redemptoris Mater
performers: Cappella Gregoriana (Tokyo, Japan)
From First Vespers of Christmas until the Presentation
 
piece: Ave Regina Cælorum
performers: Philippe Jaroussky (French countertenor, b. 13 February 1978)
Marie-Nicole Lemieux (Quebec contralto, b. 26 June 1975)
From the Presentation of the Lord through Good Friday
Raffael_027© Micheline Walker
2 February 2013
WordPress
updated
2 February 2015

Jean Racine’s Cantique, by Gabriel Fauré

09 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Beast Literature, French Literature, Myths

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Hyppolytus and Phaedra, Louvre

Hippolytus and Phaedra, Louvre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jean Racine’s Canticle (1688)

I have used this song in an earlier post on Jean Racine and his Phèdre (1677) entitled Jean Racine, Gabriel Fauré & Alexandre Cabanel: a Canticle. Phèdre is a dramatic tragedy, in five acts, written in alexandrine verse (twelve syllables). It was first performed on 1 January 1677 (see Phèdre, Wikipedia). Racine’s Cantique is not part of Phèdre, perhaps the best known of Racine’s tragedies and, officially, his last play.

Racine’s Phèdre is about love and jealousy. In certain seventeenth-century works of literature, jealousy is the feeling that reveals one is “in love.” Love is therefore looked upon as dangerous, because jealousy can be an extremely painful feeling. The foremost literary expression of this phenomenon is Madame de la Fayette‘s novel entitled La Princesse de Clèves, published anonymously in 1678. It is considered a masterpiece of Western literature.

This post is not about Phèdre, except indirectly. I am using images related to Racine’s Phèdre, whose plays, tragedies, are rooted in Greco-Latin models or mythology. However, Racine’s tragedies usually convey a meaning not entirely intended in the Greco-Roman “model.” Moreover, Racine’s plays are examples of works of literature that were considered as well written as their source. The literary maturity of seventeenth-century French literature triggered the famous Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns. As we neared the end of the seventeenth century, many claimed that the modern work of literature was at least as fine as the Greco-Latin “model,” which was often the case.

On Jean Racine

Corneille
Racine
Molière
 

Jean Racine is one of the most prominent dramatists in French literature. He lived during the seventeenth century, the age of Pierre Corneille (6 June 1606 – 1 October 1684), best known for Le Cid (1637) and Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin), one of the “greatest masters of comedy in Western literature,” (baptized 15 January 1622 – d.17 February 1673). (See Molière, Wikipedia.)

A Canticle

Jean Racine‘s Cantique is a translation and a paraphrase (a rewording) of an earlier text. Set to Gabriel Fauré‘s music, it nearly becomes what the romantics, nineteenth-century authors, artists, musicians and critics, would call the “sublime.” Gabriel Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) set Racine’s Cantique to music when he was nineteen-years old.

A canticle is a song of praise taken from biblical texts other than the Psalms (Wikipedia). Magnificats, hymns of praise, are canticles. Racine’s text is a translation and a paraphrase of Consors paterni luminis. It is part of Racine’s Hymnes traduites du Bréviaire romain (Hymns Translated from the Roman Breviary), published in 1688. 

The Images

I have recycled images used in my posts on Racine’s Phèdre. Phèdre’s husband slew the Minotaur, the offspring of Pasiphaë, Minos’ wife, and a bull. The Minotaur’s father may be the Sacred Bull. The Bible’s Golden Calf is an example of the worship of bulls, calfs and cows. Pictured below is the Bull of Knossos, or the Cretan Bull. The Minotaur‘s mother is Pasiphaë, Phèdre’s and Ariadne’s mother. The Minotaur was slain by Theseus, Phèdre’s husband, who used Ariadne thread to find his way to the Minotaur through the labyrinth built by Daedalus, who crafted sadly-remembered wings for his son Icarus.

However, let us focus on Gabriel Fauré’s (op. 11) musical setting of the canticle translated by Racine. Bulls will be discussed elsewhere. They were worshipped in Egypt, so it’s a long story.

By and large, we no longer worship bulls and bull-leaping is antiquated, but we do have bullies a-plenty.

Best regards to all of you: my family!

Fresco of bull-leaping from Knossos

Fresco of bull-leaping from Knossos (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

RELATED ARTICLES

 

Verbe égal au Très-Haut, notre unique espérance,
Jour éternel de la terre et des cieux,
De la paisible nuit nous rompons le silence :
Divin sauveur, jette sur nous les yeux.

Répands sur nous le feu de ta grâce puissante ;
Que tout l’enfer fuie au son de ta voix ;
Dissipe le sommeil d’une âme languissante
Qui la conduit à l’oubli de tes lois !

Ô Christ ! sois favorable à ce peuple fidèle,
Pour te bénir maintenant assemblé ;
Reçois les chants qu’il offre à ta gloire immortelle,
Et de tes dons qu’il retourne comblé.

—ooo—

Word of God, one with the Most High,
in Whom alone we have our hope,
Eternal Day of heaven and earth,
We break the silence of the peaceful night;
Saviour Divine, cast your eyes upon us!

Pour on us the fire of your powerful grace,
That all hell may flee at the sound of your voice;
Banish the slumber of a weary soul,
That brings forgetfulness of your laws!

O Christ, look with favour upon your faithful people
Now gathered here to praise you;
Receive their hymns offered to your immortal glory;
May they go forth filled with your gifts.

For translations of the “Cantique” in languages other than English, please click on translations. You will find the original Latin text in Wikipedia’s entry on Cantique de Jean Racine (Fauré).

 
Gabriel Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924)
Jean Racine (22 December 1639 – 21 April 1699) 
 
 
 
220px-Minotaur© Micheline Walker
9 May 2014
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Theseus and the Minotaur
Black-Figure pottery
(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)                                                                                                                        
 

A Christmas Offering, cont’d: Hymns to Mary

27 Thursday Dec 2012

Posted by in Art, Feasts, Marian Hymnology

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Le Nouveau-né, by Georges de la Tour

Le Nouveau-né (The Newborn), by Georges de La Tour (1593-1652)

Georges de La Tour (13 March 1593 – 30 January 1652)

—ooo—

Last year, on Christmas day, I wrote the following post:

A Christmas Offering: Hymns to Mary

We were at Notre-Dame de Paris (NDP), listening to Marian hymns, but Notre-Dame no longer provides the internet with recordings of its liturgical music. However, we have the music it used to provide.

Basic Marian Hymnology: Notre-Dame de Paris

To put it in a nutshell, Marian music consists of approximately 32 hymns (general term), the most important of which are the four antiphons listed below.  At Notre-Dame de Paris, where we are nevertheless traveling, four other Marian hymns are sung daily, one of which is a canticle (cantique in French) or song of praise: the Magnificat.  When Mary heard that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, she sang the Magnificat.  Elizabeth’s child was John the Baptist.

The other Marian hymns sung at Notre-Dame are the Hail Mary or Ave Maria, the Angelus and the Ave Maris Stella.  The Angelus is explained at NDP, but not performed.  Every hymn is translated into English.

—ooo—

Antiphons

An antiphon is a call and respond song.  It resembles a refrain.  That is an over-simplification, but a first step.

Canticles

A canticle is a song of praise such as the Nunc Dimittis.

Marian Hymnology

As stated above, altogether, there are approximately 32 Marian hymns, including the four Antiphons.  However, to these we must add the works of composers who have written oratorios, cantatas, motets and have also set Marian texts to other musical forms.  These may contain music composed for Christmas, the birth of Christ, where Mary is a central character.  To my knowledge, there is no oratorio honoring the Virgin, except segments of larger works.  Examples are J. S. Bach‘s Magnificat (from the Chrismas Oratorio) and parts of Händel’s Messiah.

Beyond Notre-Dame’s Daily Marian Hymns

The Oratorio

Given the Catholic Church’s devotion to Mary Mother of God, large musical works are likely to incorporate music to the Virgin.  Oratorios are among large compositions and could be described as long cantatas.  However, they resemble operas.  Oratorios require an orchestra and a choir.  Moreover, they may contain solos or, at times, multi-voice compositions that are not sung by the choir, but by four soloists.

At one point in the history of music, polyphony included more than the four voices we are accustomed to: soprano, alto, tenor, bass or SATB.  We are not discussing such works, many of which are madrigals.  We will focus instead on famous Oratorios associated with the birth, life and death of Christ and usually performed during the Christmas season or at Easter.

The Cantata

A cantata (from the Latin cantare: to sing) is a shorter and less complex work than the oratorio.  It dates back to the early 1600s, which are the years the first operas were composed.  Originally, only one person sang the cantata; it was monophonic.  In this regard, it resembled early madrigals.  But as the madrigal evolved into a multi-voice composition or polyphony, so did cantatas.  We tend to associate cantatas with J. S. Bach who composed approximately 200, one of which, number 142, is entitled the Christmas Cantata: “Uns ist ein Kind geboren” (Unto us a Child is born) is a lovely cantata.

Tampereen Kamarimusiikkiseura (Tampere Chamber Music Society) (Finland)


The Motet

According to late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheio (c. 1255 – c. 1320) motets are “not intended for the vulgar who do not understand its finer points and derive no pleasure from hearing it: it is meant for educated people and those who look for refinement in art.”

J.S. Bach – Christmas Oratorio BWV 248
 

 20047-594
© Micheline Walker
27 December 2012
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Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s Song of Praise

02 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by in Feasts, Hymnology, Liturgy

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Nunc Dimittis, Simeon's Song of Praise, by Aert de Gelder

Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s Song of Praise, by Aert de Gelder (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Aert de Gelder (or Arent, 26 October 1645 – 27 August 1727) is one of Rembrandt’s last pupils while in Amsterdam (1661 to 1663) (Wikipedia)I discovered I had to know Christian liturgy, first, when taking courses in the Fine Arts and, second, as a student of musicology. Students of musicology simply have to learn liturgy and the Nunc dimittis is a good example. There was a demand for liturgical music. As a result, the development of polyphony, the combination of voices, occurred from liturgical chant to liturgical chant and from madrigal to madrigal, its secular counterpart. Liturgy also constitutes one of the main subject matters of the visual arts.

In my family Candlemas was celebrated, but I was not told that the Nunc dimittis was Simeon’s Song of Praise, a canticle. In fact, although I attended a Catholic school, we were never told that Candlemas was a commemoration of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple and of Mary’s Purification after Childbirth.

Nunc dimittis

February 2nd is “Nunc dimittis” day and “Nunc dimittis” is Simeon’s Song of Praise. In yesterday’s poat I inserted Palestrina’s “Nunc dimittis,” but today we will hear William Byrd‘s “Nunc dimittis.”

Here are the words of the “Nunc Dimittis:”

English (Book of Common Prayer, 1662)
 
Now Thou dost dismiss Thy servant, O Lord, according to Thy word in peace;
Because my eyes have seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples:
A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.
 
Latin (Vulgate)
 
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel. 
 
_________________________
Religious art
 
composer: William Byrd (1540 or late 1539 – 4 July 1623, by the Julian calendar, 14 July 1623, by the Gregorian calendar) 
title: Nunc Dimittis 
performers: Alexander Kamerkoor

Jesus (Egypte)

© Micheline Walker
2 February 2012
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