I am using a new computer. Although I said I was buying a new computer a few months ago, I repaired the old one and continued using it until it perished. However, I am making mistakes. For instance, I erased the article I posted yesterday, but I had a copy of it. In the meantime, I accidentally posted an article containing the Marian Antiphons. This is a post I intended to use. It was published in 2011.
Marian Antiphons
My article on Candlemas was first posted in 2012. As for my post on the Marian Antiphons, it was published in 2011. On Candlemas, the seasonal antiphon (une antienne) is the Ave Regina Cælorum. It will be used until Good Friday.
Mater Dolorosa by Carlo Dolci (25 May 1616 – 17 January 1686) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Marian Antiphons
The Marian year has its seasons and each season has its antiphon. There are four antiphons, one for each Marian season. Antiphons, sometimes called antiphonies, are a call and response hymn. (See Posts on Marian Hymnology.)
Last week, on Good Friday, the seasonal Marian antiphon became the Regina Cæli. It had been the Ave Regina Cælorum, which ends on Good Friday. Good Friday, or ‘holy’ Friday, is the day that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus of Nazareth, also known as Christ, in whose name Christianity was founded.
As you may know, the growth of polyphony, music combining several voices, is linked to Sacred Music mainly. During the Middle Ages, the Church was the main patron of composers. Most composers therefore became Kappelmeisters. It was their profession.
However, composers such as Italian Luca Marenzio (18 October 1553 or 1554 – 22, August 1599) wrote madrigals, secular music. Marenzio worked for Italian aristocratic families: the Gonzaga, the Este, and theMedici. Madrigals became the leadinggenre during the Renaissance and could be called the secular birthplace of polyphony. The largely courtly madrigal was rooted in the medieval song or chanson.Trouvères (northern France), troubadours[1] (southern France), and Minnesingers (German-speaking lands) wrote and sang chansons.
Piazza San Marco, Venice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The Renaissance
The Renaissance began with the collapse of the Byzantine Empire (Greek), or Eastern Roman Empire. Constantinoplefell to the Ottoman Turks on 29 May 1453 and its Greek scholars fled to Italy. The Ottoman Empire’s Sultanate collapsed on 1 November 1922 and its Caliphate was abolished on 3 March 1924. (See The Last Crusades: the Ottoman Empire.) Constantinople became Istanbul in 1929 and is the largest city in Turkey. The arrival in Italy of Greek scholars escaping the Ottoman Turks would change western Europe profoundly. It ushered in a renaissance (rebirth).
In 1527, Netherlandish composer Adrian Willaert (c. 1490 – 7 December 1562)travelled to Venice, where he had been appointed maestro di cappella at San Marco and taught music. At St. Mark’s Basilica, he had the best of facilities and remained its maestro di cappella until his death in 1552.
Music for Easter
Two years ago, I posted an article entitledMusic for Easter (31 March 2013). That post featured the Regina Cæli, the Easter season’s antiphon. If you wish to listen to Michel Richard de Lalande‘s Regina Cæli, please click on Music for Easter. Music for Easter is a short post also featuring, as does this post, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi‘s (4 January 1710 – 16 March 1736) “Quando corpus morietur.” Pergolesi died at the age of 26, but had already composed several mature works. I love Pergolesi. His “Quando corpus morietur” is inspired music.
Giovanni Legrenzi
Giovanni Legrenzi[3] (baptized 12 August 1626 – 27 May 1690) was a 17th-century Italian composer. By the 17th century, western Europe had entered its Baroque period (1600 – 1750) and composers had started to write operas. However, Legrenzi was first employed as organist at Santa Maria Maggiore, in Bergamo, Italy. In the mid 1650’s, he was maestro di cappella at the Academy of the Holy Spirit in Ferrara. Later, he settled in Venice where he lived comfortably and was named maestro di cappella at San Marco, Venice’s splendid Basilica. In other words, the Church had remained an important employer of musicians.
Ave, Regína cælórum
Ave, Dómina Angelórum,
Sálve rádix, sálve, pórta,
Ex qua múndo lux est órta.
Gáude, Vírgo gloriósa,
Super ómnes speciósa ;
Vále, o valde decóra
Et pro nóbis Christum exóra.
Hail, Queen of the Heavens!
Hail, ruler of the angels!
Hail, root of Jesse! Hail, portal from whom light has shone to the world!
Hail, Virgin most glorious,
Beautiful above all!
Farewell, O most comely,
And pray to Christ for us. (Courtesy of Notre-Dame de Paris)
This post was published mistakenly a few minutes after I started writing it. The “publish” button is next to the “save draft” button. This morning, I realized that my image of San Marco was missing. I decided to insert it, but pressed on the “draft” button instead of the “pending review” button. The post is now dated 5 April 2015.
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.
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:
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.)
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.
For Catholics, Charity is the most important of the three theological virtues: faith, hope, charity. The events of the past week brought the word charity to my mind. I faced several obstacles because I could not provide a credit card number.
By clicking on the titles below, you will be at Notre-Dame de Paris. On the left side of the page are the titles of the four Marian Antiphons. Choose the antiphon you wish to listen to. You will also be provided with the words.
The Salve Regina is one of the four Marian Antiphons. It was composed (Gregorian Chant) by Hermann of Reichenau (18 July 1013 – 24 September 1054) who was severely crippled and spent most of his brief life at the BenedictineAbbey of Reichenau. Hermann “the lame” became a monk. He was a scholar, a composer, a music theorist, a mathematician, an astronomer, and a linguist.
However, the composition, I have inserted at the foot of this post is not Gregorian chant, but a setting by prominent Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (c. 1548 – 27 August 1611) of the lyrics of the Salve Regina. It is a combination the French would call heureuse, happy.
Guido Reni
Guido Reni (4 November 1575 – 18 August 1642) was born in Bologna. He is a high Baroque artist remembered for his use of luminous colours. The painting shown above does not reveal this characteristic. It is somewhat and successfully monochromatic. His themes were biblical and mythological and therefore consistent with the subject-matter of painters of his era. The little children he depicted resemble putti, but putti (plural for putto) have wings.
Apprentice to Denis Calvaert: Franco-Flemish School
Reni was an apprentice to Flemish artist Denis Calvaert (1540 – 16 April 1619), often called Il Fiammingo due to his origins. In the very late Middle Ages, just prior to the Renaissance,[1] Flanders was the cultural hub of Europe. Adrian Willaert of the Franco-Flemish school taught music to students in Venice who were very gifted and whose love for music was exceptional. In turn, the Italians created the French Overture. It was introduced in France by composer Jean-Baptiste Lully, born Giovanni Battista Lulli. Lulli was also a dancer and choreographer who worked with French playwright Molière (1622 – 1673).
Early Recognition
Guido moved to Rome in 1601 and his first commission was an altarpiece of the Crucifixion of St. Peter. During this period of his life, Guido’s patron was Paolo Emilio Sfondrati (1560 – 14 February 1618). According to Britannica, Reni was later influenced by the novel naturalism of the Carracci, a family of artists: Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico.
Guido was soon recognized as a master. He was a painter to Pope Paul V (Borghese). We owe him many frescoes.
Guido went to Naples to complete a commission to paint a ceiling in a chapel of the San Gennaro, but it appears competitors attempted to poison him, which emphasizes his talent as an artist. In 1625, Polish Prince Władysław Sigismund Vasa visited Reni’s studio in Bologna, which led to the purchase by the Prince of several works by Guido Reno. Guido survived the plague of 1630 that claimed many lives in Bologna. He was then painting the Pallion del Voto “with images of St. Ignatius and Francis Xavier,” produced during the plague of 1630 that befell Bologna. (See Guido Reni, Wikipedia.)
Guido died in 1642 and is buried next to Elisabetta Sirani (1638 – 1665) in the Rosary Chapel of the Basilica of San Domenica. Elisabetta Sirani’s story is told by Germaine Greer, in chapter XI, entitled The Bolognese Phenomenon, of The Obstacle Race.[4]
In his description of the Ave Regina Cælorum, the Notre-Dame de Paris author wrote:
isn’t spring the time when days get endlessly longer and life sprouts up from root to branch?
As of tomorrow, 6 April 2012, the Marian Antiphon will be the Regina Cæli and it will remain the seasonal Antiphon until Vespers of Trinity Sunday. But although the Antiphon will change, we will still celebrate the refreshing newness of seasons and the eternal return of spring.
However, let us go to Notre-Dame’s Regina Cæli‘s site and read about the Marian antiphony that begins tomorrow. So I am quoting:
The most recent Antiphony dedicated to Mary (14th century) used to end services. It is sung during the Easter season and makes no mention of the valley of tears, like the Salve Regina, but instead sings of resurrection and heaven, where Mary reigns alongside her Son. This is how many of Notre-Dame de Paris’s sculptures and windows represent her.
May I suggest that even in the stained glass window shown below there is “no mention of the valley of tears.” (Notre-Dame de Paris author). Tomorrow, 6 April 2012, we will continue to celebrate the refreshing newness each season brings and the return of Spring.
Regina Cæli (Photo credit: Notre-Dame de Paris)
Regína caéli, lætáre, Allelúia!
Quia quem meruísti portáre, Allelúia!
Resurréxit, sicut dixit, Allelúia!
Ora pro nóbis Déum, Allelúia!
Queen of heaven, be joyful, alleluia!
The Son whom you merited to bear, alleluia!
Has risen, as He said, alleluia!
Queen of heaven, pray to God for us, alleluia!
The Velásquez painting shown at the top of this post represents the Holy Trinity crowning Mary, She is Regina or Queen of heaven and as I have mentioned in a previous post, I believe her importance in the eyes of Christians is that she seems more accessible than the Trinity. She is a mother and Christians pray to her because they believe she will convey their prayers to Jesus and to God the Father. She is a mother, the person to whom we confide our hopes, our fears, our sorrows, our joys.
On the Notre-Dame site you will find an interpretation of the Regina Cæli (just click on the title and scroll down).
I have listed next to the image below previous posts you may wish to refer to.
Backside Gregorian Chant – Regina Caeli, Benediktiner Abtei St. Maurice & St. Maur, Clervaux (Photo credit: Piano Piano!)
