Des Prez' Domine, non secundum

Saturday Chorale offers another great post today: "Josquin Des Prez (±1450-1521): – Domine, non secundum".

This is from the post at SC:

Of all his music it's Josquin Desprez' motets that I find the most intriguing and satisfying. This particular motet is one those published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1503 in his anthology of sacred motets »Motetti de Passione, de Cruce, de Sacramento, de Beata Virgine et huiusmodi B«. Petrucci included several motets by Josquin in his anthology of which Domine, non secundum is the most elaborate. At first it was thought by musicologists that Josquin composed it in his youth in Milan. However the conventional wisdom now is that in fact he composed it sometime between 1489 and 1495 while he was a singer in the papal choir.

It's based upon plainchant and is relatively florid with the chant's influence being especially keenly felt in the top line. Part of the motet's appeal is how Josquin progressively simplifies the music as the motet progresses – it starts relatively elaborately with a duet for the top voices which Josquin contrasts with a duet for the lower voices. For me the musical highpoint of the motet is at the line 'Quia paupers facti sumus nimis' (Because we beggars have become as nothing) followed a gentle let-down as Josquin ends the motet. It's performed in the music video below by Edward Wickham & The Clerks Group. Enjoy :-)

Domine, non secundum is the Tract for Ash Wednesday (and is also listed as being used at Ember Friday in that week). Here are the words in Latin, with translation to English from CPDL:

Domine, non secundum peccata nostra, quæ fecimus nos: neque secundum iniquitates nostras retribuas nobis.
Domine, ne memineris iniquitatum patrum nostrorum, cito anticipent nos misericordiæ tuæ, quia pauperes facti sumus nimis.
Adiuvanos, Deus salutaris nostri, propter gloriam nominis tui et liberanos; et propitius esto peccatis nostris propter nomen tuum.

Lord, do not repay us according to our sins or our iniquities.
Lord, do not hold our old sins against us;
may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need.
Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name;
Lord, deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake.

The Brazilian Benedictines have recorded the plainchant of the tract, but I couldn't find it anywhere else. Here's their mp3, and below is the chant score.

Others have set the text as well. Here's a lovely version from Spain's Juan de Anchieta:

And here, the Warsaw Boys Choir sings Cesar Franck's setting:

A hymn of Christ and Mary Magdalene in the garden

The YouTube page says this is taken from the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church - "the Badarak" - and is a hymn about the encounter in the garden.

There is all this (and more!) at the video page:

"Oh Gardener..."
"Ov Bardeezban..."

Taken from the Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church "Badarak" or Mass

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Lyrics with Translations:

Haryav Kreestos (Christ is risen)

Zartyav Kreestos) (Christ is awakened)

Ov Bardeezban (Oh Gardener)

Too asa, oor daran zeesoos? (Tell me where did they take Jesus?

Vor Gardzem te, too yes numan (Whom I believe you resemble...)

vo, numan? (Who Resembles?)

too numan. (You resemble)

Me Lar too, ov guin (Don't weep, O woman)

Yes em gentaneen! (I am the Living One!)

* Yeg Yev des zdegheen (Come and see the place)

* Zor khotsyatz azken eesrayeleen. (That the race of Israel Pierced)

*(Repeat )

Haryav Kristos (Christ is risen)

Zartyav Kristos (Christ is awakened)


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This is an ancient hymn taken from the middle-ages. The Lyricist & Composer is unknown.

The hymn is the encounter Mary Magdalene has at the empty tomb of Jesus on Easter Ressurection Sunday, where she does not recognize the Glorified Lord and addresses him as the "gardener":

John 20:10Then the disciples went back to their homes, 11but Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15"Woman," he said, "why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." 16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means Teacher).

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Credits

From the CD:
The Divine Liturgy of the Armenian Church
(Markar Yekmalian)

Komitas Chamber Choir of Armenia

Hovhannes Mirzoyan, music director and principal conductor
Khoren Mekanejian, guest conductor

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St. Mary Magdalene
Feast date: July 22nd

First person documented in the Gospels to see the Resurrected Lord. Is called the "apostle to the apostles" in the Greek orthodox Church because she brought the good news of the Resurrection to the apostles.

Patron Saint of:

apothecaries;
Atrani, Italy;
Casamicciola Terme, Ischia;
contemplative life;
converts;
glove makers;
hairdressers;
penitent sinners;
people ridiculed for their piety;
perfumeries;
pharmacists;
reformed prostitutes;
sexual temptation;
tanners;
women

 Here's a short introduction to the Badarak, from the website of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America:

The Divine Liturgy is the main worship service of the Armenian Church.  But the Badarak, as we call it in Armenian, is much more than that.  It provides the most intimate encounter we can have with God in this life.  In the Divine Liturgy, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, comes to his people—to you and me—in two forms: First, by his Word, in the reading of the holy Gospel; and second, by his holy Body and Blood, in Holy Communion.  These two actions—the reading of the Word of God, and the reception of Holy Communion—are the two pillars or building blocks of the Divine Liturgy in all ancient, apostolic churches.

Supported by these two pillars is a magnificent structure of words, music, symbols, and rituals.  For those unfamiliar with it, the Divine Liturgy can seem like a bewildering array of disjointed movements and rituals, and arcane theological terminology.  The complex interplay of the celebrant priest, the deacons, the other altar servers, the choir, and the people might lead one to overlook the logic and purpose of the Divine Liturgy, and to miss its very real benefits.

Back in the 10th century, the great Armenian theologian Khosrov Antsevatsi eloquently described the importance of the Divine Liturgy when he wrote: "Since those who confess and show repentance receive atonement by means of the Holy Mystery [the Badarak], and are reunited to Christ in order to become for Him Body and members, we should be eager for the great medicine."  The Divine Liturgy is the great medicine that provides true meaning and direction for our lives.  It offers the peace and solace that only God can give—a free gift no less—in an age when so many people are searching, and spending millions of dollars in vain to find personal stability and security.

 More at the link.

"Communion Hymn from the Paraklesis to Saint Mary Magdalene The Myrrh-Bearer"

On the eve of her feast day:



The blurb at the YouTube page says this:

Communion Hymn from the Paraklesis
To Saint Mary Magdalene The Myrrh-Bearer.
Plagal 4th tone.
Chanted By"Monks of the Holy Monastery of Simonos Petra, Mount Athos.

Text in English: "Her sound has gone forth into all the earth, and her words unto the end of the world, Alleluia (cf.Ps19-5)

Liturgica.com has a listing for this in their web store.

Here's the beginning section of Wikipedia's entry on "Paraklesis":

A Paraklesis (Greek: Παράκλησις) or Supplicatory Canon in the Orthodox Christian Church and Eastern Catholic Churches, is a service of supplication for the welfare of the living. It is addressed to a specific Saint or to the Most Holy Theotokos whose intercessions are sought through the chanting of the supplicatory canon together with psalms, hymns, and ekteniae (litanies).

The most popular Paraklesis is that in which the supplicatory canon and other hymns are addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos (the Mother of God). There are two forms of this service: the Small Paraklesis (composed by Theosterictus the Monk in the 9th century), and the Great Paraklesis (composed by Emperor Theodore I Ducas Lascaris in the 13th century). During the majority of the year, only the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos is chanted. However, during the Dormition Fast (August 1—14, inclusive), the Typikon prescribes that the Small and Great Paraklesis be chanted on alternate evenings, according to the following regulations:

• If August 1st falls on a Monday through Friday, the cycle begins with the Small Paraklesis. If August 1st falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the cycle begins with the Great Paraklesis.
• On the eves of Sundays (i.e., Saturday nights) and on the eve of the Transfiguration (the night of August 5) the Paraklesis is omitted.
• On Sunday nights, the Great Paraklesis is always used unless it is the eve of Transfiguration.

Desprez: Tu pauperum refugium (New York Polyphony and Lizzie Ball)

More from this wonderful concert:

The words, via CPDL with translation by The St. Ann Choir:

Tu pauperum refugium, tu languorum remedium,
spes exsulum, fortitudo laborantium,
via errantium, veritas et vita.
Et nunc Redemptor, Domine, ad te solum confugio;
te verum Deum adoro, in te spero, in te confido,
salus mea, Jesu Christe.
Adjuva me, ne unquam obdormiat in morte anima mea.

Thou art the refuge of the poor,
remedy for afflictions, hope of exiles,
strength of those who labor, way for the wandering,
truth and life.
And now, Redeemer, Lord, in thee alone I take refuge;
thee, true God, I adore, in thee I hope,
in thee I confide, my salvation, O Jesus Christ.
Help me, lest my soul ever sleep in death.

The text's author is unknown.