An antiphon for Eastertide: Surrexit Dominus Vere

We've been singing this lovely fraction anthem at the Eucharist during Eastertide; it's S167 in the 1982 Hymnal.  The setting cited there is "Mode 6 melody, adapt. Mason Martens (b. 1933)."   The parts in italics below are congregational; the other lines are sung by a soloist in the choir.

The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
The bread which we break, alleluia, is the communion of the body of Christ.
The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
One body are we, alleluia, for though many we share one bread.
The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

I searched for audio or video of this online, but to no avail.  Then, I happened to stumble upon the Easter antiphon Surrexit Dominus Vere - I can't remember how or why - and lo and behold:  this is the very same melody sung by the soloists in the fraction anthem above. (The congregational response is very beautiful, but not part of this antiphon, apparently.)  Here Giovanni Vianini sings it:



Fisheaters mentions the original verse/response on their Easter page:

On this, the holiest day of the entire year, and for the entire Octave of Easter, Latin Catholics greet each other with the words of Luke 24:34, "Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!" ("The Lord is risen indeed!"). The person so greeted responds, "Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia!" ("And hath appeared unto Simon!"). Catholics may even answer their telephones with this greeting. An old Ukrainian legend relates that, after His Resurrection, Christ threw Satan into a deep pit, chaining him with twelve iron chains. When Satan has chewed through each of the twelve chains, the end of the world will come. All year long, the Evil One gnaws at the iron, getting to the last link in the last chain -- but too late, for it is Easter, and when the people cry "Christ is risen!" all of Satan's efforts are reversed. When the faithful stop saying the Easter acclamation, the end of time has come...

Searching on "Et apparuit Simoni" brought up this page at Cantus database - and the numerous links to the phrase in various manuscripts, including a few images.  The Verse/Response was used at many different offices throughout at least the Octave of Easter - although DivinumOfficium has it used mainly, as far as I can tell, as the Verse/Response before the first reading at Matins in early Eastertide.  (Searching just "Surrexit Dominus vere" brings up lots of citations - this one, for example - but we're interested in including the "Simoni" ("Simon") language, since that does seem to be part of this antiphon in particular.   The reference for all of these is from Luke, and "Surrexit Dominus vere," with or without "Simoni," is used frequently throughout Eastertide, as you can imagine.)

For instance, this is from the Antiphonarium Massiliense 1201-1300 (a book from Marseille, France):

And this is from Fribourg/Freiburg, Couvent des Cordeliers/Franziskanerkloster: (an "Antiphonary for Franciscan use")

Here, the Schola Cantorum de Regina Pacis (Klaipeda, Lithuania) sings it:

Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia, alleluia. Et apparuit Simoni, alleluia, alleluia. Glória Patri, et Fíllio, et Spirítui Sancto.

Viešpats tikrai prisikėlė, aleliuja, aleliuja. Ir pasirodė Simonui, aleliuja, aleliuja. Garbė Dievui Tėvui, ir Sūnui, ir Šventajai Dvasiai.

FIlmuota 2010 m. balandžio 25 d. Klaipėdos šv. Kazimiero bažnyčioje.

Schola Cantorum de Regina Pacis choir is based in the church of St. Mary, Queen of Peace (Klaipeda, Lithuania)

More info: www.regina-pacis.org

It seems several composers have set the text; here are the words from Jacquet de Bechem's setting.  He includes the text from the Gradual for Easter Day, Haec dies:

Alleluia. Quia surrexit Dominus vere,
et apparuit Simoni, alleluia.
Exultemus et laetemur
dies ista laetitiae.
Haec dies, quam fecit Dominus
Exultemus et laetemur in ea.
Alleluia.

Alleluia. The Lord has truly risen
and appeared to Simon, alleluia.
Let us rejoice on this day of joy,
which the Lord has made;
let us rejoice in it.

And there's a Taize Surrexit dominus vere, also:

The 2nd Alleluia for Ascension Day: Dominus in Sina

Here's a video of this chant, sung by the Congregation of St. Lazarus Autun:



The text comes from Psalm (67/)68, vv (18-19/)17-18; here's CCWatershed's translation of the proper itself:

The Lord is in Sinai, in the holy place; ascending on high, he has led captivity captive.

Here's the full chant score:

Psalm 68 is a long - and obscure! - Psalm; here are the first 19 verses, for a little bit of context:

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
2 As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
3 But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!

4 Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the Lord;
exult before him!
5 Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
6 God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

7 O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

11 The Lord gives the word;
the women who announce the news are a great host:
12 “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
13 though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with shimmering gold.
14 When the Almighty scatters kings there,
let snow fall on Zalmon.

15 O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
16 Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the Lord will dwell forever?
17 The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
18 You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Paul cites these verses Psalm in Ephesians 4:8, in what to my eyes appears to be a very complex - and again, obscure! - rabbinic argument.   Here are the first 16 verses of that chapter:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism,  one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.  Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
    and he gave gifts to men.”

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?  He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)  And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,  until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,  so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The Brazilian Benedictines offer mp3s of all the mass propers on the day:

In Ascensione Domini
DominicaIntroitus: Act. 1, 11; Ps. 46 Viri Galilæi (2m48.4s - 2635 kb) score here

Alleluia: Ps. 46, 6 Ascendit Deus (1m50.2s - 1725 kb) score here

Alleluia: Ps. 67, 18.19 Dominus in Sina (2m33.9s - 2409 kb) score here

Offertorium: Ps. 46, 6 Ascendit Deus (1m33.8s - 1469 kb MONO due to problems with my recording set) score here

Communio:
(anno A)Mt. 28, 18.19 Data est mihi (1m21.9s - 1283 kb) score here
(anno B)Mc. 16, 17.18 Signa (1m05.5s - 1027 kb)
(anno C)  Ps. 67, 33.34 Psallite Domino (59.0s - 925 kb MONO due to problems with my recording set) score here

You can read other posts about the day's propers on Chantblog as well:

• The Sarum Ascension Office
• Ascension Day Music for the Mass  (The Introit at the Mass)
• Ascension: Ascendit Deus (The 1st Alleluia and Offertory at the Mass) 

And don't forget to read Full Homely Divinity's article on Ascension!

This is Andrei Rublev's lovely Ascension, from around 1408; it's now in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.

The Gallery's website has some interesting things to say about this icon:

From the Prazdnichny Chin (row) which was located above the Deisus and which illustrated events from the Gospel, only five icons have been preserved. Three of them are in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery and two icons from this row – the “Baptism” and the “Feast of the Purification” – are in the collection of the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg. Most researchers are inclined to view these icons as works coming from the atelier of Andrei Rublev and Daniil. The best done is thought to be the icon of the “Ascension” and many researchers attribute it to Andrei Rublev himself. The icon of the «Ascension» differs from all the other multi-figure icons in the Prazdnichny Chin in the way it possesses a special rhythmic organisation of the composition. Here there appeared the feeling of harmony and plastic balance characteristic of Andrei Rublev. The iconography of the «Ascension» was formed in Byzantine art on the basis of texts from the Gospel According to Mark (XVI, 15–20) and the Gospel According to Luke (XXIV, 42–52), as well as on the Acts of the Apostles (1, 4–12), which tell of the ascension of Christ to heaven after his resurrection from the dead on the fortieth day. This miracle occurred on the Eleon Hill before the disciples when they saw the ascending Christ. Before the apostles there were «two men in white garments» –angels who spoke of the second coming of the Teacher to Earth. The icons come from the Prazdnichny Chin of the iconostasis of the Church of the Assumption in the city of Vladimir. During the period 1768–1775, the dilapidated iconostasis dating from 1408 no longer corresponded to the tastes of the age of Catherine the Great and was taken out of the church and sold to the village of Vasilievskoye, near Shui (present-day Ivanovskaya Oblast). During 1918–1920s, the icons were removed by an expedition of the Central State Restoration Workshops.

Rogation Days

Here's Full Homely Divinity on these three pre-Ascension days.  We had a bit of a "Rogation Sunday" today (as suggested below):  special vestments were hung and worn; special collects read; holy water sprinkled round about the grounds; kids planted flowers and trees.

Beating the bounds in Victorian London

The Rogation Days, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday before Ascension Day, originated in Vienne, France (not Vienna, Austria), in 470 after a series of natural disasters had caused much suffering among the people. Archbishop Mamertus proclaimed a fast and ordered that special litanies and prayers be said as the population processed around their fields, asking God's protection and blessing on the crops that were just beginning to sprout. The Latin word rogare means "to ask", thus these were "rogation" processions. In an agricultural society, closely connected with the soil and highly vulnerable to the uncertainties of nature, this was an idea that took root quickly, and the custom spread around Europe and over to Britain. The Sunday before the Rogation Days came to be considered a part of Rogationtide (or "Rogantide") and was known as Rogation Sunday. The Gospel formerly appointed for that day was from John 16, where Jesus tells his disciples to ask, and ye shall receive.

Beating the bounds in Lambeth, 1961

While technically they were days of fasting, for which they were also known as "Grass Days," for the meatless meals that were enjoined, the Rogation Days developed into a popular festival, celebrating the arrival of spring and serving other purposes, as well. Other names for these days include "Gang Days," from the Anglo-Saxon gangen, "to go," and "Cross Days," both titles signifying the processions with crosses and banners around the countryside. In some parishes, the procession took more than one day and the whole business became an occasion for several days of picnics and revels of all sorts, particularly among those who trooped along at the fringes of the religious aspects of the procession.

Beating the bounds in Claverton, 1999

The route of the walk was around the boundaries of the parish, which was a civil as well as a religious unit. Thus, the processions were useful in teaching people, particularly the young, their parish boundaries. Known as "beating the bounds," the processions customarily stopped at boundary marks and other significant landmarks of the parish, such as a venerable tree, or a great rock, or perhaps a pond. The priest would read the Gospel and perhaps affix a cross to the landmark. Then the boys of the parish would suffer some indignity intended to help them remember the spot. Boys were bumped about against rocks and trees, thrown into the water, held upside-down over fences, thrown into bramble patches, or beaten with willow wands--and then given a treat in compensation. In later times, the marchers beat the boundary marker with the willow wands, beating the bounds, rather than the boys.

The reminder of boundaries had another important impact on communal life. In a poem by the 20th century American Robert Frost, the poet's neighbor asserts that "good fences make good neighbors." Boundaries are often very important in relationships. As members of parishes beat the bounds, they would often encounter obstructions and violations of boundaries. The annual beating of the bounds provided an opportunity to resolve boundary issues. It also led to the tradition of seeking reconciliation in personal relationships during Rogationtide. The sharing of a specially brewed ale, called Ganging Beer, and a mysterious pastry, called Rammalation Biscuits, at the end of the walk was a good way of sealing the reconciliation.

George Herbert gave the following good reasons to beat the bounds: 1) a blessing of God for the fruits of the field; 2) Justice in the preservation of the bounds; 3) Charitie, in living, walking and neighbourliy accompanying one another, with reconciling of differences at that time, if they be any; 4) Mercie, in relieving the poor by a liberal distribution of largess which at that time is or oght be made.

The custom of placing crosses on boundary markers and in the fields seems to derive from the fact that the Rogation Days fall near the old feast day of the Invention (or Finding) of the Cross. Crouchmas ("Cross-mass") was on May 3rd and it was the custom on that day to place crosses in fields and gardens as a way of blessing them and praying for them to be fruitful. While full Rogation processions are rare today, the blessing of crosses to be planted in the fields of the faithful is one of the ways the older customs survive.

Keeping the Rogation Days Today

Much of modern society has lost its direct connection with the soil, but this psychological distance does not lessen the actual dependence of all people on the gifts of nature. Furthermore, responsible stewardship of all of these gifts is increasingly being recognized as the concern of all people. Days of thanksgiving, harvest festivals, and the like are observed in many churches at the end of the growing season. The Rogation Days at the time of planting have become little more than a liturgical footnote in the American Prayer Book, but in these times of growing ecological concern the Church would do well to revive them.

Practically speaking, the revival of Rogation observances is likely to involve more people if they are part of a Sunday service. It should be added that, while the Sixth Sunday of Easter is the traditional day, some adaptation to the local season and climate would be appropriate. After all, there is little point in blessing fields and seeds for planting at the time when crops are being harvested in the southern hemisphere. Similarly, there will be many places where farms and rural countryside will not be the locale of processions and blessings. But even in urban churches there should be an awareness of our dependence upon the fruits and resources of the earth, of the ways in which resources are wasted, of the dangers of pollution, and of our responsibility for honest labor and industry.

A Rogation observance in church, then, can be the opportunity for a homily on the Christian stewardship of natural resources. Various symbols can be introduced into the liturgy to reinforce this theme. A procession around the whole parish might not be a possibility, but a procession around the church grounds, a local park, or a parishioner's farm would be appropriate. Parishioners can bring their own garden seeds to be blessed and crosses can be blessed for parishioners to take home and plant in their fields or gardens. Making the crosses would be a good project for the children of the church school or individual families. If the children made Easter gardens, the plants in them can be transplanted to either the parish garden or their family gardens at home, adapting some of the prayers below. Even though the Sunday readings no longer keep the Rogation theme, the hymns can. Hymns and canticles that fit the Rogation theme include, "O Jesus crowned with all renown", "Fairest Lord Jesus", "We plow the fields and scatter", "Now the green blade rises", "O worship the King", Benedicite, omnia opera, and Psalm 65.

Here are some elements and prayers for a Rogationtide expansion of the Eucharistic liturgy on Rogation Sunday or any day designated for the observance of Rogation themes:

At the Offertory

Expand upon the usual Offertory of the Eucharist. Seven elements might be presented by members of the congregation and placed upon the Altar:

money - the regular tithes and offerings;
bread - preferably a home-baked loaf (click here for some recipes);
wine - perhaps a bottle of table wine, rather than the usual Eucharistic wine;
soil - a wooden or earthenware bowl of soil;
water - in a clear vessel so that it may be seen;
seed - a bowl of seed, or a basket of various packaged seeds (notice might be
given beforehand for people to bring their own garden seed to be blessed
either at the Eucharist or at the procession afterwards);
crosses - a basket of small wooden or paper crosses.

When the elements are brought forward, or after they have been presented, sing this hymn to the tune Lancashire ("Lead on, O King eternal"):

We pray thee, therefore, Father, to take these gifts of ours
Ourselves, our lives, our labors, our thoughts, our words, our powers;
Though they all be unworthy to place upon Thy board
We know Thou wilt accept them through Jesus Christ our Lord.

As each element is received, an appropriate prayer is said:

At the presentation of money:
Accept, O Lord, our gifts of money, which represent the business of our daily lives:  Use them for the work of your Holy Church to carry out your mission; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of bread:
Almighty God our Savior, who in the carpenter's shop at Nazareth labored for daily bread: Accept this bread which is both the fruit of our work and the satisfaction of our needs, and so bless all our industry and necessity; for your sake. Amen.

At the presentation of wine:
We offer you, O Lord, this wine, the fruit of the vine: We pray that you will accept it, that it may become for us the Blood of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of soil:
Almighty Creator, we offer to you this soil in token of the fields and forests of our land on which we ask your blessing: We ask that the soil may be wholesome, the crops good, and that we may be faithful stewards of your mercies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


At the presentation of water:
O God, who brought forth life out of the waters of creation: Bless this offering of water and grant that there may be sufficient water to raise up good crops and to serve the needs of our industries; and may we drink of the Living Water to bring forth the fruit of godly living from the soil of our souls; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of seeds:
O Heavenly Father, who by your wondrous providence made all grass, herbs, and trees, each with seed after its own kind: Accept and bless our offering of seed to be planted throughout our parish, that the life in all seed sown may burst forth into fullness of its kind, according to your good creation, and especially the seed of your Word; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

At the presentation of crosses:
O God, whose blessed Son has promised that we need only to ask in order to receive: Accept and bless these crosses, and grant that in the fields where we place them they may stand as a sign of our unfailing trust in your bounty and as encouragement to all who see them to put their faith in your providence; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rogation procession in Bedford, 1952

There's more at the link.

We sang some of the hymns suggested above, including "O Jesus crowned with all renown" - the one and only "Rogation Days" hymn in the 1982 hymnal.  And, a favorite of mine,  the beautiful "Fairest Lord Jesus"; it's sung in the video below by the children of Truro Cathedral.  (You can hear both of  these hymns on the May 5, 2013 service of Compline podcast from St. Mark's Seattle.  Obviously, they were celebrating Rogation Days, too!)  

Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest (Sursum Corda)

Another wonderful hymn we had the privilege of singing today - and the tune, "Sursum corda," is beautifully played in the video below.    How splendid the first stanza especially - and how lovely the Easter season!




"Sursum corda" was written by Alfred Morton Smith; the words below are by George Wallace Briggs (both 20th C.). Sing, sing!

Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest;
nay, let us be thy guests; the feast is thine;
thyself at thine own board make manifest
in thine own Sacrament of Bread and Wine.

We meet, as in that upper room they met;
thou at the table, blessing, yet dost stand:
"This is my Body"; so thou givest yet:
faith still receives the cup as from thy hand.

One body, we, one Body who partake,
one Church united in communion blest;
one Name we bear, one Bread of life we break,
with all thy saints on earth and saints at rest.

One with each other, Lord, for one in thee,
who art one Savior and one living Head;
then open thou our eyes, that we may see;
be known to us in breaking of the Bread.

"Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron"

This video comes from Cologne Cathedral's Easter Vigil in 2010; the title in English is "Praise God on his most high throne."  We sing it as "Good Christians all, rejoice and sing"; the words in German and English are below. (They are really two  completely different texts, though.)   The music is by Melchior Vulpius (~1560-1615); English words by Cyril A. Alington (1872-1955).

It's a great set of words in English!  Was very happy to sing this today....

 

Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron
samt seinem eingebornen Sohn,
der für uns hat genug getan.
Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja.

Des Morgens früh am dritten Tag,
da noch der Stein am Grabe lag,
erstand er frei ohn alle Klag.
Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja.

Der Engel sprach: "Ei fürcht? euch nicht;
denn ich weiß wohl, was euch gebricht.
Ihr sucht Jesum, den findt ihr nicht.
"Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja."

Er ist erstanden von dem Tod,
hat überwunden alle Not;
kommt, seht wo er gelegen hat.
"Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja.

Nun bitten wir dich, Jesu Christ,
weil du vom Tod erstanden bist,
verleihe, was uns selig ist,
Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja.

O mache unser Herz bereit,
damit von Sünden wir befreit
dir mögen singen allezeit:
Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleluja.

Good Christians all, rejoice and sing!
Now is the triumph of our King!
To all the world glad news we bring:
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord of life is risen today!
Sing songs of praise along his way;
let all the earth rejoice and say:
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Praise we in songs of victory
that love, that life which cannot die,
and sing with hearts uplifted high:
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Your name we bless, O risen Lord,
and sing today with one accord
the life laid down, the life restored:
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The Office of Compline for March 31, 2013

Here's an mp3 of a really lovely Easter service of Compline, sung last Sunday evening by  the Compline Choir of St. Mark's Cathedral. 

Sunday of the Resurrection
Easter Day
Conductor: Jason AndersonReader: Jeremy MatheisCantor: Kenneth Peterson

PROCESSIONAL: Easter Canticle (Peter Hallock [b. 1924])

PSALM: 114 (plainsong, Tonus peregrinus)

HYMN: “Come ye faithful, raise the strain” (tune: Gaudeamus pariter, melody from Johann Horn [1490 - 1547] - Gesangbuch, [1544])

NUNC DIMITTIS: (setting by William Byrd [ca. 1539/40 - 1623], Tonus peregrinus)

ANTHEM: “Haec est dies” (Jakob (Handl) Gallus [1550 - 1591])

Here's Duccio's "Road to Emmaus," from about 1310:

New York Polyphony: Sicut cervus

Palestrina's gorgeous setting of the Easter Vigil Psalm text.  NY Polyphony at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin:  exquisite as always.

Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.

"Easter: something as new as the creation of the world"

Here's catholicity and covenant's lovely post for Easter Day:

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, before any one had done a stroke of work or acquired a jot of merit, he rose from the sepulchre, bringing new life to his disciples. What then began had nothing to do with last week's work or last week's sins; they all seemed centuries away. The old world for Christ's disciples had ended in calamity, had gone down into a gulf of darkness; the earth had crumbled under their feet, they had nothing to stand upon. But here was something as new as the creation of the world where no world was; new life straight from the hands of the only living God.


From Austin Farrer's sermon "Early in the Morning" in Said or Sung.

(The painting is Georges Rouault Christ on the Road to Emmaus.)

Rise Up, My Love, My Fair One

Rise up my love, my fair one, and come away.
For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear upon the earth.
The time of singing of birds is come.
Arise my love, my fair one, and come away.

Music:  Healey Willan; Text:  Song of Songs 2:10-12

A blessed Easter to all.

The Easter Vigil Offertory: Dextera Domini

Dextera Domini is now the Offertory for the Easter Vigil; it was previously the Offertory for Maundy Thursday (as labeled in the video); Ubi Caritas has taken that place in the current rite for Holy Thursday. The singers here are the Benedictine Nuns of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation, Le Barroux.



This chant is very suited to the Vigil, though!  The text comes from Psalm 118, vv. 16-17:

The right hand of the LORD has triumphed! *
the right hand of the LORD is exalted!
the right hand of the LORD has triumphed!"

I shall not die, but live, *
and declare the works of the LORD.

Here's the full chant score:

I need to do a little research about the Easter Vigil, I see now; I know it was "recovered" in the 1960s/1970s liturgical reforms, but don't know much about this.  I have a feeling - just a feeling so far - that the Vigil may have been celebrated all along in at least some monastic houses, even when it wasn't in parish churches and Cathedrals.   I'll certainly post on this when I learn more.

Right now I'm looking at the Academy of Gregorian Chant's page on this text, and finding it used in a variety of liturgical situations; for instance, here it is listed as the Offertory for Epiphany III, in the Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 121(1151):

The description of that manuscript, by the way, is pretty interesting:

This Codex comprises the oldest complete surviving neumed mass antiphonary; it includes assorted appendices (such as Alleluia verses, Antiphons and Psalm verses for the Communion Antiphons). Because the mass antiphonary is complete, the manuscript remains important to this day as a resource for Gregorian chant research. The second part of the codex contains the Libyer Ymnorum, the Sequences of Notker of St. Gall. Recent research has established that the codex was written in Einsiedeln itself (in about 960-970), most likely for the third abbot of the cloister, Gregor the Englishman. (lan)

Here's another example of its use for Epiphany III, from the "Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer Cod. Bodmer 74:

Here's a description of that manuscript:

This Gradual was produced in 1071 by the archpresbyter of the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere; it contains the musical scores for assorted liturgical songs. These melodies set down in written form make CB 74 the oldest record of Roman song.

I'm also seeing the text used in the "Graduale, Troparium et Prosarium ad usum Sancti Aredii. 1001-1400" (among quite a number of other places); I believe here, too, it is used for Epiphany III although this one's a bit harder to read. It's definitely in January, anyway.



There is more and more information these days about chant online; these chant manuscripts are really fascinating, and there seems to be a quite a lot of consistency of use in the chants - as well as a great deal of variety.  Interesting that both things can be true - but then, there are so many, many chants.  I'm having fun looking at all of this, I have to say - and very grateful for the publicly-available images and links.


And there is so much more music available now!  When I first started this blog, it was the Brazilian Benedictines, St. David's Compline Choir, the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood - and almost nothing else.  Thanks to them, for being there so long ago - and to everybody who's posting this stuff now, too.

Here is the Easter Vigil page on the Brazilians' website, and here are other Chantblog posts about the Easter Vigil propers:

• Exsultet (or Exsultet!)
• The Easter Vigil: Alleluia!
• Vidi Aquam
• Sicut Cervus

Here, the Warsaw Boys' and Men's Choir, along with the AMFC Symphony Orchestra and the Pueri Cantores Plocenses Choir, sing Cesar Franck's beautiful setting of this text; nice job!



Josef Rheinberger set the text, too; here's his, sung by the Regensburger Domspatzen:



Wikipedia says that "The Regensburger Domspatzen is the official choir for the liturgical music at St Peter's Cathedral in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany. The choir consists of boys and young men only."

Here's a "fragment" of Duccio's "Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene," from about 1311; gorgeous!  He's fast becoming one of my favorite artists ever.

Easter Day: Pascha Nostrum

Pascha Nostrum ("Our Passover") is the Alleluia for Easter Day. Here's a beautiful version chanted by the Benedictine monks of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (France):

 

Pascha Nostrum is also the Communion Hymn for Easter Day. Here it is sung by the Gloriæ Dei Cantores Schola:



The text for both comes from 1 Corinthians 5, v. 7-8:

7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Here's William Byrd's polyphonic version of the Communio text:



Here's another version of the shorter Alleluia text, by Léonin (1150 - 1201?); this was recorded by the Early Music Consort of London in 1975 (it says).



 Don't quite know what this "Medieval Chant of the Cathedral of Benevento" (sung by Ensemble Organum)  is. Beautiful, though!

Easter Lauds: Et ecce terræmótus

Et ecce terræmótus  - "And behold there was a great earthquake" - is the second Psalm antiphon at Lauds on Easter Day.  You can look this up at Divinum Officium ; just enter (for instance) 3-31-2013 for Easter's date, and then click "Laudes."  (The Psalm number is according to the Vulgate; this is Psalm 100 for Anglicans):

Ant.    Et ecce terræmótus * factus est magnus : Angelus enim Dómini descéndit de cælo, allelúja.	Ant.    And behold there was a great earthquake, * for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, allelúja.
Psalmus 99.  Jubilate Jubiláte Deo, omnis terra: * servíte Dómino in lætítia. 2  Introíte in conspéctu ejus, * in exsultatióne. 3  Scitóte quóniam Dóminus ipse est Deus: * ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos. 4  Pópulus ejus, et oves páscuæ ejus: * introíte portas ejus in confessióne, átria ejus in hymnis: confitémini illi. 5  Laudáte nomen ejus: quóniam suávis est Dóminus, in ætérnum misericórdia ejus, * et usque in generatiónem et generatiónem véritas ejus.	Psalm 99.  Jubilate O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands: * serve the Lord with gladness, 2  And come before his presence * with a song.. 3  Be ye sure that the Lord he is God; * it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. 4  We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture : * O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be ye thankful unto him. 5  Give praises unto his Name: for the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting; * and his truth endureth from generation to generation.
Ant.    Et ecce terræmótus factus est magnus : Angelus enim Dómini descéndit de cælo, allelúja.	Ant.    And behold there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven, allelúja.

The text for the antiphon comes from Matthew 28:2:

1 Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”

There is, again, no chant score or recording of this antiphon online (I'll wait for Jakub to come by for that!  - or maybe I can find it in some manuscript someplace and transcribe it myself)....

(EDIT: Thanks, Jakub!

)

....but there's a rather famous mass of the same name, by the 14th/15th Century French composer Antoine Brumel.  Missa Et ecce terræmótus - "The Earthquake Mass," that is - is an amazing piece in 12 voices, here sung by the Huelgas Ensemble.



Here's something from Gimell records about Brumel and this mass:

It is hard to think of any other piece of music quite like the 12-part 'Earthquake' Mass by Antoine Brumel (c.1460-c.1520). Both in its employment of twelve voices for almost its entire length and in its musical effects, there is nothing comparable to it in the renaissance period, even if some of those effects may remind the listener of the 40-part motet Spem in alium (1) by Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585). Brumel's masterpiece did not inaugurate a fashion for massive compositions; but it did quickly establish a formidable reputation for itself, admired throughout central Europe in the 16th century as an experiment which could not easily be repeated. It is tribute enough that the only surviving source was copied in Munich under the direct supervision of the late renaissance composer Orlandus Lassus (1532-1594), who nonetheless never tried to rival its idiom in his own work.

A pupil of Josquin des Prés (c.1440-1521) and one of the leading Franco-Flemish composers around 1500, Brumel was famous throughout the 16th century. In a period which has left a large number of laments in memory of its great composers, Brumel received an exceptional number, more than Obrecht (c.1450-1505), Mouton (c.1459-1522) and Agricola (?1446-1506) put together. Thomas Morley (in A Plain and Easy Introduction to Practical Music, 1597) was probably the last writer to praise Brumel for his skill, the only master he ranked alongside Josquin, making particular reference to his ability in the art of canonic composition. Brumel is important to modern commentators because he was one of the few leading members of the Franco-Flemish school to be genuinely French, which is to say that he was born outside the boundaries of the Burgundian Empire, somewhere near Chartres. He was initially employed in France proper at the Cathedrals of Chartres and Laon and (in 1498) at Notre Dame in Paris where he was responsible for the education of the choirboys. However he seems to have had a restless temperament, which led to his dismissal on at least two occasions, and he soon began the peripatetic life of so many musicians of the renaissance period. There is evidence that he was employed in Geneva, Chambéry and probably Rome; but the high-point of his career was the fifteen years he spent as successor to Josquin and Obrecht at the court of Ferrara (between 1505 and 1520) in the retinue of Alfonso d'Este I.

Brumel's reputation as a writer of canons would not have been greatly increased by the simple example which underlies the Missa Et ecce terrae motus, for all that the presence of the canon plays an important role in understanding the unusual musical style of the whole. Brumel restricted his quotation of the Easter plainsong antiphon at Lauds, Et ecce terrae motus, to its first seven notes (which set the seven syllables of its title to D-D-B-D-E-D-D), working them in three-part canon between the third bass and the first two tenor parts during some of the Mass's 12-part passages. These statements occur in very long notes compared with the surrounding activity and their details may vary slightly from quotation to quotation (for example, which of the three voices begins and what the interval between them may be). By and large, though, the realisation of this canonic scaffolding is not rigorous and many of the sections of the mass are free of canon altogether.

However the influence of these slow-moving notes can be heard throughout the work, whether they are actually there or not, in the solid, slow-changing underlying chords. A casual listener to the Missa Et ecce terrae motus, confused at first by the teeming detail of the rhythmic patterns, may hear only some rather disappointing harmonies. Closer listening will reveal why Brumel chose to write in so many parts: he needed them to decorate his colossal harmonic pillars. In doing so he effectively abandoned polyphony in the sense of independent yet interrelated melodic lines, and resorted to sequences and figurations which were atypical of his time. The effect can even be akin to that of Islamic art: static, non-representational, tirelessly inventive in its use of abstract designs, which are intensified by their repetitive application. This style of writing is so effective that anyone who might be reminded of Tallis's Spem in alium would be unable to conceive of the need for another 28 parts.

The manuscript source for Brumel's 'Earthquake' Mass (Munich Bayerische Staatsbibliothek Mus. MS1) was copied for a performance in about 1570 at the Bavarian court. The names of the 33 court singers are given against the nine lower parts (the boys are not named), amongst whom Lassus sang Tenor II. Unfortunately the last folios, which contain the Agnus Dei, have rotted, leaving holes in the voice-parts. Any editor of the piece is presented with the unusual task of trying to guess where the notes which he can read might fit, as they are placed on the page in individual parts rather than in score; then re-compose what is missing. This was done for Gimell by Francis Knights. A further Agnus Dei, on the Et ecce terrae motus chant and attributed to Brumel, survives in Copenhagen; but it is widely thought not to belong to the 12-part Mass, since it is for six voices, which use different vocal ranges from those in the 12-part setting. In addition its musical style differs in various important respects from that of the larger work, not least in quoting many more than the first seven notes of the chant. For these reasons it has been omitted from this recording. The Mass is scored for three sopranos, one true alto, five wide-ranging tenors and three basses. The tessitura of all these parts (except perhaps that of the sopranos) is unpredictable to the point of eccentricity. Countertenor II, for example, has a range of two octaves and a tone, the widest vocal range I have ever met in renaissance music.

Surrexit pastor bonus

Surrexit pastor bonus is the second Matins Responsory for Easter Monday; see it here in its context at Breviary.net.  Here is the text and translation from that site:

R.  Surréxit pastor bonus, qui ánimam suam pósuit pro óvibus suis, et pro grege suo mori dignátus est : * Allelúja, allelúja, allelúja. V. Etenim Pascha nostrum immolátus est Christus. R.  Allelúja, allelúja, allelúja. V. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. R.  Allelúja, allelúja, allelúja.

R.  The Good Shepherd is risen, who laid down his life for his sheep, and vouchsafed to die for his flock : * Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. V. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. R.  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. V. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. R.  Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no plainchant audio recording of this anywhere online. (EDIT: But there may be soon, thanks to Jakub Pavlik (see comments)! Jakub, who lives, I believe, in the Czech Republic, has already transcribed the responsory from the Antiphonarium Sedunense - a 14th-Century manuscript from Domstift Sitten (that's "the Cathedral Chapter" in Sion ("Sitten"), Switzerland) housed at a Swiss manuscript library - and linked to a PDF of the transcription posted at this Czech Liturgy of the Hours website! Amazing.

Here's an image file I created from his PDF; this Responsory was, evidently, put together a bit differently at Domstift Sitten. Notice the second Versicle, which reads "Surrexit dominus de sepulchro qui pro nobis propendit in ligno," which translates as "The Lord is risen from the grave, who for us was hung from the tree."

Many, many thanks to Jakub, who may soon create an audio file of this! Ah, the interwebs....!)

However, many composers have set this text in polyphony - Victoria, di Lassus, Palestrina, L'Héritier, and Mendelssohn, among others.  Understandable; it's a beautiful text.

Most have set only the first part of the text; here it is, along with a different (and I think better) English translation:

Surrexit pastor bonus,
qui animam suam posuit,
pro ovibus suis et pro grege suo mori
dignatus est. Alleluia.

The good shepherd has risen,
who laid down his life for his sheep,
and deigned to die for his flock. Alleluia.

Here's one recording of di Lassus' version, sung by the Wicker Park [Chicago] Choral Singers:



It would be very worth your while, I think, to click over to this page and listen to L'Héritier's version, sung by the Oxford Camerata; I can't embed it here. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about L'Héritier:

Jean L'Héritier (Lhéritier, Lirithier, Heritier and other spellings also exist) (c. 1480 – after 1551) was a French composer of the Renaissance. He was mainly famous as a composer of motets, and is representative of the generation of composers active in the early to middle 16th century who anticipated the style of Palestrina. He was a native of the diocese of Thérouanne, in the Pas-de-Calais, but little is known about his early years.

According to a note by an Italian contemporary, L'Héritier was a pupil of Josquin des Prez, a relationship which most likely occurred while Josquin was at the French royal court in the years after 1500 (exact years for Josquin's stay there have not been established).

[EDIT:  The video is now embeddable:



]

And here's an interesting bit about this particular piece:

The manuscript containing Surrexit pastor bonus was a working choirbook for the choir of the Julian Chapel in the Vatican, and is a major source for motets by composers of the post-Josquin generation. It is dated 1536 and bears the coat of arms of Pope Paul III (1534-49). It contains seven motets by Lhéritier, one fewer than the best represented composer, Claudin de Sermisy. It also contains motets by Josquin, Festa, Maistre Jan, Jachet of Mantua, Verdelot, Gombert, Willaert, Lupi, Morales and da Silva.

That Lhéritier's music was highly regarded in the sixteenth century is evident from the number and geographical diversity of sources in which his music is found. Much of his work was published by printers in Paris, Lyon, Rome, Ferrara and Venice as well as in Nuremberg, Louvain and Seville. Moreover, his works were being reprinted well into the 1580s, and manuscripts of his works were compiled as far afield as Spain, Germany, Austria, Poland and Bohemia as well as in France, the Netherlands and Italy. Palestrina based two masses on motets by Lhéritier, and it is obvious that Lhéritier was important in developing the style of continuous imitation from Josquin and disseminating this style in Italy.

And wow! How about this terrific take on Mendelssohn's Surrexit pastor bonus, from "Concert de l'Escolania de Montserrat a l'església de Saint-Hilaire de Poitiers - 27 de juny del 2008." Man, these boys can sing!



This sheet-music site offers an interesting anecdote about the Mendelssohn:

Inspiration for the Three Motets op. 39 was a visit to the romanesque church of Trinità dei Monti. On 20 Dec 1830 Mendelssohn wrote to his parents: "The French nuns sing there, and it is wonderfully lovely. ... Now, one should know one more thing: that one is not allowed to see the singers. Therefore I have come to an unusual decision: I will compose something for their voices, which I rememer exactly..."

Another recording of the Mendelssohn - very beautiful, but in my opinion not as exciting - from the Stuttgart Chamber Choir:



Here's Pieter Brueghel the Younger's "Good Shepherd,"  which hangs in the Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Brueghel lived from 1565 to 1636.

And here's The Good Shepherd mosaic in the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Ravenna, from the 1st half of 5th century:

Elizaphanian: "Why is it a 'Good' Friday?"

Rev. Sam on a roll! Looks like he's writing for the local news organization, and well done on that....

Courier article

Why 'Good'? The simple answer is that the crucifixion of Jesus reveals the truth about the world – and the truth sets us free. I believe that what is Good about Good Friday is that on this day above all God is revealed as a God of love, that with this God there is no place for fear of punishment. There are lots of theories that Christians debate about how we are to understand this (it's technically called 'the Atonement') but I think CS Lewis put it best when he said: "We are told that Christ was killed for us, that His death has washed out our sins, and that by dying He disabled death itself. That is the formula. That is Christianity. That is what has to be believed. Any theories we build up as to how Christ's death did all this are, in my view, quite secondary: mere plans or diagrams to be left alone if they do not help us, and, even if they do help us, not to be confused with the thing itself... "

Good Friday is really the culmination of something that I have been trying to describe through my last half-dozen articles – it is the climax and inevitable conclusion of living in a Fallen world. That is, it is because of our sin and brokenness that someone who was innocent ends up getting lynched. What makes Jesus remarkable is that he recognises what is going on and doesn't fight back. He recognises that what keeps the fallen system ticking over is the process of praise and blame, judgement and condemnation. As an innocent man Jesus had every right to retaliate against those who were accusing him, those who were beating him and flogging him. But he didn't. Instead he forgave them. In other words, what Jesus was doing was breaking the cycle of violence and pointing out that we didn't have to keep trudging around that path.

Righteous violence, after all, is what put him on the cross. It was the certainty of being righteous that gave each group of accusers their justification for putting Jesus to death. Whether that be the Romans, the religious authorities, the crowd or even the friend who betrayed him, there was always some more or less expedient rationale that could be deployed to make sense of doing something wrong. That is still the world that we live in. In effect, what happens on the cross is that judgement itself is judged, condemnation itself is condemned. The cross is the declaration that God is not on the side of those doing the denouncing, rather God is the one who is being denounced, the one who has offended the political authorities and the religious authorities and disappointed the expectations of the crowd and his friends.

When Christians talk about the cross – which is so central to our faith – this is what we are conscious of. Our own failures and brokenness, all the ways in which we have fallen short of God's intentions for us. Yet the thing is – it is level ground at the foot of cross. That is, we are all in the same boat; as St Paul puts it, 'We are none of us righteous, no, not one'. To come to the foot of the cross is, for the Christian, simply to recognise our own fallen nature, to see the consequences of that fallen nature, but also to recognise that God has taken those consequences onto himself, and that if we acknowledge this truth and let go of the compulsions and fears that lead us to judge and condemn each other – then we need have no fear of condemnation and judgement ourselves. This is the secret at the heart of the Lord's Prayer: 'forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us'. We just stand at the foot of the cross, not asserting our own goodness, but recognising the fate of goodness in our Fallen world.

Of course, if this was the end of the story, it would mean that the fallen world was all that there is – and that really wouldn't be Good. But I don't want to spoil the end of the story for those who don't know it... I'll say something about that in my next article.

(Note the Girardian analysis slipped in there casually!)

Hopefully he'll update his blog so I can let everybody know how it all comes out....

Easter: Kommt, eilet und laufet, ihr flüchtigen Füße (The Easter Oratorio, BWV 249)

"Come hasten and hurry, you swift feet!," that is.

Translations:

Maria Jacobi (S), Maria Magdalena (A), Petrus (T), Johannes (B) 

1. Sinfonia

2. Adagio

3. Aria (Duetto) T B
Kommt, eilet und laufet, ihr flüchtigen Füße,
Erreichet die Höhle, die Jesum bedeckt!
    Lachen und Scherzen
    Begleitet die Herzen,
    Denn unser Heil ist auferweckt.
  
4. Recitativo A S T B
Alt
O kalter Männer Sinn!
Wo ist die Liebe hin,
Die ihr dem Heiland schuldig seid?
Sopran
Ein schwaches Weib muss euch beschämen!
Tenor
Ach, ein betrübtes Grämen
Bass
Und banges Herzeleid
Tenor, Bass
Hat mit gesalznen Tränen
Und wehmutsvollem Sehnen
Ihm eine Salbung zugedacht,
Sopran, Alt
Die ihr, wie wir, umsonst gemacht.

5. Aria S
Seele, deine Spezereien
Sollen nicht mehr Myrrhen sein.
    Denn allein
    Mit dem Lorbeerkranze prangen,
    Stillt dein ängstliches Verlangen.
  
6. Recitativo T B A
Tenor
Hier ist die Gruft
Bass
Und hier der Stein,
Der solche zugedeckt.
Wo aber wird mein Heiland sein?
Alt
Er ist vom Tode auferweckt!
Wir trafen einen Engel an,
Der hat uns solches kundgetan.
Tenor
Hier seh ich mit Vergnügen
Das Schweißtuch abgewickelt liegen.

7. Aria T
Sanfte soll mein Todeskummer,
Nur ein Schlummer,
Jesu, durch dein Schweißtuch sein.
    Ja, das wird mich dort erfrischen
    Und die Zähren meiner Pein
    Von den Wangen tröstlich wischen.
  
8. Recitativo S A
Indessen seufzen wir
Mit brennender Begier:
Ach, könnt es doch nur bald geschehen,
Den Heiland selbst zu sehen!

9. Aria A
Saget, saget mir geschwinde,
Saget, wo ich Jesum finde,
Welchen meine Seele liebt!
    Komm doch, komm, umfasse mich;
    Denn mein Herz ist ohne dich
    Ganz verwaiset und betrübt.
  
10. Recitativo B
Wir sind erfreut,
Dass unser Jesus wieder lebt,
Und unser Herz,
So erst in Traurigkeit zerflossen und geschwebt
Vergisst den Schmerz
Und sinnt auf Freudenlieder;
Denn unser Heiland lebet wieder.

11. Coro
Preis und Dank
Bleibe, Herr, dein Lobgesang.
Höll und Teufel sind bezwungen,
Ihre Pforten sind zerstört.
Jauchzet, ihr erlösten Zungen,
Dass man es im Himmel hört.
Eröffnet, ihr Himmel, die prächtigen Bogen,
Der Löwe von Juda kommt siegend gezogen!

Mary, daughter of James (S), Mary Magdalene (A), Peter (T), John (B)

1. Sinfonia

2. Adagio

3. Aria (T, B) (1)
Come, hasten and hurry,(2) ye fleet-footed paces,
Make haste for the grotto which Jesus doth veil!

Laughter and pleasure, Attend ye our hearts now, For he who saves us is raised up.

4. Recit. (A, S, T, B) Mary Magdalene, Mary, daughter of James, Peter, John
(Mary Magdalene)
O men so cold of heart!
Where is that love then gone
Which to the Savior ye now owe?
(Mary, daughter of James)
A helpless woman must upbraid you!
(Peter)
Ah, our sore-troubled grieving
(John)
And anxious, heartfelt woe
(Peter, John)
Here, joined with salty weeping
And melancholy yearning,
For him an unction did intend,
(Mary, daughter of James, Mary Magdalene)
Which ye, as we, in vain have brought.

5. Aria (S) Mary, daughter of James
Spirit, these thy costly spices
Should consist no more of myrrh.

For alone, Crowned with laurel wreaths resplendent, Wilt thou still thy anxious longing(3).

6. Recit. (T, B, A) Peter, John, Mary Magdalene
(Peter)
Here is the crypt
(John)
And here the stone
Which kept it tightly closed.
But where, then, is my Savior gone?
(Mary Magdalene)
He is from death now risen up!
We met, before, an angel here
Who brought to us report of this.
(Peter)
I see now with great rapture
The napkin all unwound here lying.

7. Aria (T) Peter
Gentle shall my dying labor,
Nought but slumber,
Jesus, through thy napkin be.
Yes, for it will there(4) refresh me
And the tears of all my pain
From my cheeks wipe dry with comfort.

8. Recit. and Arioso (S, A) Mary, daughter of James, Mary Magdalene
And meanwhile, sighing, we
Here burn with deep desire:
Ah, if it only soon might happen,
To see himself the Savior!

9. Aria (A) Mary Magdalene
Tell me, tell me, tell me quickly,
Tell me where I may find Jesus,
Him whom all my soul doth love!

Come now, come, and hold me close, For my heart is, lacking thee, Left an orphan and distressed.

10. Recit. (B) John
We now rejoice
That this our Jesus lives again,
And these our hearts,
Which once in sadness were dissolved and in suspense,
Forget their pain
And turn to joyful anthems,
For this our Savior once more liveth.

11. Chorus (S, A, T, B)
Laud and thanks
Bide, O Lord, thy song of praise.
Hell and devil are now vanquished,
And their portals are destroyed.
Triumph, O ye ransomed voices,
Till ye be in heaven heard.
Spread open, ye heavens, your glorious arches,
The Lion of Judah with triumph shall enter!

The Easter Sequence: Victimae Paschali Laudes

Victimae paschali laudes
immolent Christiani.

Agnus redemit oves:
Christus innocens Patri
Reconciliavit peccatores.

Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando,
Dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus.

Dic nobis Maria, quid vidisti in via?
Sepulcrum Christi viventis,
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis:

Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Christus spes mea:
Praecedet vos in Galilaeam.


Scimus Christum surrexisse
a mortuis vere:
Tu nobis, victor Rex, miserere.
Amen. Alleluia.

Christians, to the Paschal victim
offer your thankful praises!

A lamb the sheep redeemeth:
Christ, who only is sinless,
reconcileth sinners to the Father.

Death and life have contended
in that combat stupendous:
the Prince of life, who died,
reigns immortal.

Speak, Mary, declaring
what thou sawest, wayfaring:

"The tomb of Christ, who is living,
the glory of Jesus' resurrection;

"Bright angels attesting,
the shroud and napkin resting.

"Yea, Christ my hope is arisen;
to Galilee he will go before you."

Christ indeed from death is risen,
our new life obtaining;
have mercy, victor King, ever reigning!
Amen.

From the YouTube page:

Victimae Paschali is usually attributed to Wipo of Burgundy (1039), chaplain of the German Emperor Conrad II in the 11th century. It has also been attributed to Notker Balbulus (10th century) and Adam of St. Victor (13th century). Its text was also set to different music by many Renaissance and Baroque composers, including Busnois, Josquin, Lassus, Willaert, Hans Buchner, Palestrina, Byrd, Perosi, and Fernando de las Infantas. Lutheran chorales derived from Victimae Paschali Laudes include Christ ist erstanden and Christ lag in Todesbanden.

During the Middle Ages there were many Sequences in use, but the Council of Trent abolished all but a few. In the Missal of Pius V (1570) the number of sequences for the entire Roman Rite was reduced to four: Victimae paschali laudes (11th century) for Easter, Veni Sancte Spiritus for Pentecost (12th century), Lauda Sion Salvatorem (c.1264) for Corpus Christi, and Dies Irae (13th century) for All Souls and in Masses for the Dead. In 1727, the 13th century Stabat Mater for Our Lady of Sorrows was added to this list. In 1970 the Dies Irae was removed from the Requiem Mass of the revised, new Roman Missal and was transferred to the Liturgy of the Hours to be sung ad libitum in the week before the beginning of Advent. The Christmas sequence "Laetabundus," not present in the Roman Missal, is found in the Dominican Missal. This sequence is permitted for the Third Mass of Christmas, the Epiphany, and Candlemas.

Sung by Chanticleer.

Easter: Christus Vincit

From James MacMillan:

Christus vincit
Christus regnat
Christus imperat.
Alleluia!

(Christ conquers
Christ reigns
Christ rules.
Alleluia!)

Easter: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth

Easter: This joyful eastertide

From St. Paul's Cathedral Choir, another great Easter tune, and more terrific lyrics:

This joyful Eastertide,
away with sin and sorrow!
My Love, the Crucified,
hath sprung to life this morrow.
Refrain:
Had Christ, that once was slain,
ne'er burst his three-day prison,
our faith had been in vain;
but now is Christ arisen,
arisen, arisen, arisen.

My flesh in hope shall rest,
and for a season slumber,
till trump from east to west
shall wake the dead in number. Refrain

Death's flood hath lost its chill,
since Jesus crossed the river:
Lover of souls, from ill
my passing soul deliver. Refrain

Easter: He is Risen, He is Risen!

A wonderful tune, and some great lyrics!

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.

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.

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.

He is risen, he is risen!
He hath opened heaven's gate:
we are free from sin's dark prison,
risen to a holier state;
and a brighter Easter beam
on our longing eyes shall stream.