Tag Archives: chant

Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment, Part D: “…of the holy found rest through him.”

31 Thursday Jan 2019

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(san)ctoru(m) requieverunt per
eu(m). Ps. D(omi)ne… V. Dispersit, dedit pauperibus
R. lustitia…
Dispersit, dedit pau-
peribus
iustitia ma-
net in seculu(m) seculi.

of the holy found rest through
him. PS O Lord V. He distributed, he gave to the poor…
R. His justice…
He distributed, he gave to the
poor; his justice
remains forever.


Cum invocarum… Petrus
ordinis nostri pater ex
operibus iustificatus est
offernes seipsum in rede(me)p-
tione(m) captivoru(m). Ps.

When I was calling upon… Peter,
the father of our order, was justified by his works,
offering himself for the ransoming of captives. Psalm.


Verb… m… A(men) Pergebat
ad o(m)nes qui in captivi-
tate erant et monita sa-
lutis dabat eis. Ps. D(omi)ne (in vertute tua…)
V. Salvavit eos de (manu odientium)
R. Et redemit eos (de manu inimici)

In tertio Noc(urno) A(men) Captivorum

He proceeded
to all who were in captivity
and gave to them counsels
about salvation. Psalm O Lord, in your power…
Verse. He saved them from the hand of those hating them…
Response. And he redeemed them from the hand of the enemy
Sung at the third Nocturn Captives


miserat(us) aerumnas pro e-
oru(m) miseratione Domi-
num lugiter exorabat.
Ps. D(omi)ne… Visita-
vit vinctos in mendici(tate
et ferro et vincula eorum disrupit.)

Having taken pity on the
hardships of the captives,
with compassion for them
he continually prayed to the Lord.
Psalm. O Lord… He visited
those bound in beggary
(and by the sword and he shattered their bonds.)

These hymns celebrate the life of St. Peter of Nolasco and are usually sung — with local variation — on January 28 or 31. St. Peter Nolasco, with St. Raymond of Penafort, was the founder of the Order of Mercedarians, the religious community which sent members as ransom for Christian prisoners in the hands of the Saracens. Details of his life are uncertain, but he was probably a native of Languedoc. After taking part in the crusade against the heretic Albigensians of Southern France, he became a tutor of King James I of Aragon and then settled at Barcelona. There he became friends with St. Raymond of Penafort, and in 1218, with the support of James I, they laid the foundation for the Mercedarians. Twice Peter went to Africa to serve as a captive, and it was reported that during one journey to Granada and Valencia he won the release from Moorish jails of some four hundred captive Christians. He was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1628. For the most part these texts are derived from the Mercedarian Breviary and were the antiphons and hymns sung at lauds in the morning and at vespers in the evening on the Feast of Saint Peter Nolasco.

~Transcription, translation, and commentary by James T. Svendsen, associate professor emeritus, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah

Parchment leaves from an Antiphonal, 16th c Italy/Florence/Sienna. Eleven parchment leaves from the Proper of Saints, Feast of the Blessed Peter of Sienna (16 Mar), Vespers/Matins.
“Text and music on thick, stiff parchment is continuous throughout the fragment. The feasts as written here celebrate the virtuous deeds of one Peter who showed a profound devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was honored for giving alms to the poor and was commanded by the Virgin to free captives. Thus, the feast may be linked to the Franciscan Piettro Pettinari (d. 1289), who attained the rank of Blessed (Beatus) in the Christian church and was renowned for these very activities. A local vigorous cult resulted in religious songs composed to him in the vernacular, and he even rated a mention in Dante’s Purgatorio.

~Description by Elizabeth Peterson, associate professor, Dept. of Art & Art History, The University of Utah, from Paging Through Medieval Lives, a catalog for an exhibition held November 2, 1997 through January 4, 1998 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

Editor’s note: The commentary by Dr. Svendsen and the description by Dr. Peterson differ, each identifying “Peter” as different people, Peter Nolasco and Piettro (Peter) Pettinari (of Sienna). Dr. Svendsen, shown Dr. Peterson’s assessment, was politely firm about his identification. This is a perfect, lovely example of the different ways two scholars in two fields can approach an object, coming up with different results. In the case here, an esteemed Classicist and an esteemed art historian disagree, although the suspected dates of their protagonists have only about fifty years between them; one from Southern France, the other from Northern Italy — not so far apart.

Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment, Part C: “…at his right hand bees miraculously erected a honeycomb of honey.”

30 Wednesday Jan 2019

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dextera eius apes favu(m)
mellis mirabiliter ex-
truxerunt. Ps(almus) Beat(us) vir qui non abiit…
Dirupisiti Domine
vincula eoru(m) et proie-

at his right hand bees
miraculously erected a honeycomb
of honey. Psalm. Blessed (is the man who has not departed)…
O Lord, you have shattered
their bonds and you have cast


cisti ab eis iugu(m) ipso(rum)
Gaudium magnu(m) ha-
beamus et consolatione(m)
in charitate beati patris
nostri quia viscera san-ctoru(m)

off their yoke from them.
Let us have great joy
and consolation
in the charity of our blessed father
because the remains of the holy

~Transcription and translation by James T. Svendsen, associate professor emeritus, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah

MS chant frag. 5 — Parchment leaves from the Proper of Saints, Feast of the Blessed Peter of Siena (16 March), Vespers/Matins.

~Description by Elizabeth Peterson, associate professor, Dept. of Art & Art History, The University of Utah, from Paging Through Medieval Lives, a catalog for an exhibition held November 2, 1997 through January 4, 1998 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment, Part B: “Let us praise the glorious man…”

29 Tuesday Jan 2019

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Laudemus
virum gloiosu(m)
et parentem nostrum
ardentissimam eius
charitatem imitar-ri

Let us praise the
glorious man
and our parent/founder; let us try
to imitate his most ardent
charity,


conemus qui exaudi-
vit paupieres vinctos
in mendicitate et fe-
rro. Salvavit eos
de manu odientium et

who heard the
poor bound
in poverty and by the sword;
he saved them
from the hand of those hating them and…


redemit eos de mani-
bus inimicorum. Te(m)p(ore) Pashali
Cant(icum) Mag(nificat) Alleluia
Ad Matutinim invitat(io)

he redeemed them from the hands of their enemies.
Song “Magnificat” Alleluia
Invitation/Summons to Matins


Redem-
ptore(m) dominum
Venite adore-
mus. Ps. Venit(e) Hy(mnu)s
Voce concordi so-boles

Come, let us adore
the Lord Redeemer.
Psalm. Come…Hymn
With harmonious heart


(so)boles beati gloriam
patris resonare perge. I-
pse quas laudes ca-
nimus benigno corde
sequatur quem deo
pronum gregis

proceed that your offspring may
resound the glory of the blessed father.
Let he himself continue
the praises that we sing
with a benign heart whom
offering the first of the flock to God


offerente(me) vota capti-
vi lacrymis fluente(me). Vir-
go dignatur recreare
moestu(m)
ore sereno. Indicat c(a)e-
lo cui lapsa virgo Re(m)
sibi grat(m) fore filioque
virginis matris sacer

offering vows for the captive,
flowing with tears for the captive.
The virgin deigns
to revive the sad
with a serene face. The virgin,
fallen from heaven, indicates
that the affair would be pleasing to her
and to the Son of the virgin mother let
the sacred


ordo si quis nomine
surgat. Impiger
paret Domi-
n(a)e mone(n)ti
Se suam quarti sobole(m)-
que voti, charitas nu(m)qua(m)
pio q(uo) tepescat nexibus urget.
Gloria patri genit(ae)-
que proli rite dicamus

order arise in her name. Let the diligent
get ready for the Lord advising him
and his offspring of the fourth vow;
devoted charity by which he becomes
warm with love never presses connection.
May we say rightly glory
to the Father and to the Begotten Son


parile(m)que sumat Spi-
rit(us) sanct(us) d(us) unus om-
ni dign*us) honore. Ame(n)
In primo Nocturno Antiph(on
Dum iaceret
Petrus in cunis in

and may the Holy Spirit take equal glory.
one god, worthy of every honor. Amen.
Antiphon sung at the First Nocturn.
While Peter was lying in the cradle.

~Transcription and translation by James T. Svendsen, associate professor emeritus, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah

MS chant frag. 5 — Parchment leaves from the Proper of Saints, Feast of the Blessed Peter of Siena (16 March), Vespers/Matins.

~Description by Elizabeth Peterson, associate professor, Dept. of Art & Art History, The University of Utah, from Paging Through Medieval Lives, a catalog for an exhibition held November 2, 1997 through January 4, 1998 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

 

Medieval Latin Hymn Fragment: “Who is this who comes forth arising like morning…”

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

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(Guttur tuum sicut vinum optimum)
Dignu(m) dilecto meo ad pota(n)dum
Q(ua)e est ista q(uae) progreditur
q(ua)si aurora consurge(n)s
pulchra ut luna e-(lecta)

(and your mouth like an exquisite wine)
worthy for drinking (may it go) to my beloved…
Who is this who comes forth rising like
morning, beautiful like the moon,


lecta ut sol terribilis ut castroru(m) acies
ordinata Cantan Ps(almum)
Et ideo amavit eam(,m) rex plusq(ua)m (omnes mulieres)

resplendent
like the sun, terrible like an army arrayed for battle?
And therefore he loved her more than (all the other women)

This folio, like several others in the collection, is devoted to the celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15th. It was the antiphon sung at the Benedictus for lauds early in the morning and urged the faithful to rejoice: “gaudete et exultate…qui hodie Maria Virgo cum Christo regnat per eternum. Alleluja” (“Rejoice and exult…because today the Virgin Mary reigns with Christ in heaven forever. Alleluia!”) The first selection on the recto is from the Song of Songs, a series of love poems in which lover and beloved, bridegroom and bride, are united, divided and united again. Often the series is interpreted allegorically: the relationship signifies a true human relationship sanctified by marriage or it signifies the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. In the text the bridegroom introduces the metaphor of wine, and the bride responds with similarly: “your speaking, superlative wine/wine flowing straight to my Beloved” (Jerusalem Bible). The text continues with the Bridegroom’s question: “Why is this arising like the dawn, fair as the moon, resplendent as the sun, terrible as an army with banners?” (Jerusalem Bible). Here more specifically the relationship seems to be the relationship between God and the Blessed Virgin Mary with God questioning who she is as she is assumed into heaven. Note that the simile “quasi aurora consugens” is highly appropriate, and some other later texts emend “progreditur” to “ascendit” to heighten the upward momentum for the “rising” Mary. Thus the bride of the allegory is not only Israel, the Church or individual soul but also the Blessed Virgin Mary as queen of heaven and arrayed for the battle against evil, perhaps even as the woman of the Apocalypse. This is the reason Holy Scripture refers to Our Lady as “terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata,” as terrible as an army set in battle array.” The Church also says that it is she alone who smashes all heresies. To celebrate this fact, in statues of the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady is crushing the head of the evil serpent.

At the bottom of the verso the text alludes to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the Old Testament and the Book of Esther: “And the king loved Esther more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the women, and she found favor and kindness with him more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti” (Esth.2:17). In a figural reading the king’s love for Esther is a type prefiguring God’s love for Mary above all others. It also prefigures her immaculate conception as virgin and establishes her place as queen of heaven, a fitting allusion on the Feast of the Assumption.

~Transcription, translation, and commentary by James T. Svendsen, associate professor emeritus, World Languages and Cultures, The University of Utah

MS chant frag. 4 — Part of a parchment bifolia from an Antiphonal, 16th c. Spain/Portugal.

~Description by Elizabeth Peterson, associate professor, Dept. of Art & Art History, The University of Utah, from Paging Through Medieval Lives, a catalog for an exhibition held November 2, 1997 through January 4, 1998 at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.