DEACON ORDINATION SACRED MUSIC
Cantique de Jean Racine (FAURE)
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TEXT & TRANSLATION:
O Word, equal of the Most High, Our sole hope, eternal day of earth and the heavens, We break the silence of the peaceful night. Divine Saviour, cast Thine eyes upon us! Shed the light of Thy mighty grace upon us. Let all Hell flee at the sound of Thy voice. Dispel the slumber of a languishing soul That leads it to the forgetting of Thy laws! O Christ, be favorable unto this faithful people Now gathered to bless Thee. Receive the hymns it offers unto Thine immortal glory And may it return laden with Thy gifts. |
FRENCH DICTION VIDEO LESSON
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BACKGROUND: Cantique de Jean Racine (Chant by Jean Racine), Op. 11, is a composition for mixed choir and organ by Gabriel Fauré. The text, "Verbe égal au Très-Haut" ("Word, one with the Highest"), is a French paraphrase by Jean Racine of a Latin hymn from the breviary for matins, Consors paterni luminis. The nineteen-year-old composer set the text in 1864–65 for a composition competition at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, and it won him the first prize. The work was first performed the following year on 4 August 1866 in a version with accompaniment of strings and organ. The style shows similarities with his later work, Requiem. Today, the two works are often performed together.
God So Loved the World (STAINER)
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BACKGROUND: The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio for a SATB choir and organ composed by Sir John Stainer in 1887, with text by W J Sparrow Simpson. The work relates the Biblical narrative of the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus. The piece “God so loved the world” takes it’s text from John 3:16–17 and is the 9th movement from this larger work.
Ave Verum Corpus (ELGAR)
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TEXT & TRANSLATION:
Hail, true Body,
born of the Virgin Mary,
who having truly suffered,
was sacrificed on the cross for mankind.
Whose pierced side
flowed with (water and) blood,
May it be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet] in the trial of death.
O clement, O pius,
O sweet Jesus, son of Mary.
Hail, true Body,
born of the Virgin Mary,
who having truly suffered,
was sacrificed on the cross for mankind.
Whose pierced side
flowed with (water and) blood,
May it be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet] in the trial of death.
O clement, O pius,
O sweet Jesus, son of Mary.
BACKGROUND: The early years of Edward Elgar (1857-1934) were spent in the English cathedral city of Worchester. His family belonged to the Roman Catholic minority, and his father served as choirmaster and organist of the Catholic Church of St. George. One of the greatest composers in British history, Elgar created three large scale works for soloists, chorus and orchestra on religious themes, including The Dream of Gerontius (1900), The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906), though perhaps his most recognized works are the first of the Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901) and the Enigma Variations (1899).
Ave Verum Corpus, the first of his Three Motets, Op. 2, was first sketched in 1887 as a brief setting of Pie Jesu, in memory of the death of his friend, William Allen. Elgar revised the work in 1902, changing the text to the present Ave verum, and completed the set of three choral works in 1906 by adding settings of Ave Maria and Ave Maris Stella.
Ave Verum Corpus, the first of his Three Motets, Op. 2, was first sketched in 1887 as a brief setting of Pie Jesu, in memory of the death of his friend, William Allen. Elgar revised the work in 1902, changing the text to the present Ave verum, and completed the set of three choral works in 1906 by adding settings of Ave Maria and Ave Maris Stella.