Sunday, 13 January 2013
| Entrance | On Jordan’s Bank |
| Sprinkling Rite | Springs of Water (Marty Haugen) |
| Gloria | Gloria de Noël (Thomas Niel) |
| Psalm | Ps 103 (Laurence Bévenot) |
| Gospel Acclamation | St Agatha Alleluia (mcb) |
| Preparation of the Gifts | Songs of thankfulness and praise |
| Sanctus, Acclamation, Amen | Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd) |
| Agnus Dei | Lamb of God II (mcb) |
| Communion | Here is my Servant (Psallite) |
| Postcommunion | Beatus Auctor Saeculi (Tarik O’Regan, 1978-) |
| Recessional | Come down, O love divine |
Tarik O’Regan’s haunting Christmas motet sets a fifth-century Latin text (the second and third stanzas of the abecedarian poem A solis ortus cardine, attributed to Caelius Sedulius) found in the eleventh-century liturgical almanac the Portiforium of St Wulstan. The music alternates moments of sparse discord with richer chordal writing, but always infused with serenity. (In rehearsal I told the choir not to wake the baby.) In the composer’s own explanation, the particular verses set were chosen apparently for the vagueness of their religious allusions:
I specifically chose to set only two of the eight extant stanzas in the manuscript as I was aware that these were the most ecumenical (sic) in their reading, referring in metaphor only to a ‘blest author’.
but the text itself (given here in the translation by J.M. Neale) looks unambiguously Christian to me:
Blest Author of this earthly frame,
To take a servant’s form he came,
That liberating flesh by flesh,
Whom he had made might live afresh.
In that chaste parent’s holy womb,
Celestial grace hath found its home;
And she, as earthly bride unknown,
Yet calls that Offspring blest her own.
I’m guessing, then, that the composer came at the work from a fairly non-religious perspective. But for all that, it makes for a beautiful reflection on the mystery of the incarnation.
There’s a sumptuous recording of the piece on this web page (and also – a little more complex to link to – on the composer’s own web site). I think it’s the choir of Clare College, Cambridge, for whom the piece was commissioned. Click the second link down on the right hand side of the page. And enjoy.
