Music for Third Sunday of Easter
It is easy to think of Latin hymns as being somewhat analogous in their historiography, all contained neatly in the Liber usualis or in the back of our New English Hymnal. On the contrary, these melodies are drawn from various sources dating from the rich period of creativity during the early Middle Ages, after which time their distribution and use throughout Christendom determined whether or not we sing them today. During communion, the choir will sing a Renaissance setting of Tibi Christi splendor Patris, a hymn whose convoluted history landed it on the perimeter of our modern canon, not often used. The text is a hymn praising God as King of the angels in heaven, mentioning the archangel Michael by name. For this reason, it is often appropriated for the Feast of Michaelmas.
Thought to have been written by the archbishop of Mainz, Hrabanus Maurus in the 9th century, the hymn does not survive in any source from this period. As is so often the case, late-medieval sources transmit disparate versions of the melody and text, some changing the words entirely to versions such as Te splendor et virtus Patris. Perhaps these amendments were made in an effort to establish a rhyme scheme, which the older version (exceptionally for plainchant hymns) does not possess.
The hymn must have been significant in the 16th century, as Lassus, Victoria, and Palestrina all write contrapuntal settings. Because this melody is strophic (different stanzas sung to the same tune), you will hear the choir alternate between the plainchant melody and Lassus’s elaboration. In this style of “perfected” counterpoint, each line of the poetry begins on a theme taken from the corresponding melodic moment in the plainchant. Each voice will either imitate this theme or offer a countersubject, forming a tightly-woven progression in which each voice is equal, no single line upstaging its counterparts.
Abraham Ross
Solemn Mass takes place at St. James’ Anglican Church, Vancouver at 10:30 am every Sunday.