In the Church in England — before it was the Church of England, and thus before The Book of Common Prayer as we know it — many English parishes followed the liturgical practices prescribed in the Sarum Use, developed in the see of Salisbury. These parishes included in the prayers at Compline (i.e., the evening prayers) the singing of the Nunc dimittis, as does our Evening Prayer service. Beginning sometime in the 14th century, from the third Sunday in Lent until Passion Sunday, Compline services prefaced the singing of the Nunc dimittis with an antiphon which began:
Media vita in morte sumus.
In the midst of life we are in death.
Quem quaerimus adjutorem nisi te, Domine,
Whom can we seek as our helper but Thee, Lord,
Qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris?
Who on account of our sins are justly angry?
Thomas Cranmer’s translation of this prayer survives in our Prayerbook, in the graveside section (see p. 332) in The Order for the Burial of the Dead.
During the Tudor era, one of England’s most prolific and talented composers was John Sheppard (c. 1515-c. 1559). Sheppard’s most important music was composed for singing within the Sarum liturgies, and one of the greatest of these works is his setting of Media vita.
Listening to this work without a road map can be a challenge, but once listeners understand how Sheppard organized the text and the music, the work continues to be compelling and moving through countless hearings. The narrative description below will focus on the big outlines of the work’s structure, and set aside details of Sheppard’s use of harmony or melodic imitation between the parts.
Before you listen to the recording embedded below, you may wish to download a pdf copy of the text for the entire work. This will be helpful in listening to the piece. But since the 6 different voices are almost never singing the words at the same time, I’ve sketched out below an explanation of the structure of the work, with time cues that offer clues to when various chunks of the text will be heard. If you can read music, you can download a score for Media vita here.)
The time cues in the following notes correspond to the recording (embedded below) by Contrapunctus, conducted by Owen Rees. (As you can see, this recording is from their album In the Midst of Life, which I strongly encourage you to purchase in some form or other; musicians need all the help we can give them in this time.)
Throughout much of the work, the plainchant melody associated with this text is sung — slowed down to about 1/4 speed — by a tenor voice. That’s the first voice we hear when the piece begins, joined soon by another tenor voice, then a soprano. Within 30 seconds, all six voices (including that tenacious tenor continuing to sing the plainchant melody) have entered. This is what they are all — each in their own time — singing:
Media vita in morte sumus.
In the midst of life we are in death.
Quem quaerimus adjutorem nisi te, Domine,
Whom can we seek as our helper but Thee, O Lord,
Qui pro peccatis nostris juste irasceris?
Who for our sins art justly angry?
At 3:42, a new section of the work begins, initiated by three of the middle parts singing a simple chord, introducing a simple two-word phrase:
Sancte Deus,
Holy God,
Then at 4:36, another two-word phrase is sung:
Sancte fortis,
Holy and mighty,
As was the case when the voices sang “Sancte Deus,” these two words are introduced with three middle voices, soon joined by a fourth middle voice, then the outer voices. This second phrase is exactly the same length as the first, and that tenor — tenaciously (and slowly) singing the plainchant melody of the original Media vita melody — sings the same 17 notes in both phrases, ornamented by an entirely different sequence of notes from the other five voices.
Finally (at 5:30), the third section of what is now evidently a prayer is sung:
Sancte et misericors Salvator,
Holy and merciful Saviour,
Amaræ morti ne tradas nos.
Deliver us not into the bitter pains of death.
Note that the Book of Common Prayer’s translation of this plea from its Latin original (on p. 332) renders it as “Deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death.”
This final “panel” of the musical tryptich begins with the same three middle voices, and is more than twice as long as the first two phrases. When it concludes, we might think that the work is completely finished. But these initial seven-and-a-half minutes are a prelude to the chanting (at 7:33) of the Nunc dimittis, in simple plainchant:
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum in pace:
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles: and to be the glory of thy people Israel.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
In the next section of the work (beginning at 9:24), Sheppard uses only the four lower voices, who sing:
Ne projicias nos in tempore senectutis; cum defecerit virtus nostra ne derelinquas nos Domine.
Cast me not away in the time of age; forsake me not when my strength faileth me.
These petitions are followed immediately (at 12:56) by a repeat of those three sections we heard earlier: “
Sancte Deus, Sancte fortis, Sancte et misericors Salvator, Amaræ morti ne tradas nos.
Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and merciful Saviour: deliver us not into the bitter pains of death.
Then (at 14:47) another pair of petitions is sung, again with the four lower voices:
Noli claudere aures tuas ad preces nostras.
Shut not thine ears to our prayers.
This is followed (at 16:16) by an abbreviated form of the prayer for final deliverance; the first two-word phrase has been omitted:
Sancte fortis, Sancte et misericors Salvator, Amaræ morti ne tradas nos.
Holy and mighty, holy and merciful Saviour: deliver us not into the bitter pains of death.
A final plea for mercy is sung (at 19:12), and this time, Sheppard uses just the four upper voices, introducing a more delicate soundscape that we haven’t yet heard as the work enters its final stretch:
Qui cognoscis occulta cordis parce peccatis nostris.
Thou that knowest the secrets of our hearts: be merciful unto our sins.
Just before this section concludes, Sheppard introduces (at 19:54) a bass voice. Then (at 20:56) the final repetition of a now familiar passage, shortened still further than the last time we heard it:
Sancte et misericors Salvator, Amaræ morti ne tradas nos.
Holy and merciful Saviour: deliver us not into the bitter pains of death.
In my discussion of the setting of Psalm 51 by Josquin des Prez, I observed that “The truth of God’s mercy and the goodness of penitence is made even more attractive by the beauty of works such as Josquin’s Miserere mei, Deus.” The same is certainly true of Sheppard’s Media vita, the center of which is faithful Simeon’s affirmation that he can depart in peace, having beheld the Saviour of the nations.