Musicologist Walter Blankenburg has observed that Praetorius (1571-1621) was “the most versatile and wide-ranging German composer of his generation and one of the most prolific, especially of works based on Protestant hymns.” But Praetorius also wrote settings of pre-Reformation melodies, including the chant tune we know as Conditor alme siderum, and which we have been singing during Advent as our Sequence hymn, “Creator of the stars of night.” The hymn originally included six stanzas; here is the first stanza sung with Praetorius’s harmonization by Ensemble Nobiles, a group of singers who met while singing in the St. Thomas Boys Choir in Leipzig. This is the opening track of their Advent/Christmas/Epiphany…
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Michael Praetorius:
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“O Antiphons,” I
Arvo Pärt
O WeisheitIt has long been common for Vespers or Evening Prayer services to include the singing, chanting, or reciting of the Magnificat, the Virgin Mary’s grateful song of joyful praise. And in many liturgies, the Magnificat is framed by the singing, chanting, or reciting of an antiphon, a short text that amplifies or complements the Psalm or canticle that it introduces and concludes. During the final week in Advent, beginning on December 17th and continuing for seven nights, the “O Antiphons” have been part of many liturgies. Each of these texts begins with the word “O,” and addresses the Messiah with a biblical name, and invokes him to come. The O…
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“We all follow to the hall of joy”
Wachet auf, ruft uns die StimmeAdvent music byFranz Tunder (1614–1667) At root, an apocalypse is an uncovering. We tend to think that apocalyptic events belong in horror movies, not in romantic comedies. But the culmination of the drama in the Apocalypse of John is a wedding feast, the happy ending of all good comedies. What is revealed in Revelation’s narrative is the end of history as the Bridegroom comes for his Bride. No Advent text conveys that happily-ever-after ending better than Philipp Nicolai’s hymn “Wake, awake for night is flying.” The title Nicolai originally gave to this three-stanza poem was “Of the voice at midnight and the wise Virgins who…
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“Do you come, O light of the nations?”
Kommst du, Licht der Heiden?An Advent cantata byDieterich Buxtehude (1637–1708) Dieterich Buxtehude was born half a century after Heinrich Schütz, the “father of German musicians,” and a little less than half a century before Johann Sebastian Bach. Employed his whole life as an organist, his compositional skills were long under-appreciated. Schütz and Bach both held positions in which they were expected to compose vocal music, but Buxtehude seems to have produced a sizable catalog of music for voices motivated by sheer enthusiasm. During his long tenure as organist of the Marienkirche (St. Mary’s Church) in Lübeck, Buxtehude maintained a Sunday afternoon concert series called Abendmusiken, held on the five successive…
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“The night is far gone and the day is at hand”
Die Nacht ist vergangenAn Advent cantata byChristoph Graupner (1683-1760) During his lifetime, Christoph Graupner was considered one of the great musical talents of Germany. Today, despite his prolific compositional output (operas, concertos, orchestral suites, keyboard works, and more than 1,400 church cantatas), very little of his work is known. Those who know a bit about music history may remember his name from his cameo role in a famous drama that involves Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1723, there was an opening for the position of Kapellmeister (music director) at Leipzig’s renowned Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church). The job was initially offered to the justly celebrated Georg Philipp Telemann, then holding a similar…
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Celebrating Advent at St. John’s, Cambridge
The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge is famous for having initiated (in 1918) the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. These special services are traditionally held on Christmas Eve. As early as 1934, Cambridge chapels were holding Advent Carol services on the first Sunday in Advent. The most famous of these Advent services has been held at the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge. The BBC regularly broadcasts these services live. This year’s service can be heard until the end of December at this page. The first live broadcast of the Advent Carol Service from St. John’s was in 1981. The director of the choir then was George Guest (1924-2002),…
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Orlando de Lassus: Conditor alme siderum
The fourth and last in my series on Renaissance motets based on Conditor alme siderum features a setting by a composer who is far too under-appreciated. As I wrote recently in Touchstone: Among musically knowledgeable listeners, even those who admire the music of the high Renaissance, the work of Orlande de Lassus is woefully unfamiliar. It was not always so. During his lifetime, in the second half of the sixteenth century, Lassus was easily the most famous composer in Europe. With contemporaries that included Palestrina, Victoria, and Byrd, such fame is a remarkable tribute to his artistic accomplishments. Another contemporary, the celebrated French poet Pierre de Ronsard, hailed Lassus as…
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Francisco Guerrero: Conditor alme siderum
This is the third in a series of “lessons” about how Renaissance composers explored the musical potential of the plainchant melody in Conditor alme siderum. In English translation (“Creator of the stars of night”) this hymn has been our Sequence hymn during Advent. (The earlier pieces featured compositions by Victoria and Dufay.) Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) shares Spanish nationality with Tomás Luis de Victoria. But while Victoria spent much of his career in Rome, Guerrero spent most of his life in Spain, and most of that time making music at the Cathedral in Seville. His setting of the 6 verses of Conditor alme siderum — like Victoria’s — alternates between plainsong (odd-numbered…
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Guillaume Dufay: Conditor alme siderum
Here is another setting of Conditor alma siderum — our Sequence hymn for the season of Advent — and the earliest setting I’ll be presenting. It’s by a prominent 15th-century composer, Guillaume Dufay (1397-1474). Dufay was one of the leading composers of his time, and a widely influential figure in shaping the direction taken in the music of the Renaissance. Ordained a deacon, then a priest, Dufay became a member of the choir at the Papal chapel in Rome. But it was an era of great turmoil in the Church, with tumultuous Councils, schisms, and an antipope. Perhaps that explains why Dufay traveled a lot, which extended his aesthetic influence across Europe. In…
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Tomás Luis de Victoria: Conditor alme siderum
During Advent, our congregation often sings the hymn, “Creator, of the stars of light,” as our Sequence Hymn. As the name of the hymn’s tune suggests, this hymn is based on the 7th-century Latin hymn Conditor alme siderum. Victoria’s setting was written for four vocal parts. It includes all six verses of the Latin original, and alternates between plainchant (in the odd-numbered verses) and polyphony (in the even-numbered verses). This alternation was a very common compositional form in the Renaissance. Here is a performance of Victoria’s motet sung by Ensemble Nobiles.