In past years, on Christmas Eve, our choir has often sung O magnum mysterium, a motet by Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611). The text for this motet has been set to music by dozens of composers, and below, I’ve embedded recordings of many of them. The text — presumably an exclamation from astonished shepherds — is one of the responsories for Matins on Christmas Day. As composers have set these words to music, they have often amended or compressed the text. Here is the version that Victoria set: O magnum mysteriumet admirabile sacramentum,ut animalia viderent Dominum natumjacentem in praesepio.O beata Virgo, cujus viscera merueruntportare Dominum Jesum Christum.Alleluia! O great mysteryand…
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Resting in Love’s quiet watch
by Ken Myers [This article originally appeared in the November/December 2020 issue of Touchstone magazine.] Born in 1839 in the small city of Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was a poster child for musical prodigies. His father, a financial agent for the tiny principality’s monarch, was not himself musically gifted. But acknowledging his son’s remarkable abilities, he arranged for Josef — then only 5 years old — to be taught by a music teacher in Schlanders, 170 kilometers away in northern Italy. There the boy was taught music theory, piano, and organ. A second pedal board was affixed to the instrument to accommodate his short legs. The investment paid off,…
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Recordings for Christmas
In 2018, I spent the 12 Days of Christmas compiling a short list of some of my favorite recordings of Christmas music. If I were to do the same thing this year (or any year) the list would probably be different, as I discover new albums or revisit some that I had long forgotten. The 2018 list also evidences my interest in commending a range of different styles and eras, not just polyphony from the Renaissance (which forms a large portion of my listening). Below are links to the 12 posts that introduce the albums I surveyed in 2018. Most of the posts include embedded performance tracks that provide a…