Alleluia for Candlemas

Alleluia, alleluia. Senex Puerum portabet: Puer autem senem regebat. Alleluia.

Alleluia, alleluia. An old man was carrying a Child; but the Child was the old man's Lord. Alleluia.

Luke 2:22-32

O Gloriosa Virginum

Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Three years ago today I was a guest in the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Silver City, New Mexico. I kept the hours the week I was there, so I was able to hear the beautiful plainchant sung in choir. There was a wealth of spiritual singing that will stay with me to the end of my days, but one hymn to our Lady stands out in my memory. I've heard the hymn done well in other places at other times, but the simple chant of the brothers in that monastery remains my favorite. The brothers sang it several times during the week, and at some point it occurred to me to snag a bit of it with my phone's audio recorder. Have a listen to this amateur bit of video and audio handiwork.

 

 

O Gloriosa Virginum

 

Imagine having that sung for you on your birthday.

Sancte Pie Decime

Sancte Pie Decime, gloriose patrone, ora pro nobis!

South African Diamond

This lovely rendition of the Ave Maria by young soprano Nokrismesi ("Kimi") Skota was broadcast by the Dutch TROS as part of the André Rieu Roadsoap in South Africa (Zuid-Afrika). Rieu pours the syrup on thick, but Kimi's performance shines. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0_HYBCgW9Q

Singing Helmut

A Sunday or two ago Helmut and I were in the parish hall listening to the choir practice the plainchant for Mass.

During a pause in the practice Helmut said, "I wish I could sing."

"I wish you could too," I said.

Dies Irae, Dies Illa

Here is a recording of the monks of the Abbey of St Maurice and St. Maur in Clervaux, Luxembourg chanting the hauntingly beautiful Dies Irae, Dies Illa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpvLPmv2FeY

I like the commentary from the chap who posted the video on YouTube:

The monks sing the seqeuence of the Dies Irae, which is traditionally said or sung for a Requiem Mass between the Epistle and gradual and before the reading of the Holy Gospel in the Traditional Catholic Mass of all ages. This beautiful sequence was removed from the Requiem Mass after the disaster which was Vatican II 1964 - 1968.

Our chap got the years of the disaster wrong (1962-1965), but his heart is in the right place.

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

Listen to my favorite Advent hymn at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRi1GDoaQu4

Advent: a period beginning with the Sunday nearest to the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle (30 November) and embracing four Sundays. It is a time of expectation and pious yearning, a period of preparation for Christmas.

The Sistine's Maestro Perpetuo

Source

Original in Italian

Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, the Sistine's Maestro Perpetuo, is asked questions about the old and new Mass.

From the interview:

"The reform was done by arid people, arid, arid, I repeat it. And I knew them."

“How come that we make liturgists who know nothing about theology?”

"The voices that raised themselves to defend the two thousand year old Tradition of the Church, were cleverly hushed."

"The young generations of priests are maybe better than those who came before them, they do not have the ideological fury of an iconoclastic ideology, they are full of good feelings..."

"The liturgy with a big 'L' is the one that comes to us from centuries back, it is the reference, it is not the debased liturgy which holds so many compromises 'that make God sad and the enemy happy' ('a Dio spiacenti e a l’inimici sui')"

"In front of our liturgy of many centuries we should contemplate it and venerate it and remember that in our mania for 'improvements', we only risk doing great damage."

"There persists a certain blindness, almost a complacency for all that is vulgar, coarse, in bad taste and also doctrinally temerarious."

"The liturgical problem is serious, do not listen to the voices of those persons who do not love the Church and who oppose the Pope and if you want to cure the sick then remember that the merciful doctor makes the wound purulent (fa la piaga purulenta)."

New Loreena CD

Feast of the Precious Blood

See http://www.quinlanroad.com/shopping/mummers.asp

It's all old stuff, but it's the music I like best from the McKennitt canon.

Yes, I have an iPod, but I ordered my own copy of the CD yesterday; it's only $9 USD. On the online order form under special instructions I put, "Include Loreena's autograph please;" we'll see how it goes.

I have a penny whistle at the house that I sometimes make a stab at learning to play. I know next to nothing about music, so it's slow going (e.g. I can almost squeak out "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"). I think I'm still a few years away from earning my keep as a busker.

Chieftains

WHAT: The Chieftains, Ireland's official musical ambassadors
WHEN: Saturday, February 28, 2009, 8:00 PM
WHERE: The Fabulous Fox Theatre, Atlanta

I saw the Chieftains perform a few years ago at Chastain Park. They're back in town this weekend; I'd planned to go, but ran into a complication with the arrival of out-of-town company. Missing the show will be a good little sacrifice to offer up for Lent.

Forty-three albums of traditional Irish music in forty-four years: not a bad run at all.

Katyusha

"What's something that sounds romantic in Russian?" my wife asked.

"Nothing sounds romantic in Russian," I said.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. But if you wanted to say 'I love you,' it would be 'Ya tebya lyubyu.'"

This was greeted with great laughter.

Not that Russians are unacquainted with amour: they have a bittersweet folk song titled Katyusha about a young girl who is singing for her beloved gone to war. The tune is quintessentially Russian. Listen for yourself.

Rendered in English, the song goes thus:

Katyusha (Катюша)
Apple and pear trees were blooming,
Mist was creeping on the river.
Katyusha set out on the banks,
On the steep and lofty bank.

She was walking, singing a song
About a grey steppe eagle,
About her true love,
Whose letters she was keeping.

Oh you song! Little song of a maiden,
Head for the bright sun.
And reach for the soldier on the distant border
Along with greetings from Katyusha.

Let him remember an ordinary girl,
And hear how she sings,
Let him preserve the Motherland,
The same as Katyusha preserves their love.

The name Katyusha is a diminutive of Katya, which is itself a diminutive of Katarina. During WWII the Soviets gave the name Katyusha to one of their screeching rockets.

Figures.

Katyusha Rockets & Launcher

Hogmanay

Scotland's national poet Robert Burns relied on traditional Scottish folk songs to compose Auld Lang Syne. Loosely translated, the ballad's name means "days gone by," and is best understood in a wispy, melancholic sense.

Scottish Poet Robert Burns
1759 - 1796

The tune is sung in Scotland to celebrate Hogmanay, a festival characterized by the giving of new year's day gifts and lighting numerous fires of various intensities.

Burning Viking Longship
At Edingurgh's Hogmanay - December, 2004

My understanding is that the old Scottish Kirk frowned on such celebrations.

Burns originally composed Auld Lang Syne in English with a light Scottish accent. His verse can be rendered in modern English thus:

Auld Lang Syne
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for days of auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Punished with Barry Manilow

Municipal Judge Paul Sacco of Fort Lupton, CO sentences noise violators to listen to music they don't like for one hour (no eating, drinking, or sleeping allowed). It seems to have cut down on the number of repeat offenders.

The music selection includes:
* Barry Manilow -- "I Write the Songs"
* Dolly Parton
* Karen Carpenter
* Barney the Dinosaur -- cruel and unusual?
* The Platters -- crooning "Only You"

Read more at:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/22/noise-violators-fort-lupton-sentened-listen-barry-/?partner=RSS
and
http://www.local6.com/news/14125451/detail.html

A Real Soprano

Hayley Westenra is a New Zealander of Irish descent. She was part of the ensemble group Celtic Woman, who was able to follow the lead of Irish singers like Enya and Clannad. They all perform the sort of music I enjoy.

Hayley sang beautifully this marvelous recording of Ave Maria.

Until I heard this song by Hayley, I never thought I'd ever hear anyone sing like Kate Bush. It's uncanny. Anyway, I prefer her Pie Jesu.

You can skip the first 90 seconds of this one: the intro to the lovely Santa Lucia.