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Track(s) taken from CDH55452

Pange lingua gloriosi

composer
1581; 4vv alternatim; published in Rome by Francisco Zanetti
author of text
Processional Hymn at Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi

Westminster Cathedral Choir, James O'Donnell (conductor)
Recording details: March 1996
St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: October 1996
Total duration: 6 minutes 26 seconds

Cover artwork: Adoration of the Child. Filippo Lippi (c1406-1469)
 

Pange lingua gloriosi is a Corpus Christi hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas who died in 1274. In the Liber Usualis it is prescribed as a processional hymn at Mass on the Feast of Corpus Christi and it appears in the English Hymnal as a communion hymn. Victoria’s four-part alternatim setting, also part of the 1581 collection, makes use of all six verses of the hymn, with the plainsong again being utilized as a cantus firmus in the tenor and then the soprano parts. The last verse, unusually, breaks into a lively triple time and ends with a beautifully ornamented Amen.

from notes by Jon Dixon © 1996

Pange lingua gloriosi est une hymne de la Fête-Dieu écrite par saint Thomas d’Aquin, mort en 1274. Le Liber Usualis la prescrit comme une hymne processionnelle lors de la messe de la Fête-Dieu. La mise en musique alternatim, à quatre parties, de Victoria appartient également au recueil de 1581 et utilise les six strophes de l’hymne, le plain-chant revenant, ici encore, comme un cantus firmus dans les parties pour ténor puis pour soprano. La dernière strophe embrasse une insolite mesure ternaire, vivante, pour s’achever par un amen magnifiquement orné.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jon Dixon © 1996
Français: Hypérion

Die Hymne zum Fronleichnamsfest Pange lingua gloriosi stammt aus der Feder des 1274 verstorbenen Heiligen Thomas von Aquin. Laut Liber Usualis ist sie eine Prozessionshymne für die Fronleichnamsmesse. Victorias vierstimmige Alternatim-Vertonung, die auch zur Sammlung von 1581 gehörte, erstreckt sich über sämtliche der sechs Hymnenverse, und wiederum erschallt der Gesang als Cantus firmus—zuerst in der Tenorstimme, dann in den Sopranstimmen. Dennoch bricht der letzte Vers ganz ungewöhnlich in einen lebhaften Tripeltakt aus und endet in einem wunderbar verzierten Amen.

aus dem Begleittext von Jon Dixon © 1996
Deutsch: Ute Mansfeldt

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