"Les Trois Maries"

An item of Eastertide interest, from Liturgica.com.

The featured work of this recording is the Easter drama of "The Three Marys" as it is transmitted in a manuscript from the Benedictine convent of Origny-Stainte-Benoîte in France. Liturgical dramas based on the Latin play “Visitatio Sepulchri” were popular in the Middle Ages. In its simplest form, this drama portrays the three Marys going to the tomb of Jesus early Easter morning to anoint the body of Jesus. They are met at the tomb by an angel declaring that Jesus is not there, but has risen from the dead. Then after Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Christ personally, the three Marys go the apostles to recount the joyful events. To this basic skeleton, many imaginative details are added in different versions of the play, such as the one presented in this recording, where the three Marys haggle with a merchant to buy the ungents before their journey to the tomb. This version is also notable in that some of the dialogues with the merchant and the angels are in the vernacular, so that the work shifts back and forth between Latin and medieval French. This simple drama is sung throughout in a musical style similar to Gregorian chant. Formally this work is skillfully unified by musical devices such as the refrains that conclude sections of text by the chorus of Marys. Such plays were performed in the context of liturgy, often at the conclusion of a celebration of the Divine Office and before Mass, using various areas and furnishings of the church as the setting. This recording takes this context in account by preceding the drama with a performance of the Exultet (the ancient chant associated with the lighting of the Easter Candle during the celebration of the Easter Vigil), and following it with sections of the Mass for Easter Day. The Easter chants in this recording feature elaborate tropes (additions of texts and melodies to the traditional chants) from manuscripts of Laon and Nivers. Taken as a whole, this creates some of the experience of a medieval Easter celebration, as it might have been performed by a community of women in medieval France.

Here's a clip of "Exultet: Les trois Maries." Listen to clips of all pieces on this CD.

Amazon.com also offers at least one recording of this piece, here, where you can listen to samples.

Office Hymns of Eastertide, the Sarum version

Last year, I put up an Office Hymns for Eastertide post, referring to the Lutheran Liturgical Prayer Brotherhood's site - but I realize now that I didn't actually post the hymns prescribed by Hymn melodies for the whole year from the Sarum service-books.

Well, they are, actually, the same as what's at the LLPB site, and the same as what I posted last year, but here's the official word from Hymn melodies, just to be more clear:

On Low Sunday & all Sundays after Easter, & daily
(when the Service is of the Season) until Ascension Day :

1st Evensong Chorus nove Hierusalem ... ... ... 37

Mattins Aurora lucis rutilat ... ... ... 38

Lauds Sermone blando Ángelus ... ... ... 38

2nd Evensong Ad cenam Agni providi ... ... ... Sundays: 39; Ferias: 40

Here are the chant scores:









See last year's post for audio. I have to go to work now, but will check these later to see if they match up, and will probably add to this post.

EDIT, Later: OK, here's the deal with the hymns above. The LLPB tunes are a match with the chant scores above as follows:

• The Sarum 1st Evensong hymn, Chorus nove Hierusalem ("Ye Choirs of New Jerusalem") is sung by the LLPB (mp3 here) to the same tune as prescribed above, #37. Nethymnal (which looks just like Cyberhymnal!) has the words, the J.M. Neale translation:
  

  Ye choirs of new Jerusalem,
  To sweet new strains attune your theme;
  The while we keep, from care released,
  With sober joy our Paschal feast:
  
  When Christ, unconquer’d Lion, first
  The dragon’s chains by rising burst:
  And while with living voice He cries,
  The dead of other ages rise.
  
  Engorged in former years, their prey
  Must death and hell restore today:
  And many a captive soul, set free,
  With Jesus leaves captivity.
  
  Right gloriously He triumphs now,
  Worthy to Whom should all things bow;
  And joining heaven and earth again,
  Links in one commonweal the twain.
  
  And we, as these His deeds we sing,
  His suppliant soldiers, pray our King,
  That in His palace, bright and vast,
  We may keep watch and ward at last.
  
  Long as unending ages run,
  To God the Father, laud be done:
  To God the son, our equal praise,
  And God the Holy Ghost, we raise.
  

  
  
• The Sarum Mattins hymn, Aurora Lucis Rutilat ("The Day Draws on with Golden Light") (mp3 here), is sung at LLPB using tune #39, rather than tune #38. Oremus hymnal has the English words:
  

  The day draws on with golden light,
  glad songs go echoing through the height,
  the broad earth lifts an answering cheer,
  the deep makes moan with wailing fear.
  
  For lo, he comes, the mighty King,
  to take from death his power and sting,
  to trample down his gloomy reign
  and break the weary prisoner's chain.
  
  Enclosed he lay in rocky cell,
  with guard of armèd sentinel;
  but thence returning, strong and free,
  he comes with pomp of jubilee.
  
  The sad apostles mourn him slain,
  nor hope to see their Lord again;
  their Lord, whom rebel thralls defy,
  arraign, accuse and doom to die.
  
  But now they put their grief away,
  the pains of hell are loosed today;
  for by the grave, with flashing eyes,
  "Your Lord is risen," the Angel cries.
  
  Make of all, to thee we pray,
  fulfill in us thy joy today;
  when death assaults, grant, Lord, that we
  may share thy paschal mystery.
  
  To thee, who, dead, again dost live,
  all glory, Lord, thy people give;
  all glory, as is ever meet,
  to Father and to Paraclete.

  
  
• The Sarum Lauds hymn, Sermone blando Ángelus, (one English version of which is "His Cheering Message From the Grave"), is sung by LLPB (mp3 here) to the same tune as the prescribed Sarum melody, #38 above.
  
  You can see the words here, at TPL; this hymn comes from the long version of Aurora Lucis Rutilat, with various verses broken out to form a new hymn.
  
  
• The Sarum hymn for 2nd Evensong is Ad cenam Agni providi ("The Lamb's High Banquet"). The LLPB sings the tune from chant score #40 (mp3 here), listed as the tune for ferias; the other possible tune, for Sundays, is #39 above. Oremus has the words to this one, too, another J.M. Neale translation:
  

  The Lamb's high banquet we await
  in snow-white robes of royal state;
  and now, the Red Sea's channel passed,
  to Christ, our Prince, we sing at last.
  
  Upon the altar of the cross
  his Body hath redeemed our loss;
  and tasting of his roseate Blood,
  our life is hid with him in God.
  
  That paschal eve God's arm was bared;
  the devastating angel spared:
  by strength of hand our hosts went free
  from Pharoah's ruthless tyranny.
  
  Now Christ our Passover is slain,
  the Lamb of God that knows no stain;
  the true oblation offered here,
  our own unleavened Bread sincere.
  
  O thou from whom hell's monarch flies,
  O great, O very Sacrifice,
  thy captive people are set free,
  and endless life restored in thee.
  
  For Christ, arising from the dead,
  from conquered hell victorious sped;
  he thrusts the tyrant down to chains,
  and paradise for man regains.
  
  Maker of all, to thee we pray,
  fulfill in us thy joy today;
  when death assails, grant, Lord, that we
  may share thy paschal victory.
  
  To thee who, dead, again dost live,
  all glory, Lord, thy people give;
  all glory, as is every meet,
  to Father and to Paraclete.

  
  

See last year's post for the provenance of each hymn.

The Lenten Prayer of Ephrem the Syrian

And good for any time of year:

O Lord and Master of my life, give me not the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust for power, or idle talk. (prostration)

But grant me, your servant, the spirit of moderation, humility, patience, and love. (prostration)

Yes, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters. For you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen (prostration)

From YouTube:

Gregorian chant at Sarum College

Via my Google alerts, in the (UK) Salisbury Journal, Saturday 25th April 2009:

SARUM College is inviting singers and non-singers of all ages to join in with Gregorian chant on May 2.

Salisbury Close will fill with the sound of the haunting music as John Rowlands-Pritchard leads men, women, children and students in chant to celebrate the life and work of the first canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral, St Edmund of Abingdon.

The day, starting at 10am and finishing with Night Prayer at 5pm, will be structured around night-time medieval cathedral canonical services.

The event is being promoted by the Opus Anglicanum Trust which supports work involving medieval music.

Mr Rowlands-Pritchard has led similar days for Salisbury and other cathedral choirs as well as for English Heritage and the Royal School of Church Music.

St Edmund of Abingdon, who died in 1240, later became the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The day will cost £20 for adults and £10 for under-25s. Readers can book online at www.opus-anglicanum.com or post cheques to ‘Opus Anglicanum’ 92 St Thomas Street, Wells, BA5 2UZ For more information contact John Rowlands-Pritchard on 01749 675131.

St. Mark Evangelist

Today is the Feast Day of my favorite Evangelist (or, at least, Mark is my favorite Gospel). Sing the Office Hymns for Apostles and Evangelists, of course; here are the mass chants for the day. One of these, Signa, sung for Communion (mp3), seems to come from Mark 16: 17-18:

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Another, the Alleluia, is called "Loquebantur variis linguis," and although the score and sound file aren't available, I'm assuming it's this text:

Loquebantur variis linguis apostoli, alleluia.
Magnalia Dei, alleluia.
Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto,
et ceperunt loqui variis linguis.
Magnalia Dei, alleluia.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Alleluia.

The apostles spoke in many tongues, alleluia,
Of the great works of God, alleluia.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit,
and began to speak in many tongues
of the great works of God, alleluia.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Alleluia.

Here's Tallis' version of this:



Here is some Mark art, three from the Wikipedia entry "Mark the Evangelist."

This is an "Illumination of St. Mark in the 11th century Trebizond Gospel (Russian State Museum, Saint Petersburg)":




Here's a Coptic icon of St. Mark:




Here's a "Russian Orthodox icon of St. Mark the Evangelist, 18th century (Iconostasis of Transfiguration church, Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia)":




This gorgeous one is from the GLASGOW UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT, and is from "Southern Italy/Sicily: mid-late 12th Century":

Struan Update

Well, I ruined it completely. It was so horrible and sad that I couldn't bring myself to take photos.

How can I screw up Multigrain Struan? Let me count the ways:

• I didn't soak the cracked wheat long enough; it's way too crunchy. I added yogurt instead of buttermilk to the soaker, so maybe that's why.
• I put too much liquid in, somehow, and the whole thing was a sticky, gooey mess. Then I added about a ton of extra flour - and it was still sticky and gooey; I could barely get it off my hands!
• I forgot to put flour and/or oil on my hands when working with the dough, and that's why.
• After "kneading" it - and that's a generous description - it was so heavy that I was afraid it wouldn't even rise!
• But it did, surprisingly. With almost 5 teaspoons of yeast, I guess it couldn't help it.
• I put it in the loaf pans - the only thing I did right all day was to put plenty of olive oil in those, so the loaves came out nicely at the end.
• I put the loaf pans on the porch in the sun. Then, when the sun was in another part of the porch, I tried to pick them all - 3 of them! - up at once and killed the rise completely! Oh, it was sad; they went from nicely puffy to flat pancakes. Yikes.
• And then I didn't have enough time to wait for another rise, so I threw 'em in the oven and baked.
• So now I have 3 flat - one is really flat! - and overly-crunchy (but delicious) struans. The top of the bread looks like a map of the moon, rather than like the wonderful browned puffy dome in the picture.

Well, I'll enjoy eating them, but will have to close my eyes so as not to look at them. Could be worse, I suppose! What is it with the whole-grain breads, anyway? I'm fine with white bread and pizza, but a major screw-up with wheat. Oh, well - I'm hoping it's just the learning curve.

I forgot to mention, though, that I've begun making Chinese-style dishes, too. I made vegetable lo mein, and vegetable dumplings (using an amalgam of these four recipes), during the Lenten fast, for the weekends (because of the oil). The secret ingredient is, believe it or not, rice vinegar; who would have thought it? Sesame oil, of course, too, but that's not a surprise. I even made a dumpling dipping sauce - all very easy, in fact. You can steam dumplings in a completely ordinary steamer - the kind that opens up and you can put in a saucepan to steam vegetables with. Funny enough, they, too, were hideous to look at, even though lovely to eat; the shaping is hard to deal with and again the problem is sticky, sticky dough.

I just haven't got the aesthetics of these things down yet, I guess. My next project is Chả giò - Vietnamese Spring rolls. I've found a few different recipes, and am on my way out to get the ingredients at the Asian market. These are really wonderful, and have their own Wikipedia entry, with a lovely picture:





Here's another, from somplace else:

More bread news, etc.

• This is the recipe I'm going to make tonight: Multigrain Struan. Here's what it says:
  

  I still recall hearing the buzz around my hometown, Forestville, California, about the new cafe that had opened there when I was growing up, Brother Juniper's. Inevitably people's comments sounded something like "My sandwich/chili/coleslaw was excellent, but did you try the bread? It was incredible!"
  
  The bread people were talking about was Struan Bread, Peter Reinhart's attempt to recreate a Scottish harvest bread he had read about known as Struan Micheil. The original Struan was baked on Michaelmas (Spetember 29) and would contain small amounts of all of the grains being harvested that season. So, if you've never tried it, this is definitely the time of year to try baking Struan.

  
  
  Check out the final result:
  
  
  
  
  
  Oh, mama! It's not Michaelmas, but I have some cooked brown rice, some rolled oats, and some cracked wheat lying around, so this is definitely for me! And if successful, I will make more on September 29!


• In other news, a friend gave me some King Arthur sourdough starter. In case you haven't totally fallen for the baking thing, that's primo stuff. It even came with a little tag that said, "This sourdough is the ancestor of one made in the 1970s" (or something like that) - kind of like the Cabbage Patch Kid thing. I'm adopting this sourdough, apparently, along with its entire lineage. Anyway, I did use it - but I object to having to throw out part of it every time I want to use it! So it's sitting in my refrigerator after being used only once so far; I need to take it out, throw away half, and feed it in order to keep it going. It seems like too much work, to be honest. And a big waste - but I'll use it from time to time, I guess. You really have to keep making bread all the time, and who's going to eat all that? Maybe I'll give it away or something; that would be a good thing to do, now that I think of it.


• I made a cake the other day, too - the first one ever from scratch. Not bad, but a little bland; chocolate with chocolate icing. It cost about $3.25 to make, I figured - but then as soon as I had made it, I realized I really wanted a lemon cake. So that's next. I froze about half of the chocolate one, gave some away, and ate some.


• And in arboreal news, here's my brother's chinaberry tree:
  
  
  
  
  
  


• Here's a Multigrain Oatmeal sandwich bread that also looks delicious - but I can't figure out the recipe chart. So I'm going with the Struan above instead; I like those in-process images, too!


• This weekend, we're having a wedding as part of the Divine Service, something I've never seen before. It should be really nice; it will be sort of half-Easter, half-Rite of Marriage.


• I don't think most people get the idea that Easter is 50 days long; most seem to think it's over that morning. Too bad; the long festal (or fasting) seasons are really the best part. There are whole ebb-and-flow rhythms to the year that you totally miss out on if you aren't aware of them enough to celebrate them. I wish we would have more (gentle) emphasis on that, rather than all the stupid fights and totalitarianism surrounding the placement of the altar (of all things!). Why not, instead, just allow people to have the enjoyment of the Liturgical Year? (Hint: because our "leaders" are Puritans (capital "P") and Moralizers (capital "M"), that's why.)
  
  And that's my Baby-Boomer priest gripe for the day. Thanks very much.


• I've been practicing Centering Prayer since Lent; I arranged to have a workshop given during that period, because I'd once attended it and knew the people in the local chapter. It's really so terrific; 20 minutes in the morning and 20 in the evening make all the difference in the world.
  
  During the last two sessions, in addition to the Prayer (to which was added a short group Lectio Divina during those last sessions - a terrific idea), we watched Fr. Thomas Keating talk about the method and practice. He's really amazing! But the prayer is so subtle that it's difficult for some people - including myself, at first! - to understand; we wonder if we're "doing it right." And unfortunately, some people leave early on because they're not sure about this. Nothing necessarily happens during the prayer; the results all happen during the rest of your life! (Although there is sometimes, as Fr. Keating says, a feeling of deep refreshment after a session, just because your brain is so relaxed at ceasing the endless chatter up there.)
  
  There are some videos of Fr. Keating on the web; he's terrific to listen to. Here's one, for instance:
  
  

My first round pizza

And it's good, too! I've got the system down now, and my dough is coming out better each time; this time it was 1 cup whole wheat, 4 cups white - and that's just about perfect. I even threw it up in the air and spun it around! Tried that fists-under-the-dough-to-stretch-it, but haven't got the hang of that yet. Mostly, I just let gravity do the work. (It really is important, BTW, to proof the yeast for this recipe; I hadn't realized it calls for instant yeast, rather than active dry yeast. The dough was still delicious, but the texture wasn't right until I put the yeast in some sugar-water for about 15 minutes before adding it to the recipe.)

Homemade sauce, too! Wow.

New online chant resource - with search by melody!

Wow - check this out! You can actually enter some (at least 3, it says) notes of any chant melody, and the database will return all pieces of melodies that contain that sequence! And then link you to square note chant scores of each item returned!

It also notes that "The pitch of the first note is not important - in the search results the melody appears in all transpositions."

Amazing! The website is called "Global Chant Database," and I haven't looked at anything but the Search feature yet, so amazed am I at that.

This is just terrific!

"As one who has slept"

People keep pointing out to me these wonderful hymns that I don't know!

This one is - as usual, I find, with John Tavener - just stunningly beautiful:

From the Liturgy for Great and Holy Saturday:

"As one who has slept the Lord has risen
And rising he has saved us. Alleluia."

Music by Sir John Tavener; The Choir/James Whitbourne, conductor

Bono on Lent (in the New York Times!)

An Op-Ed this past weekend:

"It’s 2009. Do You Know Where Your Soul Is? "

I AM in Midtown Manhattan, where drivers still play their car horns as if they were musical instruments and shouting in restaurants is sport.

I am a long way from the warm breeze of voices I heard a week ago on Easter Sunday.

“Glorify your name,” the island women sang, as they swayed in a cut sandstone church. I was overwhelmed by a riot of color, an emotional swell that carried me to sea.

Christianity, it turns out, has a rhythm — and it crescendos this time of year. The rumba of Carnival gives way to the slow march of Lent, then to the staccato hymnals of the Easter parade. From revelry to reverie. After 40 days in the desert, sort of ...

Carnival — rock stars are good at that.

“Carne” is flesh; “Carne-val,” its goodbye party. I’ve been to many. Brazilians say they’ve done it longest; they certainly do it best. You can’t help but contract the fever. You’ve got no choice but to join the ravers as they swell up the streets bursting like the banks of a river in a flood of fun set to rhythm. This is a Joy that cannot be conjured. This is life force. This is the heart full and spilling over with gratitude. The choice is yours ...

It’s Lent I’ve always had issues with. I gave it up ... self-denial is where I come a cropper. My idea of discipline is simple — hard work — but of course that’s another indulgence.

Then comes the dying and the living that is Easter.

It’s a transcendent moment for me — a rebirth I always seem to need. Never more so than a few years ago, when my father died. I recall the embarrassment and relief of hot tears as I knelt in a chapel in a village in France and repented my prodigal nature — repented for fighting my father for so many years and wasting so many opportunities to know him better. I remember the feeling of “a peace that passes understanding” as a load lifted. Of all the Christian festivals, it is the Easter parade that demands the most faith — pushing you past reverence for creation, through bewilderment at the idea of a virgin birth, and into the far-fetched and far-reaching idea that death is not the end. The cross as crossroads. Whatever your religious or nonreligious views, the chance to begin again is a compelling idea.

•

Last Sunday, the choirmaster was jumping out of his skin ... stormy then still, playful then tender, on the most upright of pianos and melodies. He sang his invocations in a beautiful oaken tenor with a freckle-faced boy at his side playing conga and tambourine as if it was a full drum kit. The parish sang to the rafters songs of praise to a God that apparently surrendered His voice to ours.

I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search.

The preacher said, “What good does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?” Hearing this, every one of the pilgrims gathered in the room asked, “Is it me, Lord?” In America, in Europe, people are asking, “Is it us?”

Well, yes. It is us.

Carnival is over. Commerce has been overheating markets and climates ... the sooty skies of the industrial revolution have changed scale and location, but now melt ice caps and make the seas boil in the time of technological revolution. Capitalism is on trial; globalization is, once again, in the dock. We used to say that all we wanted for the rest of the world was what we had for ourselves. Then we found out that if every living soul on the planet had a fridge and a house and an S.U.V., we would choke on our own exhaust.

Lent is upon us whether we asked for it or not. And with it, we hope, comes a chance at redemption. But redemption is not just a spiritual term, it’s an economic concept. At the turn of the millennium, the debt cancellation campaign, inspired by the Jewish concept of Jubilee, aimed to give the poorest countries a fresh start. Thirty-four million more children in Africa are now in school in large part because their governments used money freed up by debt relief. This redemption was not an end to economic slavery, but it was a more hopeful beginning for many. And to the many, not the lucky few, is surely where any soul-searching must lead us.

A few weeks ago I was in Washington when news arrived of proposed cuts to the president’s aid budget. People said that it was going to be hard to fulfill promises to those who live in dire circumstances such a long way away when there is so much hardship in the United States. And there is.

But I read recently that Americans are taking up public service in greater numbers because they are short on money to give. And, following a successful bipartisan Senate vote, word is that Congress will restore the money that had been cut from the aid budget — a refusal to abandon those who would pay such a high price for a crisis not of their making. In the roughest of times, people show who they are.

Your soul.

So much of the discussion today is about value, not values. Aid well spent can be an example of both, values and value for money. Providing AIDS medication to just under four million people, putting in place modest measures to improve maternal health, eradicating killer pests like malaria and rotoviruses — all these provide a leg up on the climb to self-sufficiency, all these can help us make friends in a world quick to enmity. It’s not alms, it’s investment. It’s not charity, it’s justice.

•

Strangely, as we file out of the small stone church into the cruel sun, I think of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, whose now combined fortune is dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty. Agnostics both, I believe. I think of Nelson Mandela, who has spent his life upholding the rights of others. A spiritual man — no doubt. Religious? I’m told he would not describe himself that way.

Not all soul music comes from the church.

Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 and a co-founder of the advocacy group ONE, is a contributing columnist for The Times.

The Book of Common Prayer for the iPhone

Here, for $4.99.

Not that I have an iPhone or anything....

"The Angel Cried"

A wonderful Orthodox hymn for Pascha (Easter). The lyrics:

Shine, shine, O new Jerusalem, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee; dance now and be glad, O Sion, do thou exult, O pure Theotokos, in the arising of Him Whom thou didst bear.

It says here that this is called the "Paschal Hymn to the Theotokos," and is "sung after the 8th Ode of the Paschal Canon." Here's the full version:

The Angel cried to the Lady Full of Grace:
Rejoice, O Pure Virgin!
Again I say: Rejoice!
Your Son is risen from His three days in the tomb.
With Himself He has raised all the dead.
Rejoice, all ye people!
Shine, shine, O New Jerusalem,
The glory of the Lord has shone on you.
Exult now and be glad, O Zion,
Be radiant, O Pure Theotokos,
In the Resurrection of your Son!

Spring!

At the local arboretum today.

A redbud (I think):





Hyancinth bed:




Daffodils, and a "Seven sons tree" in the background:




Tulips:




Cherries:




Not sure what this is! Oh, well. Fothergilla, maybe?




More tulips:




Planters:




More cherries:

"Life, Gardening, and an Orthodox Easter"

On the Eve of the Orthodox Easter (the Great Vigil is already underway locally, I'd guess): from NPR's "Speaking of Faith."

Theologian Vigen Guroian experiences Easter as "a call to our senses." We'll explore his Eastern Orthodox sensibility that is at once more mystical and more earthy than the Christianity dominant in Western culture. And at this time of year and beyond, Guroian does real theology in his garden as richly as in church.

Also, "program particulars (including images and music)," a page of links, plus all the music in a small popup flash player, linked from the front page - here, but this link may not work properly from off-site. (If it doesn't, it's on the main page in a small box on the left that says:

Hear the Music
» SOF Playlist ¦ hear full-length tracks of each song played in the program

And, check this out: a link from the episode site to a page on a website called "Icons Explained." Oh, how beautiful! It's St. Seraphim Orthodox Cathedral in Dallas. Hope they won't mind me showing you the image; click the link above to go to the page and see it with its interactive features working. You can click various parts of the iconostasis and see close-ups of the icons featured there.

Dominica in albis (or, Quasi Modo) Sunday

Dominica in albis means "White Sunday," one of the names given the Sunday after Easter. Says New Advent, at the article "Low Sunday" (another name for this day):

Its liturgical name is Dominica in albis depositis, derived from the fact that on it the neophytes, who had been baptized on Easter Eve, then for the first time laid aside their white baptismal robes. St. Augustine mentions this custom in a sermon for the day [apparently in "260A" - which I couldn't find on the web, but will post if I ever do], and it is also alluded to in the Eastertide Vesper hymn, "Ad regias Agni dapes" (or, in its older form, "Ad cœnam Agni providi" [here]), written by an ancient imitator of St. Ambrose. Low Sunday is also called by some liturgical writers Pascha clausum, signifying the close of the Easter Octave, and "Quasimodo Sunday", from the Introit at Mass — "Quasi modo geniti infantes, rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite", — which words are used by the Church with special reference to the newly baptized neophytes, as well as in general allusion to man's renovation through the Resurrection. The latter name is still common in parts of France and Germany.

Here is an mp3 of the beautiful Introit, Quasi Modo, from the Brazilian Benedictines, and below is the chant score:





The text is from 1 Peter 2:2:

2 like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation,
3 for you have tasted that the Lord is good.

According to Wikipedia:

Quasimodo, protagonist of the 1831 French novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, was found abandoned on the doorsteps of Notre Dame on the Sunday after Easter and was named after this day.

Here's the wonderful, very melismatic Alleluia:



There are, in fact, two Alleluia chant propers on this day, and on every Sunday in Easter; it seems that the first of them - the one shown here for this Sunday - replaces the Gradual during this season.

Sunday, April 19th, is also Easter Sunday in the Orthodox calendar. A blessed Pascha to all who are celebrating it!

The Eastertide Office hymns are here.

This Sunday is also "St. Thomas Sunday," because the readings center on the "doubting Thomas" episode in John. Here's a favorite Carravaggio, "The Incredulity of St. Thomas":

The mysterious icon

Here's a photo of an icon somebody gave me recently (click the image for a larger view):





The writing on the scroll is in Greek; there are three lines, and they look like this:
"Ev A" (in English transliteration)
"χή μ" (the Greek letters, but there are diacritical marks missing from this representation, and the "mu" might not be right)
"ologos" (transliterated into English; this is the only word I'm sure of).

The bird seems to be a cross between a chicken and a raven! I was thinking this was St. Benedict - but then, if so, the writing probably wouldn't be in Greek. It must be an Eastern saint - or, at least, somebody not so identified with the West - right?

So who is this person? Any help would be appreciated!

Crotalus alert

For anybody who's curious about what the crotalus sounds like - it's a wooden rattle-like implement used only once during the liturgical year, at the consecration of the elements on Maundy Thursday, in place of Sanctus bells - you can hear at the St. Thomas streaming audio page. Click to listen to The Solemn Liturgy of Maundy Thursday.

I posted about this once before, and at that time offered an image of a crotalus:

The crotalus (also called a "clapper") is "a wood rattle-like object which makes a terrifying sound. It replaces the Sanctus Bell during certain Holy Week Masses when the ringing of bells is surpressed." After the ringing of the Sanctus Bells throughout the Gloria at Maundy Thursday Eucharist, the bells go quiet until the Great Vigil. And in truth, the noise of the crotalus can be shiver-inducing. (Crotalus is also the genus name for the rattlesnake.)

This Joyful Easter-tide

In case you need more ways to enjoy the season:



One of my favorite hymns of all-time; it's #192 in the 1982. The splendid lyric here:

This joyful Eastertide,
away with care and sorrow!
My Love, the Crucified,
hath sprung to life this morrow.

Refrain:
Had Christ, that once was slain,
ne'er burst his three-day prison,
our faith had been in vain;
but now is Christ arisen,
arisen, arisen, arisen.

Death's flood hath lost its chill,
since Jesus crossed the river:
Lover of souls, from ill
my passing soul deliver, Refrain

My flesh in hope shall rest,
and for a season slumber,
till trump from east to west
shall wake the dead in number. Refrain

Worth a thousand words....

There's a new photo in the Home Page rotating montage at St. Mary the Virgin, Times Square:





Now you understand....

"The Holy Week Weeping Tone"

Ever since I first heard it a few years ago, I've wondered about the change in tone at the end of the plainsong Sung Passion - after Jesus "gives up his spirit," or "breathes his last." It's very beautiful, and very affecting; I wasn't quite sure of its significance, but I just learned that it is called "The Planctus Tone."

You can see what the notes look like - and if you can read square notes, you can sing it yourself to see what it sounds like, if you haven't heard it - in this PDF of the Passion according to Luke, notated for singing, from Grace Church in Newark. There's a note on page 20, after Jesus commends his spirit to God, and breathes his last, that says, "Then the Chronista sings the conlusion of the Passion Gospel to the Planctus tone:" - and the tone change starts on page 21. (And BTW, the "Chronista" - the narrator, that is, but I guess that actually means "the Chronologist"? - in the video linked below is one wonderful singer. Do go listen, either via video or audio-only; highly worth it.)

You can listen to the whole Passion according to John, sung, at the Trinity Wall Street site on this page. It's the Good Friday Liturgy, and the Sung Passion starts at around 22 minutes; the Planctus tone begins at around 42 minutes. Just click the "Watch Now" button; you need Windows Media Player to watch.

Under "Planctus" at Wikipedia, you find this:

A planctus is a lament, or song or poem which expresses grief or mourning. It became a popular form in the Middle ages, when they were written both in Latin and the vernacular. A number of varieties have been identified by Peter Dronke. From the 9th century, they include dirges for the dead, particularly for royals or heroes, vernacular laments sung by women, Germanic songs of exile and journeying, and fictional planctus on biblical or classical themes. From the 12th century he identifies laments of the Virgin Mary (called a planctus Mariae) and complaintes d'amour (complaints of love).[1]

The earliest planctus for which music survives are from the 10th century, from manuscripts associated with the abbey of Saint Martial at Limoges. The earliest know, the Planctus de obitu Karoli, was composed around 814 on the death of Charlemagne.[2] From the mid-thirteenth century survives an early Catalan Marian lament, Augats, seyós qui credets Déu lo Payre. Or simply a complaint poem with 27 lines and 8 syllables in each line with alliteration in each line.

See what you can learn hanging around on internet forums?

"Orthodox chanting"

At PBS' "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly," a piece about chant in the Orthodox tradition. There's a good video on that page, including an interview with a young Orthodox woman and her take on chant; wish I could embed it, but I can't. Orthodox Easter hasn't happened yet; it's this coming Sunday.

Here's a transcript of the interview - but go watch the video!

BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: This weekend of Easter Sunday for Western Christians, we have a profile coming up of an inspiring Christian musician. We also have a “Belief and Practice” segment on chanting in Eastern Orthodox churches where this is Palm Sunday. Because of differing church calendars, Eastern Orthodox Easter— Pascha — is next week.

Our guide to Orthodox chanting was Emily Lowe, a member of the choir at the Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church in Linthicum, Maryland. She told us not only about chanting, but also about her personal experience as a singer of the Eastern Orthodox conviction that worship brings change.

EMILY LOWE (Choir, Holy Cross Antiochian Orthodox Church, singing): Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

The Orthodox Church is unique in modern times, having a completely-sung liturgy. Everything is sung from the very beginning to the end.

In Orthodoxy, the music is not sacred. The words are sacred. The music is really meant to fit the text. So when we talk about heaven, the voice goes up. And when you talk about hell or Hades or sin, it goes down. For instance, (singing), “The company of the angels was amazed when they beheld the number among the dead.”

During the time of the Ottoman Empire, the Greek chants took on sort of a very Middle Eastern character and that’s when you hear this sort of dissonant, odd sounding things: (singing) Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, glory to thee oh God.” It sounds very foreign to western ears.

For instance, (singing) “rejoice o Bethany.” Rejoice O Bethany — it’s a beautiful hymn and it’s very dear to the heart of our Arabic parishioners — (singing) — “God came to thee; God came to thee.” That little flourish at the end, (singing “la la la la”), very unusual and very otherworldly sounding. And that’s kind of — that’s the impression that people get. They might hear 20 things when they walk into an Orthodox church. But that’s what they’re going to take away. They’re going to go, “Whoa, I remember that. That was really unusual.”

I converted about 12 years ago. I was 16. And my family converted together. It was initially my father’s decision. He said, “I think this is the place for us to be. This is where God’s calling us. And this is really the fullest expression of the Christian faith.”

One thing about Orthodoxy is that it really demands change — and expects change. It expects that you will grow spiritually, that you won’t just be the same person that you were the week before or the month before.

From a personal standpoint, I never had a very good voice before we became Orthodox. I believe that I found my voice in Orthodox music — that I didn’t have it in Protestant music or in secular music.

When people say, “Oh, you did such a wonderful job,” I feel like telling them it wasn’t me because it really wasn’t. It doesn’t feel like me when I chant. I’m thinking about God and expressing the words the best that I can.

Some other interesting links over there, too. I'm going to be learning as much as I can about Orthodox chant in the future, as I do find it beautiful and know very little about it.

Haec dies

Which is the Gradual prescribed for Easter Day:

Haec dies quam fecit Dominus;
exultemus et laetemur in ea.
Alleluia.

This is the day which the Lord hath made;
we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Alleluia.

The text is from Psalm 118 (117 in the Roman reckoning). Here are the Latin chant propers for Easter Day, and here is an mp3 of Haec dies from that page; it's listed as the "Chant after 1st Reading." The Benedictines of Brazil, of course, also offer all the Easter Day chants, here. Here's the score for Haec dies:





Here's William Byrd's polyphonic version:



Easter is one of four Feast days for which a Sequence Hymn is still prescribed: the beautiful Victimae Paschali Laudes. Here's an interesting version posted at YouTube:



The Office during the Octave of Easter is here; the Office for the rest of Eastertide is here.

One of my very favorite pieces of Easter Day art: Peter and John Running to the Tomb, by Eugène Burnand (1850 – 1921). Oil on canvas, 1898, now at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris:

Here's a fresco at Chora Church, Istanbul: Anastasis: Harrowing of Hell and Resurrection, from the 14th century:





This is the day! A blessed Easter to all.

Holy Saturday

From Speaking to the Soul:

Daily Reading for April 11 • Holy Saturday

Today a grave holds him
who holds creation in the palm of his hand.
A stone covers him
who covers with glory the heavens.
Life is asleep and hell trembles,
and Adam is freed from his chains.

Glory to your saving work,
by which you have done all things!
You have given us eternal rest,
your holy resurrection from the dead.

From a matins hymn for Holy Saturday, quoted in Orthodox Lent, Holy Week and Easter: Liturgical Texts with Commentary by Hugh Wybrew (London: SPCK, 1995).

Sing, my tongue

Listen to the hymn "Pange Lingua" (mp3) - "Sing, my tongue" - in Latin (from this site); it's the hymn sung after the Eucharist on Maundy Thursday, during the procession to the altar of respose. Here is the TPL entry about this hymn:

There are two Pange Linguas in use, one by St. Thomas Aquinas and then this one, by Venantius Fortunatus (530-609) which extols the triumph of the Cross. He wrote it for a procession that brought a part of the true Cross to Queen Radegunda in 570. This hymn is used on Good Friday during the Adoration of the Cross and in the Liturgy of the Hours during Holy Week and on feasts of the Cross. The concluding stanza was not written by Fortunatus, but was added later.

When used in the Liturgy the hymn is often broken into smaller hymns such as: Lustra sex qui iam peregit, En acetum, fel, arundo, and Crux fidelis inter omnes.

There is a charming ancient legend that is hinted at in the second verse of this hymn. According to this legend, the wood of the Cross upon which Christ was crucified was taken from that tree which was the source of the fruit of the fall in the Garden of Eden. When Adam died, the legend states, Seth obtained from the Cherubim guarding the Garden a branch of the tree from which Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Seth planted this branch at Golgotha (the place of the skull), which is so named because Adam was buried there. As time went on, the Ark of the Covenant, the pole upon which the bronze serpent was lifted, and other items were made from this tree.

Here are the words (and not all of this longer version of the hymn is sung on this occasion, but the themes are the same):

Pange, lingua, gloriosi
proelium certaminis,
et super Crucis trophaeo
dic triumphum nobilem,
qualiter Redemptor orbis
immolatus vicerit.

De parentis protoplasti
fraude Factor condolens,
quando pomi noxialis
morte morsu corruit,
ipse lignum tunc notavit,
damna ligni ut solveret.

Hoc opus nostrae salutis
ordo depoposcerat,
multiformis proditoris
ars ut artem falleret,
et medelam ferret inde,
hostis unde laeserat.

Quando venit ergo sacri
plenitudo temporis,
missus est ab arce Patris
natus, orbis, Conditor,
atque ventre virginali
carne factus prodiit.

Vagit infans inter arcta
conditus praesepia:
membra pannis involuta
Virgo Mater alligat:
et manus pedesque et crura
stricta cingit fascia.

LUSTRA sex qui iam peracta
tempus implens corporis,
se volente, natus ad hoc,
passioni deditus,
Agnus in crucis levatur
immolandus stipite.

En acetum, fel, arundo,
sputa, clavi, lancea:
mite corpus perforatur,
Sanguis, unda profluit
terra, pontus, astra, mundus,
quo lavantur flumine!

CRUX fidelis,
inter omnes
arbor una nobilis;
nulla talem silva profert,
flore, fronde, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulci clavo,
dulce pondus sustinens!

Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
tensa laxa viscera,
et rigor lentescat ille,
quem dedit nativitas,
ut superni membra Regis
miti tendas stipite.

Sola digna tu fuisti
ferre saeculi pretium,
atque portum praeparare
nauta mundo naufrago,
quem sacer cruor perunxit,
fusus Agni corpore.

Aequa Patri Filioque,
inclito Paraclito,
sempiterna sit beatae
Trinitati gloria,
cuius alma nos redemit
atque servat gratia. Amen.

SING, my tongue, the Savior's glory;
tell His triumph far and wide;
tell aloud the famous story
of His body crucified;
how upon the cross a victim,
vanquishing in death, He died.

Eating of the tree forbidden,
man had sunk in Satan's snare,
when our pitying Creator did
this second tree prepare;
destined, many ages later,
that first evil to repair.

Such the order God appointed
when for sin He would atone;
to the serpent thus opposing
schemes yet deeper than his own;
thence the remedy procuring,
whence the fatal wound had come.

So when now at length the fullness
of the sacred time drew nigh,
then the Son, the world's Creator,
left his Father's throne on high;
from a virgin's womb appearing,
clothed in our mortality.

All within a lowly manger,
lo, a tender babe He lies!
see his gentle Virgin Mother
lull to sleep his infant cries!
while the limbs of God incarnate
round with swathing bands she ties.

THUS did Christ to perfect manhood
in our mortal flesh attain:
then of His free choice He goeth
to a death of bitter pain;
and as a lamb, upon the altar of the cross,
for us is slain.

Lo, with gall His thirst He quenches!
see the thorns upon His brow!
nails His tender flesh are rending!
see His side is opened now!
whence, to cleanse the whole creation,
streams of blood and water flow.

FAITHFUL Cross!
above all other,
one and only noble Tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
none in fruit thy peers may be;
sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest Weight is hung on thee!

Lofty tree, bend down thy branches,
to embrace thy sacred load;
oh, relax the native tension
of that all too rigid wood;
gently, gently bear the members
of thy dying King and God.

Tree, which solely wast found worthy
the world's Victim to sustain.
harbor from the raging tempest!
ark, that saved the world again!
Tree, with sacred blood anointed
of the Lamb for sinners slain.

Blessing, honor, everlasting,
to the immortal Deity;
to the Father, Son, and Spirit,
equal praises ever be;
glory through the earth and heaven
to Trinity in Unity. Amen.

"Wretch that I am...."

From Speaking to the Soul:

Daily Reading for April 8 • Wednesday in Holy Week

Wretch that I am,
I have fallen into the hands of robbers—
my own thoughts.
My mind has been stripped,
and I have been severely beaten.
My whole being is wounded,
and stripped of virtues
I lie naked on life’s road.
The priest saw me in sharp pain,
but thought my wounds incurable.
He took no notice of me,
refusing to look at me.
The Levite could not bear my agony,
destructive of my very being,
and when he saw me
passed by on the other side.
But you, Christ my God,
were pleased to come incarnate,
not from Samaria but from Mary.
In your great love for us,
give me healing
and pour your abundant mercy on me.

From an Orthodox vesper hymn for Wednesday in Holy Week, quoted in Orthodox Lent, Holy Week and Easter: Liturgical Texts with Commentary by Hugh Wybrew (London: SPCK, 1995).

“O Lord and Lover of Men!”

From Speaking to the Soul today:

Daily Reading for April 7 • Tuesday in Holy Week

There is a phrase which the Greek Liturgy constantly applies to God in Christ: “O Lord and Lover of Men!” The whole meaning and drama of the Passion is gathered up in that. The Evangelists’ accounts—all the curt notes crowded together—reveal, when we take them separately and dwell upon them, the deep entrance into human suffering in all its phases, the utter self-giving to the vocation of sacrifice, of One Who is, in completeness, both the Lord and Lover of mankind.

Consider some of these episodes. The anointing by the woman of Bethany, of one who never seemed more divine than at this moment, accepting so peacefully the menacing web of events that are closing in; and then even that gesture of love spoilt by the sordid displeasure of His own disciple.

Then the incredible beauty of that two-fold act of selfless generosity, the Last Supper and the Washing of the Feet; the humble cleansing and feeding of the imperfect human creature, with its deep reverence for that human creature’s limitations and concern for that human creature’s needs.

And then Gethsemane, the real crisis and victory. The first prayer of natural agony: “If it is possible, don’t let this happen! I can’t face it!” And the second prayer: “If I must go through with this, Thy Will be done.” Because of that scene, at the very heart of human suffering, even its rebellions and fears, we are never alone. We often feel that we make a mess of our suffering and lose the essence of sacrifice, waste our opportunity, fail God, because we cannot stand up to it. Gethsemane is the answer of the Divine Compassion to that fear.

From The School of Charity: Meditations on the Christian Creed by Evelyn Underhill (London: Longmans, Green and Co Ltd., 1934).

Stabat Mater

A piercingly beautiful piece by Arvo Pärt, divided into three videos.


Part I:




Part II:



Part III:


According to this site:

Stabat Mater is the title of a thirteenth-century Latin hymn and it means "the Mother was standing." In Latin, the hymn consists of twenty couplets which describe the Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin at the Cross. There are more than sixty English translations that have been made of the Stabat Mater....Tradition has identified the hymn with St. Bonaventure, Jacopone da Todi, and Pope Innocent II. A notable number of scholars point to da Todi as author, since two fourteenth-century codices and the 1495 edition of the sequence attribute the hymn's authorship to him. While it cannot be denied that the composition's general tone and sensitivity parallel that of da Todi's poems, strictly stylistic comparisons yield uncertain and even disputable results. Recent scholars like L. Russo and M. Cassella are not impressed by the arguments in favor of Jacopone's authorship. The Stabat Mater has two qualities that most scholars date from the twelfth century: an intricate rhyme scheme and a regular meter (usually trochaic)....The Stabat Mater was introduced into the Liturgy gradually until 1727 when it was prescribed as a Sequence for Mass of the Seven Sorrows of Mary on September 15 and on Friday before Holy Week, as well as their corresponding offices. The Stabat Mater has been retained as an optional Sequence for September 15 in the reformed Roman Missal and as the hymn for the Office of Readings, Morning Prayer, and Evening Prayer in the new Liturgy of Hours. The Stabat Mater's popularity is reflected by its use in the popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross.

TPL says this:

Stabat Mater Dolorosa is considered one of the seven greatest Latin hymns of all time. It is based upon the prophecy of Simeon that a sword was to pierce the heart of His mother, Mary (Lk 2:35). The hymn originated in the 13th century during the peak of Franciscan devotion to the crucified Jesus and has been attributed to Pope Innocent III (d. 1216), St. Bonaventure, or more commonly, Jacopone da Todi (1230-1306), who is considered by most to be the real author.

The hymn is often associated with the Stations of the Cross. In 1727 it was prescribed as a Sequence for the Mass of the Seven Sorrows of Mary (September 15) where it is still used today. In addition to this Mass, the hymn is also used for the Office of the Readings, Lauds, and Vespers for this memorial. There is a mirror image to this hymn, Stabat Mater speciosa, which echoes the joy of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the birth of Jesus.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find an audio file of the Gregorian chant, and in fact I don't know what it sounds like myself. Will post again if I come across one.

The English words can be found at both sites above (at the UDayton site, there is also a link to a .ram file of Semyon Bychkov's Stabat Mater dolorosa), and also (here). This is the Latin:

Stabat Mater dolorósa
iuxta crucem lacrimósa,
dum pendébat Fílius.

Cuius ánimam geméntem,
contristátam et doléntem
pertransívit gládius.

O quam tristis et afflícta
fuit illa benedícta
Mater Unigéniti !

Quae moerébat et dolébat,
pia mater, cum vidébat
nati poenas íncliti.

Quis est homo, qui non fleret,
Christi Matrem si vidéret
in tanto supplício?

Quis non posset contristári,
piam Matrem contemplári
doléntem cum Filio ?

Pro peccátis suae gentis
vidit Jesum in torméntis
et flagéllis subditum.

Vidit suum dulcem natum
moriéntem desolátum,
dum emísit spíritum.

Eia, mater, fons amóris,
me sentíre vim dolóris
fac, ut tecum lúgeam.

Fac, ut árdeat cor meum
in amándo Christum Deum,
ut sibi compláceam.

Sancta Mater, istud agas,
crucifíxi fige plagas
cordi meo válide.

Tui Nati vulneráti,
tam dignáti pro me pati,
poenas mecum dívide.

Fac me vere tecum flere,
Crucifíxo condolére
donec ego víxero.

Iuxta crucem tecum stare,
te libenter sociáre
in planctu desídero.

Virgo vírginum praeclára,
mihi iam non sis amára,
fac me tecum plángere.

Fac, ut portem Christi mortem,
passiónis fac me sortem
et plagas recólere.

Fac me plagis vulnerári,
cruce hac inebriári
et cruóre Fílii.

Flammis ne urar ne succénsus,
per te, Virgo, sim defénsus
in die iudícii.

Fac me cruce custodíri
morte Christi praemuníri,
confovéri grátia.

Quando corpus moriétur,
fac, ut ánimae donétur
paradísi glória. Amen.

Christus factus est

Which is the Gradual for Passion (or Palm) Sunday, sung just before the Passion itself is sung. The text is Philippians 2:8-9:

Christus factus est pro nobis obediens usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis. Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum et dedit illi nomen, quod est super omne nomen.

Christ became obedient for our sakes unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name.

The complete chant proper is here at YouTube; not sure who the singers are, as it doesn't say:



Here's another version, perhaps sung as an antiphon:



Here's Giovanni Vianini's version (he calls it a "responsory for Palm Sunday"):



Here is the chant score:





In truth, this text is beautiful, and so is the chant melody. Many composers have written anthems and motets to this text as well; you can understand why, given its powerful poignancy. Here's the gorgeous Bruckner version, for instance:




All the chant propers on the day are here, at the Brazilian Benedictines' site. The Palm Sunday entrance song is really lovely, and how wonderful to sing it (in English, BTW) with hundreds of others as the mass begins at St. Mary's: Hosanna, Filio David. Here's Giovanni Vianini's video of this:



The lyrics to the entrance song are these:

Hosanna Filio David
Benedictus qui venit
In nomine Domini
Rex Israel
Hosanna in excelsis

Hosanna to the Son of David
Blessed is He that cometh
In the name of the Lord
King of Israel
Hosanna in the highest

(I looked for these words at CPDL, but the Victoria version doesn't use the "Rex Israel" section. I ended up getting them from a page of Sinead O'Connor song lyrics, believe it or not!)

Two of the others on the day are very powerful as well: the Offertory, for one, is Improperium exspectavit cor meum (mp3), the text of which is from Isaiah:

Improperium exspectavit cor meum, et miseriam: et sustinui, qui simul mecum contristaretur, et non fuit: consolantem me quaesivi, et non inveni: et dederunt in escam meam fel, et in siti mea potaverunt me aceto, potaverunt me aceto.

Insult has broken My heart, and I am weak: I looked for sympathy and there was none, for comforters, and I found none; rather they put gall in My food and in My thirst, they gave Me vinegar to drink.

The Communion hymn, Pater, si non potest (mp3) is short and sad:

Pater, si non potest hic calix transire, nisi bibam illum: fiat voluntas tua.

Father, if this cup cannot pass away, unless I drink it: your will be done.

Below is a piece of a fresco by Pietro Lorenzetti: "Entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Detail. c. 1320-30. Fresco. Trancept of the Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi, Italy."





This painting is by Francisco de Zurbarán, from 1627:





And this is by Cimabue, from around the year 1270; I think it's one of the most affecting of all crucifixes: