Two Latin Plainchant
Tunes
.
Three Settings for
Organ
.
Acclamation on Pange Lingua
Gloriosi
Improvisation on Pange
Lingua
Orison on Veni Emmanuel
.
Click on the link below to download a
complimentary PDF booklet
available 07/2025
.
2LatinPlainchantTunes3SettingsPange&VeniOrgBklt2025
Notes
Acclamation
on
Pange Lingua Gloriosi,
a chant which first appeared in the 14th Century
Zisterzienser Hymnar,
sets an unaltered form of the original Mode III plainsong tune in a dramatic
manner. Alternating between
declam-atory statements and bold chordal interpolations of successive
phrases, an imitative midsection presents two add-itional phrases of the
chant. A return of the opening
treatment is concluded by a final ‘Amen.’
Improvisation
on
Pange Lingua
sets a more contemporary version of the Mode
III plainchant, one that has been adapted for use with later poetic
translations of the original Latin text. In paired phrases, each punctuated
by brief cadential pauses, the melody
is heard in successive points of imitation.
A stirring plainchant ‘Amen’
draws this gently
rambling setting to a hushed
conclusion.
Orison on Veni, Emmanuel presents
a familiar Advent hymn tune that was mistakenly ascribed to Thomas Hel-more.
In more
recent years
it has
been determined that the chant
originated as a melody applied to verses sung in association with the text,
‘Libera me’: it was not until 1966 that the original manuscript of a 15th
Century Processional belonging to a community of French Franciscan nuns was
recovered. It was Thomas Helmore who recast the tune into a metered format
for inclusion in contemporary hymn collections. This setting is meditative
in nature and begins with a hypnotic manual accompaniment to the chant,
which is sounded phrase by phrase in the pedals. The hymn setting finally
blossoms out into repeated fragmentary statements in depiction of the word
“Rejoice”. In due course Orison
wends its way through the final phrase of the hymn to a codetta that echoes
the introduction, and is concluded by a serene ‘amen.’
♦ ◊ ♦