A solis ortus cardine
"A solis ortus cardine" (
History
A solis ortus cardine... is a Latin hymn, written in the first half of the fifth century by the early Christian poet Sedulius. The
The first seven verses, with a doxology verse by a different writer, were used from the early Middle Ages onwards as a Christmas hymn. They write of the striking contrast between the grandeur and omnipotence of the Word of God (the second person in the Trinity) and the vulnerable humanity of the child in whom the Word became flesh. In 1589, Palestrina set the odd verses (A,C,E,G) in Hymni totius anni secundum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae consuetudinem, necnon hymni religionum, a collection of hymns composed for the Vatican; liturgical practice was for the even verses to be sung in Gregorian plainchant.
A four-part setting of A solis ortus cardine, with the plainchant in the tenor, is annotated at the bottom of two pages from an early sixteenth century collection of madrigals and hymns in the
Luther translated the first seven verses into the hymn "
Verses 8, 9, 11 and 13 of Sedulius' poem were also used, with an added doxology, as "Hostis Herodes impie..." ("O Herod, you impious foe..."), a hymn for the
In the Catholic Liturgy of the Hours, the eight verse A solis ortus cardine and the five verse Hostis Herodes impie appear in the Latin original. Their early-church melody dates to the 5th century, beginning in the Dorian mode and ending in the Phrygian mode. Its numerous embellishments were later simplified, though most of them survive, even in Luther's versions. An almost syllabic version is in use in the modern Catholic liturgy.
Text
Below is the text of A solis ortus cardine with the eleven verses translated into English by John Mason Neale in the nineteenth century. Since it was written, there have been many translations of the two hymns extracted from the text, A solis ortus cardine and Hostis Herodes impie, including Anglo-Saxon translations, Martin Luther's German translation and John Dryden's versification. Complete modern translations into English can be found in Walsh & Husch (2012) and Springer (2013); the literal translation is a paraphrase of these.
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Gallery
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Abbey of St Gall, c800
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Page 1 of A solis bound withParker Chronicle, Canterbury, 8C-9C
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Page 2 of A solis, Canterbury
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Page 1 of A solis in Leofric Collectar, Exeter 11th century
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Page 2 of A solis in Leofric Collectar
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Page 1 of A solis in German breviary, Innsbruck 1477
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Page 2 of A solis in German breviary
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Page 3 of A solis in German breviary
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Page 4 of A solis in German breviary
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Page 1 of A solis in Antiphonarium, Ingolstadt 1618
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Page 2 of A solis in Antiphonarium
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Page 3 of A solis in Antiphonarium
Notes
- ^ Springer (2013, pp. xii–xxii)
- ^ "Description of Royal MS 2 A XX, British Library". Retrieved 11 June 2016.
- ISBN 0754655423
- ^ Williamson, Magnus (2006), "Liturgical Music in the Late-Medieval Parish: Organs and Voices, Ways and Means", in Burgess, Clive; Duffy, Eamon (eds.), The Parish in Late-Medieval England, Harlaxton Medieval Studies, vol. XIV, Shaun Tyas, pp. 214–216
- ^ Fram ðære sunnan upspringes anginne in Anglo-Saxon
References
- Walpole, Arthur S. (1922), Early Latin hymns, Cambridge University Press
- Walsh, Peter G.; Husch, Christopher (2012), One Hundred Latin Hymns: Ambrose to Aquinas, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, vol. 18, Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0674057739
- Springer, Carl P. (2013), Sedulius, The Paschal Song and Hymns, Ancient Israel and Its Literature, vol. 35, SBL Press, ISBN 978-1589837447
External links
- A solis ortus cardine on YouTube, Gregorian chant (female)
- A solis ortus cardine on YouTube, Gregorian chant (male)
- A solis ortus cardine on Guillaume Dufay
- Full poem by Sedulius
- Free translation by Peter Gerloff (Verses 1, 2, 6, 7 and Doxology)
- Text of Bach cantata 121
- A solis ortus cardine: Text, translations and list of free scores by several composers at the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)