April 2011

O Magnum Mysterium

by Tomás Luis de Victoria

Tomás Luis de Victoria (pronounced toh-MAHS loo-EES day vik-TOR-ee-a) was born in Avila, Spain in 1548. He was a gifted singer, organist, and choir director. He had written a lot of music for the Catholic church during his lifetime. He's not extremely well-known today, but known among those who study music from the Renaissance.

The piece we're going to listen today started out as a Gregorian chant. Back in the late 6th century, Pope Gregory I is said to have organized and formalized the music for the Catholic church. Several excerpts from the book of Psalms and other books of the Bible were put to music. The interesting element of this music is that it was monophonic (or "one voice"). There was no harmony. A group of people (usually monks) would sing the same melody. The words they sung were in Latin, which was considered by the church to be the language of the Bible.

"O Magnum Mysterium" (pronounced OH MAHN-yoom mis-STAIR-ee-oom) is a Latin text about Christmas. You might think of it as an extremely early Christmas carol. The Latin text is this (with pronunciation guides after):

O magnum mysterium [OH MAHN-yoom mis-STAIR-ee-oom]
et admirabile sacramentum, [et ahd-meer-RAH-bee-lay SAH-crah-MEN-toom]
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, [oot AH-nee-MAH-lee-ah vee-DAIR-rent DOH-mee-noom NAH-toom]
jacentem in praesepio! [yah-CHEN-tem een preh-SEP-ee-oh]
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera [bay-YAH-tah VEER-goh COO-yoos VEE-sair-ah]
meruerunt portare [meh-roo-AIR-roont poor-TAH-ray]
Dominum Christum. [DOH-mee-noom KREES-toom]
Alleluia [ah-lay-LOO-yaa]

In English, these words would be:

O great mystery,
and wonderful sacrament
that animals should see the new-born Lord,
lying in a manger!
Blessed is the Virgin whose womb
was worthy to bear
Christ the Lord

This is really the first choral work that we've done for Music of the Month. A choir (pronounced QWIE-er) is a group of singers. Traditionally, a choir is divided into four parts: two parts for women and two parts for men. Each group has a high part and a low part. For women, the high part is called soprano, and the low part is called alto. For men, the high part is called tenor, and the low part is called bass.

In this piece, the choir sings a cappella. This is an Italian phrase meaning "in the manner of the church" or "in the manner of the chapel". Remember that in the early days of the Catholic church, the songs were sung in chants, and no instruments played along with the singers. That's what a cappella has come to mean: performing with no other instruments to back you up. This piece includes just the singers. No backup instruments.

This piece is a really great example of a musical period called "The Renaissance" (pronounced REH-neh-zahns). This is a period of about 150 years, from the late 1400s to the early 1600s. Victoria wrote this piece in 1572.

Jon's Introduction to This Piece:

I was introduced to this song as a member of choir. I'll confess that I'm not certain which year or which group. If I had to guess, it was probably my junior or senior year of High School, and the group would have been the Chamber Choir (conducted by Don Christensen).

I didn't have a recording for this piece for a long time, as many of the recordings for Renaissance-style pieces were being performed by choirs that had more of a Romantic-era opera style to them. It's like playing a flute solo with an electric guitar. It's possible, but it has an entirely different sound. It wasn't until the mid to late 1990s that I came across a recording (the recording you're about to hear) that I loved.


So here it is. It's a short one this month. Close your eyes and picture yourself in a 16th century Spanish cathedral.

O Magnum Mysterium by Tomás Luis de Victoria (3:40)

For those interested, this was from an album called "Beyond Chant: Mysteries of the Renaissance". The performing group is called "Voices of Ascension" conducted by Dennis Keene. The name "Beyond Chant" is a play on a surprisingly popular Gregorian Chant album from the late 1980s called, simply, "Chant". I really recommend the whole "Beyond Chant" album. It's a great one, if you enjoy Renaissance choir music.

Jon's Interpretation:

I love Renaissance music. There's a uniquely hollow sound to it. And for choir music, so much of the Renaissance music we have is sacred (meaning, it was written to be performed as part of a church service). This gives it a very spiritual feeling, very deep and mysterious.

This piece has a particularly nice tenor part. I sing tenor (though I've sung bass, tenor, and yes, even alto in different groups). The piece starts with the sopranos, followed shortly by the altos. They "dance" with each other for a little while, and then the tenors come in on a glorious chord. But then, the basses join in, and that resulting chord is what Renaissance choir music is all about. It's transcendent.

Extra Credit:

I don't know how many of you find this interesting, but I do, so I'm going to keep doing it. I managed to find a public domain score of this piece. Notice the Latin names for the parts (i.e., Soprano is "Cantus", Alto is "Altus", Bass is "Bassus")..

Score for O Magnum Mysterium by Tomás Luis de Victoria

As I mentioned, the original use for the text of "O Magnum Mysterium" was a Gregorian chant. I happen to have a recording of the chant version. This is performed by the Coro de Monjes de la Abadia de Montserrat led by Pater Gregori Estrada. Enjoy.

O Magnum Mysterium (Gregorian Chant) (3:34)