Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui by Tomás Luís de Victoria
The text is from the Song of Songs--actually an extended love story with many passages (such as this one) praising the beloved's treasured features. So Victoria's piece is kind of a motet and kind of a madrigal. Renaissance composers loved setting texts from the Song of Songs. The language is so delectable, and the steamy descriptions of the lovers and their trysts in the vineyards and beneath the pomegranate trees and searching the streets in the night for each other just beg for imaginative musical settings. Yes, according to the church, all this is metaphorical; but apparently the composers weren't convinced. Or alternatively I suppose one could say that they doubled down on the metaphor, adorning the sexy lines with equally sexy music.
Be that as it may, there is an immense amount of Song of Songs music out there. When Green Mountain Consort did a set based upon the Book, it was an embarrassment of riches--I developed an archive of over 250 pieces from which to choose, and that was leaving out accompanied pieces, pieces for more than six voices, music later than the 17th-century, etc. A number of textual passages were extremely popular, with multiple settings; but I was able to find at least one setting for nearly every passage. If you're interested in the Song of Songs and how it got into the bible (to a casual observer, it definitely seems strange there), you can't do better than consult the beautiful translation (with extensive commentary) by Chana and Ariel Bloch.$15 on Amazon, half that for a used copy.
The text is from the Song of Songs--actually an extended love story with many passages (such as this one) praising the beloved's treasured features. So Victoria's piece is kind of a motet and kind of a madrigal. Renaissance composers loved setting texts from the Song of Songs. The language is so delectable, and the steamy descriptions of the lovers and their trysts in the vineyards and beneath the pomegranate trees and searching the streets in the night for each other just beg for imaginative musical settings. Yes, according to the church, all this is metaphorical; but apparently the composers weren't convinced. Or alternatively I suppose one could say that they doubled down on the metaphor, adorning the sexy lines with equally sexy music.
Be that as it may, there is an immense amount of Song of Songs music out there. When Green Mountain Consort did a set based upon the Book, it was an embarrassment of riches--I developed an archive of over 250 pieces from which to choose, and that was leaving out accompanied pieces, pieces for more than six voices, music later than the 17th-century, etc. A number of textual passages were extremely popular, with multiple settings; but I was able to find at least one setting for nearly every passage. If you're interested in the Song of Songs and how it got into the bible (to a casual observer, it definitely seems strange there), you can't do better than consult the beautiful translation (with extensive commentary) by Chana and Ariel Bloch.$15 on Amazon, half that for a used copy.