Quinque salutationes Domini nostri Jesu Christi by Ludwig Senfl
Have you ever seen 'Best in Show'? What a weird movie! My favorite scene is the Christopher Guest character, Harlan Pepper, as he drives up to Philadelphia in his RV with Hubert the bloodhound, telling about how as a child he used to make his mother mad by naming nuts.
When applied to music, this phenomenon is called a catalog aria or song. The most famous example is probably Leporello's aria recounting the exploits of his employer, Don Giovanni, all across Europe: 'Madamina: Il catalago è questo'. [Note: I am not by any means hereby condoning such behavior, and will remind you that DG does get
his just desserts in the end.]
Last Monday we had an example of the catalog song in 'Die Narren', which lists many kinds of fools. For our end-of-the-week motet, we're extending the theme, but in keeping with the sacred nature of the motet (at least from the Renaissance on), today's piece is Ludwig Senfl's amazing 'Quinque salutationes Domini nostri Jesu Christi' ('Five greetings to our Lord Jesus Christ').
The 'Quinque salutationes' are small-scaled, intimate, exquisitely loving songs of delight and tenderness. Each begins with the same invocation--'Hail, Lord Jesus Christ, blessed King'--and continues with a series of titles or attributions of Jesus: 'Vision of peace'; 'Word made flesh'; 'Highest love'; 'Perfect truth'; and so on, spinning ever forward in a glowing, joyful, ecstatic stream of words and music.
I'm not dramatizing here--this really is the way I hear the piece. Senfl, as he was wont to do, has created a special world, a once-in-a-lifetime sound specifically for this text. I think it's a sort of miracle--a small one, certainly, but we can use every single one we can find!
The score and text-translation sheet are attached.
The recording file is too large to attach; you can access it at this link.
I hope that you like this wonderful piece, and that it cheers and uplifts you--
Have you ever seen 'Best in Show'? What a weird movie! My favorite scene is the Christopher Guest character, Harlan Pepper, as he drives up to Philadelphia in his RV with Hubert the bloodhound, telling about how as a child he used to make his mother mad by naming nuts.
When applied to music, this phenomenon is called a catalog aria or song. The most famous example is probably Leporello's aria recounting the exploits of his employer, Don Giovanni, all across Europe: 'Madamina: Il catalago è questo'. [Note: I am not by any means hereby condoning such behavior, and will remind you that DG does get
his just desserts in the end.]
Last Monday we had an example of the catalog song in 'Die Narren', which lists many kinds of fools. For our end-of-the-week motet, we're extending the theme, but in keeping with the sacred nature of the motet (at least from the Renaissance on), today's piece is Ludwig Senfl's amazing 'Quinque salutationes Domini nostri Jesu Christi' ('Five greetings to our Lord Jesus Christ').
The 'Quinque salutationes' are small-scaled, intimate, exquisitely loving songs of delight and tenderness. Each begins with the same invocation--'Hail, Lord Jesus Christ, blessed King'--and continues with a series of titles or attributions of Jesus: 'Vision of peace'; 'Word made flesh'; 'Highest love'; 'Perfect truth'; and so on, spinning ever forward in a glowing, joyful, ecstatic stream of words and music.
I'm not dramatizing here--this really is the way I hear the piece. Senfl, as he was wont to do, has created a special world, a once-in-a-lifetime sound specifically for this text. I think it's a sort of miracle--a small one, certainly, but we can use every single one we can find!
The score and text-translation sheet are attached.
The recording file is too large to attach; you can access it at this link.
I hope that you like this wonderful piece, and that it cheers and uplifts you--