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SURROUND SOUND X

Texts and Translations
Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548 –1611) | Salve Regina
Regarded as one of the leading composers of the Spanish Renaissance, Victoria was born in Avila, and travelled to Rome in 1565. He held various positions in Rome, including succeeding Palestrina as a teacher at the seminary, before returning to Spain the late 1580s. He only wrote sacred music, not even borrowing secular motifs as themes, as others composers did at the time. The text is a Marian antiphon, which is sung at the end of the monastic service in the evening, for the season from Trinity Sunday through to Advent.
Salve, Regina, Mater misericordiæ,
vita, dulcedo, et spes nostra, salve
Ad te clamamus exsules filii Evæ
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes
in hac lacrimarum valle.
Eia, ergo, advocata nostra, illos tuos
misericordes oculos ad nos converte;
Et Iesum, benedictum fructum ventris tui,
nobis post hoc exsilium ostende.
O clemens, O pia, O dulcis Virgo Maria.
Hail, holy Queen, Mother of Mercy,
Hail our life, our sweetness and our hope.
To thee do we cry,
Poor banished children of Eve;
To thee do we send up our sighs,
Mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn then, most gracious advocate,
Thine eyes of mercy toward us;
And after this our exile,
Show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.
Don Fernando de las Infantas (1534 – c1610) | Loquebantur variis linguis
Don Fernando de las Infantas was a Spanish nobleman, composer, and theologian. Born in Cordóba, he moved to Rome in 1572. Infantas had a contentious relationship with church composers and theologians of his time, his outspoken views bringing him to the attention of the Spanish Inquisition. The text is from the Acts of the Apostles, describing the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Infantas mimics the effect of 'speaking in tongues' by layering voices that sing in different keys, major or minor, in rising and falling phrases, to create a sumptuous whole.
Loquebantur variis linguis Apostoli magnalia Dei,
prout Spiritus Sanctus dabat eloqui illis, alleluia.
Repleti sunt omnes Spiritu Sancto, et coeperunt loqui.
The Apostles spoke in many languages of the great works of God,
as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance, alleluia.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak.
​
Orlando Gibbons (1583 – 1625) | O Clap your hands
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was a chorister in Cambridge, and appointed to the Chapel Royal in 1605 as organist, with his final post coming in 1623 at Westminster Abbey. He died in Canterbury, and is buried in the cathedral there. The text is from Psalm 47. Gibbons submitted the anthem to be considered for a degree at Oxford University, and was awarded an honorary PhD on the strength of it.
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O clap your hands together, all ye people:
O sing unto God with the voice of melody.
For the Lord is high and to be feared:
he is the great King upon all the earth.
He shall subdue the people under us:
and the nations under our feet.
He shall choose out an heritage for us:
even the worship of Jacob, whom he loved.
God is gone up with a merry noise:
and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet.
O sing praises, sing praises unto our God:
O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.
For God is the King of all the earth:
sing ye praises with understanding.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son:
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:
world without end. Amen.
James MacMillan (b 1959) | So Deep
MacMillan was born in Scotland in 1959, and studied at the University of Edinburgh and at Durham University. He lectured at the University of Manchester, and returned to Scotland in 1988, devoting himself primarily to composition. He currently lives in north Ayrshire. So Deep is a setting of a well-known Robert Burns poem, My luve is like a red, red rose. MacMillan chooses the different melody, ‘Major Graham’s Strathspey’, which was Burns’ original choice of tune. The choral writing evokes Scottish mists. lapping waves and the drone of bagpipes.
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O my Luve is like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
​
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
​
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.​​
​
Traditional, arr RGC Williams | Peter, go ring them bells
The melody for Peter, go ring them bells was first published in "The Jubilee Songs", 1856; a collection of African American spirituals compiled by William H. Hunter. It features in American Hymnaries, and in gospel choir arrangements. Roderick Williams' arrangement carries his trademark exuberance.
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[Refrain]
Peter, go ring them bells,
Peter, go ring them bells,
Peter, go ring them bells,
I heard from heaven today.
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I wonder where my mother is gone, (repeat x 3)
I heard from heaven today.
​
I heard from heaven today,
I heard from heaven today,
I thank God, and I thank you, too.
I heard from heaven today.
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I wonder where brother Moses is gone, (repeat x 3)
I heard from heaven today.
[Refrain]