Hymn for Advent / adventshymne ca. 7de eeuw
More hymns | Vexilla regis | Ausonius and his Rose | Alain de Lille | Dulcis Jesu memoria | Mundi renovatio | Lux jucunda | Ambrosius | Veni Redemptor | Conditor alme | Prudentius | Adam St. Victor | a solis ortus | dies irae
For inclusion in the Roman Breviary a revision took place in 1632. The
hymn became Creator alme siderum. Quite popular, both in
roman-catholic and Lutheran circles.
NB: this is not a superficial change: the content and afmosphere of the
entire hymn has changed. See below some background and
the 'appreciation' of G.W. McGrath who compared all hymn-changes.
Dick Wursten
TEXTS:
Latin text - translation - vertaling - version of
J.M. Neale
MUSIC: Organ with plainchant
(Jean Titelouze, Hymnes de l'Église pour toucher
sur l'orgue' (1623))
CURIOSUM: Alexandre Guilmant published a
complete mass on this hymn in l'Organiste Liturgiste (le 3e dimanche de
l'Avent)
Ook te vinden in het Liedboek voor de kerken (1973), gezang 226 (rubriek Hemelvaart). More on Schulte Nordholt en zijn hymnenvertalingen (including other hymns)]
Conditor alme siderum
Author unknown (original: ca. 7th century) |
Creator alme siderum (total make-over of the original hymn) 17th century (1632, Pope Urban VIII) |
|||
Kind maker of the heavenly bodies, |
Gij die der sterren schepper zijt,
|
Cónditor alme siderum
[1]
,
|
Creator alme siderum,
|
Bright builder of the heavenly poles,
** |
You, who grieving that the this world |
Gij ziet in uw erbarmen groot
|
Qui cóndolens intéritu
|
Qui daemonis ne fraudibus
|
Who, lest the fraud of hell's black king
|
when the world’s evening was drawing to its close, |
De wereld zinkt in avond neer,
|
Vergénte mundi véspere,
|
Commune qui mundi nefas
|
Thou, that Thou mightst our ransom pay
|
You, to whose power and strength |
Voor uw immense majesteit,
|
Cuius forti poténtiae
|
Cuius potestas gloriae,
|
Thy glorious power, Thy saving Name
|
the sun by faithfully observing the sunset, the moon by retaining its pale light, the shining splendour of the stars by restricting itself to certain limits. |
De zon zorgt voor haar ondergang, |
Occásum sol custódiens,
[4]
|
||
We pray to you, holy one, |
O Rechter die het oordeel spreekt,
|
Te déprecamur, hágie
[5]
|
Te, deprecamur ultimae
|
Thee, Christ, who at the latter day
|
Praise, honour, might and glory |
U, koning Christus, onze Heer,
|
Laus, honor, virtus, gloria
|
Virtus, honor, laus, gloria
|
Be glory given and honor done
|
tr. after Inge. B. Milfull |
J.W. Schulte Nordholt
(Hymnen) |
A cento from the Primer, 1685 |
[1]
Siderum = all heavenly bodies
[2]
Refers to Psalm 19: 5-7 (The sun rises as a groom awakening on
his wedding day), via Canticum canticorum:
Christ = the sun/groom, Cf. hymn: Veni Redemptor
(st. 4): Procedat e thalamo suo / Pudoris aula regia
[3]
Refers to Pauls' Epistle to the Philippians 2:10
[4]
This stanza is often omitted. However it fits quite nicely:
explication (ontvouwing) of how all heavenly bodies in
the way they shine (or not) obey
their Creator. line 4: Some mss: observans or observant.
[5]
‘Hagie’ :
from the Greek: Hagios = Saint/Heilige. Cf. ‘Kyrie
eleison'.
&
[*] The changes were made when
the hymn was 'revised' in 1632 ... to comply to the taste of the
17th century church-elite, who experienced the Medieval Latin as
'barbarous' and 'defective' in metre/style. Result: Of the original
quatrains only one line remains unchanged. And indeed:
There are many metrical irregularities. HOWEVER:
"Even if we are prepared to admit the occasional substitution of a
trochee for an iambus we can scan the old text as it stands
accentually. Granted this accentual scheme, then there is nothing in
the hymn to cause difficulty but the nutu in v.l6 and
hagie in v. 17. The hymn which the revisers substituted is,
poetically speaking, quite inferior to the original. almost from the
substitution of the commonplace Creator for the vivid
Conditor in the first line to the last stanza where our
anonymous seventh century poet prays:
Te deprecamur, agie,
Venture iudex saeculi,
Conserva nos in tempore
Hostis a telo
perfidi.
He knows that is God preserve us from the dart of the enemy in time
we need have no concern for eternity. The revisers kept the idea
but almost nothing of the epigrammatic expression:
Te
deprecamur ultimae
Magnum diei iudicem,
Armis supernae
gratiae
Defende nos ab hostibus."
G. W. McGrath, The Revision of the Hymns of the Roman Breviary under Urban VIII, unpublished dissertation 1939, p. 76 [back]
The song can be sung on the old gregorian tune, but also - because of the 8-8-8-8 metre - on many other tunes (Psalm 134, = the Old Hundredth), or Christe qui lux est &cetera.
Jean Titelouze:
Hymnes de l'Église pour
toucher sur l'orgue' (1623)
organ and plainchant alternatim.
[back]
1 Creator of the stars of night,
your people’s everlasting
light,
O Christ, Redeemer of us all,
we pray you, hear us
when we call.
2 In sorrow that the ancient curse
should doom to death a
universe,
you came to save a ruined race
with healing
gifts of heav'nly grace.
3 When earth drew on to darkest night,
you came, but not
in splendor bright,
not as a king, but the child
of Mary,
virgin mother mild.
4 At your great name, majestic now,
all knees must bend,
all hearts must bow;
all things on earth with one accord
join those in heav’n to call you Lord.
5 To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit,
Three in One,
praise, honor, might, and glory be
from age
to age eternally.
Amen.
Source: Christian Worship: Hymnal,
323 back