The Baroque, and Advent – what more could you want? (I am reminded of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Lutheran though it be, with all its joyful exhuberance and high art, consummating the hoped-for longings of Advent, and of the earlier but just as joyful – and Lutheran – church music of Prætorius.)
The elevation of the chalice, in Baroque style, at a first Mass (note assistant priest in cope);
by the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, available from http://fssp.org.
The Christmas Novena first sung in Turin in 1720 began with the following canticle; then came the Lætentur cæli and Little Chapter, before the hymn En clara vox (itself consisting of stanzas 1 and 3 of the Advent Lauds hymn, stanzas 2, 3 and 4 of the Christmas Lauds hymn, and a doxology) and the Magnificat with the appropriate O Antiphon (but on the 16th, the Magnificat antiphon Ecce veniet Rex, from the 2nd Monday of Advent, and on the 24th, that day's Magnificat antiphon Cum ortus fuerit). I visualize the whole sung coram Sanctissimo, as would be most fitting. It is clearly a sort of reënvisioning of Vespers, but incorporating many treasures from throughout the Office.
This Canticle is in fact a combination of the Advent Invitatory antiphon of Advent Matins, combined with many Old Testament texts, "prophecies", as digested and recombined to form antiphons and responsories in the Breviary during Advent. I have highlighted any slight modifications made to these texts in order to fit. (I have appended a hasty translation.)
******
INVITATORIUM
Antiphona. “Regem venturum Dominum,
venite adoremus.”[1]
et repetitur antiphona: Regem venturum
Dominum, venite adoremus.
PROPHETIÆ
[Composed by Fr Antonio Vacchetta, 1720]
3. “Ecce
veniet Dominus protector noster, Sanctus Israël, coronam regni habens in capite
suo, et dominabitur a mari usque ad mare, et a flumine usque ad terminos orbis
terrarum.”[8] R/.
4. “Ecce
apparebit Dominus, et non mentietur: si moram fecerit expecta eum, quia veniet
et non tardabit.”[9]
R/.
5. “Descendet
Dominus sicut pluvia in vellus: orietur in diebus ejus justitia, et abundantia
pacis, et adorabunt eum omnes reges” terræ,
“omnes gentes servient ei.”[10] R/.
6. “Nascetur
nobis parvulus, et vocabitur Deus fortis, ipse sedebit super thronum David
patris sui, et imperabit, cujus potestas super humerum ejus.”[11] R/.
7. “Bethlehem,
civitas Dei summi, ex te exiet Dominator Israël, et egressus ejus sicut a
principio dierum æternitatis, et magnificabitur in medio universæ terræ, et pax
erit in terra nostra dum venerit.”[12] R/.
8. “Crastina
die delebitur iniquitas terræ, et regnabit super nos Salvator mundi.”[13] R/.
R/. “Prope est jam Dominus, Venite
adoremus.”[14]
******
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
R/. The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
R/. The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
1.
Be glad, O daughter of Sion, and rejoice heartily, O daughter of Jerusalem:
behold, the Lord shall come, and there shall be in that day a great light, and
the mountains shall drop down sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk and
honey, for the great Prophet shall come, and He will renew Jerusalem.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
2.
Behold, He shall come, God, and man from the house of David, to sit upon the
throne, and ye shall behold, and your heart shall rejoice.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
3.
Behold the Lord our protector shall come, the Holy One of Israel, having the
crown of the kingdom on his head [i.e. the Crown of Thorns He shall wear when going forth to save us by His Passion], and He shall rule
from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the round world.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
4.
Behold, the Lord will come, and will not disappoint: if He delay, wait for Him,
for He shall come, and will not be late.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
5.
The Lord shall come down as rain on the fleece: justice shall dawn in His days,
and abundance of peace, and all the kings of the earth shall worship Him, all
nations shall serve Him.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
6.
For us shall be born a little One, and He shall be called mighty God, He
Himself shall sit upon the throne of David His father, and rule, whose power is
upon His shoulder [i.e. the Cross He shall bear, the instrument of man's salvation].
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
7.
Bethlehem, city of God Most High, from thee shall go forth the Ruler of Israel,
and His going forth shall be as from the beginning of the days of eternity, and
He shall be magnified in the midst of the earth, and peace shall be in our land
when He comes.
R/.
The Lord is the King soon to come, O come, let us adore him.
8.
To-morrow the iniquity of the earth shall be washed away, and the Saviour of
the world shall reign over us.
R/.
The Lord is now very near, O come, let us adore him.
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