Verbum Caro

Description

Tenor, Bass 1, Bass 2 — Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) is widely considered the greatest Spanish Renaissance composer and one of the most influential musicians of his time. Included in his oeuvre are two settings of the Pange lingua, both produced in 1581. This motet is excerpted from Pange lingua more hisapano.The baritones anchor the motet by singing the tune in augmentation. This line should be intoned with a flowing, legato articulation that incorporates subtle phrasing and text stresses. The more rhythmic tenor and bass lines complement the melody and illustrate the hopeful nature of its text. Singing this piece with two pulses per measure will encourage a steady and vital performance.Composers provided minimal performance details in their scores during this period in music history, so I added a time signature, bar lines, dynamics, and metronome markings in order to facilitate performances that musicologists believe mimic those of Victoria’s time. It should be noted that dynamics are largely subjective, so performers may make alternative choices. Each tenuto indicates word stress; the most musical performances will incorporate gentle crescendos and decrescendos before and after each of them. Lastly, using minimal vibrato, especially at cadences, will imbue this wonderful motet with style and clarity.PRONUNCIATION GUIDEVictoria received much of his training in Italy, therefore making Italianate Latin most appropriate. Pure vowels are critical to correct pronunciation, and those phonemes remain constant without exceptions. The most problematic of the vowels is “o,” which sounds similar to the English words bought and got. The letter “t” should be produced dentally: lift the tongue to the top of the mouth as in English, but aspirate less on the release. All occurrences of “s” should be soft and never hardened to [z], such as in praise.Verbum caro, panem verum,[vɛɾbum kɑɾɔ pɑnɛm vɛrum]verbo carnem efficit: fitque sanguis Christi merum.[vɛɾbɔ kɑɾnɛm ˈɛfitʃit fitkwɛ sɑŋgwis kɾisti mɛɾum]Et si sensus deficit, ad firmandum cor sin cerum.[ɛt si sɛnsus ˈdɛfitʃit, ɑd fiɾˈmɑndum kɔɾ sin tʃɛɾum]Jeb Mueller Tenor-bass choirs will delight in singing Mueller's wonderful arrangement of Victoria's beloved Renaissance motet.This motet is excerpted from Victoria's first Pange Lingua. Time signature, bar lines, dynamics, and metronomic markings have been added in order to facilitate performances that musicologists believe mimic those of Victoria’s time. A programming must!

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