Of Alcuin and Antiphons.....

Raban Maur (left), supported by Alcuin (middle),

dedicates his work to Archbishop Otgar of Mainz (Right)

From the 9th Century Fulda – Manuscript: Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod.652, fol. 2v 

A reflection with Advent Choral Music

including two settings of the O Antiphon: O Sapientia 

Organ Voluntary: Prelude on Rhosymedre — Ralph Vaughan Williams

Hymn: On Jordan’s bank (Winchester New)

O Sapientia (the first of the “O Antiphons”)

as set by Paweł Łukaszewski (born 1968)

Text: O Sapientia, quæ ex ore Altissimi prodiisti, attingens a fine usque ad finem, fortiter suaviter que disponens omnia: veni ad docendum nos viam prudentiæ.

O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other mightily, and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Hymn – Hark a thrilling voice is sounding (Merton)

Motet: Ecce Dominus veniet—Hieronymus Prætorius (Pt. 2)

Reflection:

on the life and enormous  influence through his raising of standards in education

of the Anglo-Saxon scholar Alcuin Archbishop of York and Abbot of Tours

together with background on the “O Antiphons” of Advent
by Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff

O Sapientia Antiphon, as set by Robert Ramsey (c1590-1644)

Vesper Responsory — G. P. da Palestrina

Hymn: Lo, he comes with clouds descending (Helmsley)

Organ Voluntary: Sonata No 2 in C minor, Op 65 — Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)

The music is from the Sound Archive of the Choir of the Church of the Advent Boston under the Direction of Mark Dwyer, by kind permission of the Rector The Revd. Fr Douglas Anderson.