Raban Maur (left), supported by Alcuin (middle),
dedicates his work to Archbishop Otgar of Mainz (Right)
– 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.