''Sicut cervus'' is a motet for four voices by

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina ( – 2 February 1594) was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading ...

. It sets the beginning of

Psalm 42 Psalm 42 is the 42nd psalm of the Book of Psalms, often known in English by its incipit, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks" (in the King James Version). The Book of Psalms is part of the third section of the Hebrew Bible, and a book ...

, Psalmus XLI in the Latin version of the ''Psalterium Romanum'' rather than the

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

Bible. The incipit is "Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes" (As the deer desires the fountains) followed by a second part (''secunda pars'') "Sitivit anima mea" (My soul thirsts). It was published in 1604 in ''Motecta festorum, Liber 2'', and has become one of Palestrina's most popular motets, regarded as a model of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

, expressing spiritual yearning.

History

The motet is a setting of

:1-3. The Psalm was a prescribed

tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

for the blessing of the water (font) on

Holy Saturday Holy Saturday ( la, Sabbatum Sanctum), also known as Great and Holy Saturday (also Holy and Great Saturday), the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday (in Portugal and Brazil), Saturday of the Glory, Sabado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter ...

, recalling the water of baptism as well as the "living water of the eucharist". The text, speaking of the longing for God, retained its association with funeral music, having been widely used as the

Tract Tract may refer to: Geography and real estate * Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots * Land lot or tract, a section of land * Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census ...

before the Tridentine

Roman Missal The Roman Missal ( la, Missale Romanum) is the title of several missals used in the celebration of the Roman Rite. Along with other liturgical books of the Roman Rite, the Roman Missal contains the texts and rubrics for the celebration of th ...

of 1570 standardized the tract ''Absolve, Domine''. Palestrina's setting was posthumously published in Venice in 1604 in the collection ''Motectorum quatuor vocibus, ... liber secundus'', a sequel to the 1564 ''Motecta festorum''. It is now one of Palestrina's most anthologized works and regarded as a model of

Music

The motet is written for four voices, soprano, alto,

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

, and bass. It is set in imitative polyphony throughout, with attention to the meaning of the text in subtle

word-painting Word painting, also known as tone painting or text painting, is the musical technique of composing music that reflects the literal meaning of a song's lyrics or story elements in programmatic music. Historical development Tone painting of words ...

. For the word "''desiderat''", expressing longing, the pace is faster, and the melody rises, reaching its peak on the word "''fontes''" (streams, water, fountains). In the continuation of the first part, "''ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus''" (Thus longs my soul for Thee, God), the human desire expressed in the first person is rendered in denser imitation and with more intense dissonance. The motet has been described as the expression of "serene but fervent spiritual yearning".

References

External links

* * {{italic title 1570 works

Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; grc, Πραίνεστος, ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Pre ...

Compositions by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina Psalm settings