Spanish Chant Manuscript Page 203 (14953086188)

''Te lucis ante terminum'' (English: ''To Thee before the close of day'') is an old Latin

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...

long metre Long Metre or Long Measure, abbreviated as L.M. or LM, is a poetic metre consisting of four line stanzas, or quatrains, in iambic tetrameter with alternate rhyme pattern ''a-b-a-b''. The term is also used in the closely related area of hymn metre ...

. It is the hymn at

Compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wo ...

in the ''

Roman Breviary The Roman Breviary (Ecclesiastical Latin, Latin: ''Breviarium Romanum'') is a breviary of the Roman Rite in the Catholic Church. A liturgical book, it contains public or canonical Catholic prayer, prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notati ...

''.

Origin

S.-G. Pimont argued for the authorship of

Ambrose of Milan Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promot ...

. The Benedictine editors and

Luigi Biraghi Luigi Biraghi (2 November 1801 – 11 August 1879) was an Italian Roman Catholic priest who served in his home of Milan. Biraghi later went on to establish his own religious congregation known as the Sisters of Saint Marcellina. Biraghi served as ...

disagreed. The hymn is found in a hymnary in Irish script (described by Clemens Blume in his ''Cursus'', etc.) of the eighth or early ninth century; but the classical prosody of its two stanzas (''solita'' in the third line of the original text is the only exception) suggests a much earlier origin. In this hymnary it is assigned, together with the hymn '' Christe qui splendor et dies'' (also known as ''Christe qui lux es et dies''), to Compline. An earlier arrangement (as shown by the Rule of

Caesarius of Arles Caesarius of Arles ( la, Caesarius Arelatensis; 468/470 27 August 542 AD), sometimes called "of Chalon" (''Cabillonensis'' or ''Cabellinensis'') from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Merovingian ...

, c. 502) coupled with the ''Christe qui lux'' the hymn '' Christe precamur adnue'', and assigned both to the "twelfth hour" of the day for alternate recitation throughout the year. The later introduction of the ''Te lucis'' suggests a later origin. The two hymns ''Te lucis'' and ''Christe qui lux'' did not maintain everywhere the same relative position; the latter was used in winter, the former in summer and on festivals; while many cathedrals and monasteries replaced the ''Te lucis'' by the ''Christe qui lux'' from the first Sunday of

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

Passion Sunday Passion Sunday is the fifth Sunday of Lent, marking the beginning of Passiontide. In 1969, the Roman Catholic Church removed Passiontide from the liturgical year of the Novus Ordo, but it is still observed in the Extraordinary Form, the Persona ...

Holy Thursday Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday (also known as Great and Holy Thursday, Holy and Great Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, among other names) is the day during Holy Week that commemorates the Washing of the ...

, a custom followed by the Dominicans. The old

Breviary A breviary (Latin: ''breviarium'') is a liturgical book used in Christianity for praying the canonical hours, usually recited at seven fixed prayer times. Historically, different breviaries were used in the various parts of Christendom, such a ...

of the

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

s used the ''Christe qui lux'' throughout the year. The Roman Breviary assigns the ''Te lucis'' daily throughout the year, except from Holy Thursday to the Friday after Easter, inclusively. Merati, in his notes on Galvanus' ''Thesaurus'', says that it has always held without variation this place in the Roman Church. As it is sung daily, the Vatican

Antiphonary An antiphonary or antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use (i.e. in the liturgical choir), and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the ...

gives it many

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgy, liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in La ...

settings for the varieties of season and rite.

Text

Alternative

The 1632 Urban VIII version makes classicizing revisions. The 1974 revision replaces the second strophe with the following two strophes from the hymn ''Christe precamur adnue''.

Musical adaptations

The text has been set to music frequently. The earliest settings are to plainsong melodies found in the ''Liber Usualis'' (one used as the opening of Benjamin Britten's ''

Curlew River ''Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance'' (Op. 71) is an English music drama, with music by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by William Plomer. The first of Britten's three 'Parables for Church Performance', the work is based on the J ...

''); another, from the

Sarum Rite The Use of Sarum (or Use of Salisbury, also known as the Sarum Rite) is the Latin liturgical rite developed at Salisbury Cathedral and used from the late eleventh century until the English Reformation. It is largely identical to the Roman rite, ...

, is much used in England.

Thomas Tallis Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one o ...

composed two memorable settings of the (unrevised) text, among those of other Tudor composers.

Henry Balfour Gardiner Henry Balfour Gardiner (7 November 1877 – 28 June 1950) was a British musician, composer, and teacher. He was born at Kensington (London), began to play at the age of 5 and to compose at 9. Between his conventional education at Charterhouse ...

composed the anthem '' Evening Hymn'' on both the Latin text and an English translation, for mixed choir and organ. More recently, the original Latin text was set to music in 2019 by South African composer

William Matthewson William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, and dedicated to the chamber choir of

St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town St George's Cathedral (also referred to as The Cathedral Church of St George the Martyr) is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa, and the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town. St. George's Cathedral is both the metropolitical chu ...

. Its public debut was at the cathedral's

Evensong Evensong is a church service traditionally held near sunset focused on singing psalms and other biblical canticles. In origin, it is identical to the canonical hour of vespers. Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became ...

service on 4 August 2019.

Notes

References

Source

External links

*
''Te Lucis''
'' Tallis'

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western can ...

'' by

Libera Libera may refer to: * Libera (mythology), a Roman goddess of fertility * Libera (choir), a boy vocal group from London * ''Libera'' (film), a 1993 comedy film * "Libera" (song), a song by Italian artist Mia Martini * ''Libera'' (gastropod), a ...

(''Libera''; música); Libera Official, 2015 (Youtube). {{DEFAULTSORT:Te Lucis Ante Terminum Latin-language Christian hymns