Monday, January 9, A.D. 2012

Kontakion of the Nativity

Christ is born!

Here is the Russian Cathedral Choir of Paris singing the kontakion for the feast of the Nativity:

Here are the troparion and some other hymns specific to the feast by an unknown choir:

Monachos has the texts for various hymns.

Troparion of the Nativity:

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God,
Hath shone upon the world the light of knowledge;
For thereby, they that worshipped the stars
Were taught by a star
To worship Thee, the Sun of Righteousness,
And to know Thee, the Dayspring from on high.
O Lord, glory be to Thee!

Kontakion of the Nativity:

Today the Virgin giveth birth
To Him who is above all being,
And the earth offereth a cave
To Him whom no man can approach.
Angels with shepherds give glory,
And magi journey with a star.
For our sake is born a young Child,
The Pre-eternal God!

Posted by Joseph on Monday, January 9, A.D. 2012
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Thursday, April 7, A.D. 2011

Virgen Madre Alegrate

To everyone on the old calendar, I wish you a lovely feast of the Annunciation!

A few months ago, my friend Andrew sent me a Spanish version of “O Pure Virgin” by Nectarios of Aegina:

The singer is Fr. Elias, who also happens to be a music professor. He serves the mission of San Nicolas de Mira in Caracas, Venezuela. Many blessings to the Orthodox community there!

Posted by Joseph on Thursday, April 7, A.D. 2011
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Tuesday, February 15, A.D. 2011

Nunc Dimittis

For those on the old calendar, have a blessed feast. For today, the second of February on the Church calendar, is the Meeting of Our Lord, also called Candlemas in the West.

Here is a beautiful rendition of the Prayer of Saint Simeon by the choir of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery.

I do not know the setting, but it is lovely. Perhaps my favorite musical piece is Rachmaninov’s version, which I have posted before: “The Prayer of Saint Simeon.” What inspiration! I venture that Cecilia, Notkar Balbulus, John Koukouzelis, and Hildegard must really enjoy Sergei Vasilievich’s company.

Posted by Joseph on Tuesday, February 15, A.D. 2011
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Sunday, January 2, A.D. 2011

Slavonic Ave Maria

Here is a beautifully executed prayer to the Theotokos in a contemporary style, evidently sung by Hieromonk Vasily (Mozgovoy) of the Optina Hermitage Monastery, according to one of the YouTube comments.

Богородице дѣво, радѹйсѧ,
Благодатнаѧ Марїе,
Господь съ тобою:
благословена Ты въ женахъ,
и благословенъ плодъ чрева Твоегω;
якω Спаса родила еси дѹшъ нашихъ.

Posted by Joseph on Sunday, January 2, A.D. 2011
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Saturday, December 25, A.D. 2010

Canon of the Nativity

I wish all you new calendarists a very merry Christmas. Have a blessed feast. Here is the Canon of the Nativity in several languages.

The Polish video maker must not have been able to follow Greek; the read along is off. I have no idea about the Arabic. I am surprised that she starts with English, but I suppose that it is geared toward the generally Anglophone YouTube audience. Nicely done.

Hodie Christus natus est.

Posted by Joseph on Saturday, December 25, A.D. 2010
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Friday, December 24, A.D. 2010

Arabic Nativity

For those of you on the new calendar, I wish you a lovely Christmas Eve. Here is some Arabic chant—evidently for the Nativity.

The following Arabic Nativity follows the more familiar (to me, anyway) Byzantine style. It reminds me of Saint John Koukouzelis’ work.

Enjoy the feast, and redeem the time.

Posted by Joseph on Friday, December 24, A.D. 2010
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Thursday, December 23, A.D. 2010

Enya Hails the Messiah

Here is Enya (Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin) singing “Veni Emmanuel.”

I read that Enya’s songs sometimes have scores of voice layers of her singing and that she does each take individually. If I understand the process correctly, it seems quite impressive. I had assumed that some sort of digital recording magic created the various layers, but I guess that it only integrates them.

Posted by Joseph on Thursday, December 23, A.D. 2010
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Thursday, March 25, A.D. 2010

Gabriel Appeared

For those on the new calendar, happy feast of the Annunciation!

I found the following video on YouTube. It features a concert by a small choir singing Pavel Chesnokov’s “Gabriel Appeared.” The Russians can sing . . .

Moreover, I wish everyone, East and West, a productive holy week and a bright and joyous Pascha.

Posted by Joseph on Thursday, March 25, A.D. 2010
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Saturday, December 19, A.D. 2009

Borodino

Happy feast of Saint Nicholas (on the old calendar, today is the sixth of December)!

The Saint Nicholas Center mentions that, among many other things, Nicholas is one of the patron saints of soldiers. He is also one of the patrons of Moscow. So, allow me quite tangentially to celebrate his feast day by presenting you Lermontov’s “Бородино,” sung at Duke University by the alumni of the Yale Russian Chorus.

I do not know where Russian soldiers found the tune to which they sang Lermontov’s poem, but it works well. The Russians can sing. I wonder if such was true before they converted. Were they musical pagans, as I imagine the Irish to have been?

Indulging in my Russophilia, I also present the blessing of the soldiers from Bondarchuk’s War and Peace (Война и мир). My brother Adam should appreciate the small indirect homage to his favorite writer.

Bondarchuk’s film is evidently the most expensive film ever to be made, at seven hundred million of today’s dollars. That makes Avatar look reasonably priced.

Enjoy Saint Nicholas’ Day!

Posted by Joseph on Saturday, December 19, A.D. 2009
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Sunday, August 2, A.D. 2009

Fecioara Curata

Knowing my love for “O Pure Virgin,” my friend Andrew sent me several links to the hymn in various languages. It is lovely to hear the inspired song by Saint Nectarius in so many tongues.

My favorite version that he sent is the Romanian; the choir is truly magnificent. The accompanying video features icons of the Theotokos, but it employs distracting “scene fades” that ill become the subject matter.

These Romanian men do justice to the hymn. I imagine that eternity sounds a little bit like their music. I often think such about works that elevate the soul.

As a related tangent, I wish to encourage you to read Tolkien’s Ainulindalë from The Silmarillion. For it is about eternity expressed in music. In Tolkien’s myth, the world’s creation happens through musical composition. As the cosmos is the expression of that which is beyond being, it seems as though Tolkien understood how fitting an image harmony is as a reflection—or echo—of the eternal and divine.

What a beautiful man; his mind’s eye beheld the world well. May his memory be eternal!

Getting back to our hymn, Andrew was particularly impressed by the Korean version. I do not know much about East Asian music, but I can tell that traditional Oriental music, as in language, differs considerably from that west of the rising sun. Even so, setting the hymn to Korean seems to work well. The video features pictures of a Korean liturgy, which is itself rather interesting.

Below are the other versions that Andrew sent:

English:

It is funny how unfamiliar translations often bother me. The choir sings “bride unwedded,” while I am used to “unwedded bride.” It just sounds wrong.

Greek:

Arabic:

Slavonic:

Serbian:

Hungarian:

Which do you find the most beautiful?

Posted by Joseph on Sunday, August 2, A.D. 2009
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