Amazing pieces of classical music - 25
Maurice Duruflé's Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10, No. 1 "Ubi caritas (et amor)" for a cappella polyphony, specifically four mixed voices (1960). The words mean "Where charity and love are, God is there".
"Ubi caritas et amor" is a centuries-old hymn from the Western Church, long used as one of the antiphons for the foot washing on Holy Thursday. The words are attributed to the Carolingian theologian Paulinus of Aquileia in 796. Duruflé's choral setting, however, uses this Gregorian melody, with only the text of the refrain and the first stanza.
In a Lent homily preached more than 1,400 years ago, Pope St Leo the Great said something extremely stirring. Commenting then on St John’s assertion that ‘God is love’, he placed the emphasize on ‘is’. He urged: ‘Let the minds of the faithful examine themselves. Let them, by truthful enquiry, evaluate the intimate stirrings of their hearts. Then, should they find in their consciences some repository of love, let them not doubt that God is present in them. Let them be ever more expansive in works of persevering mercy in order to be ever better able to put up such a guest.’
The performance of its chant in Kenneth Clark's BBC television series Civilization was conducted by the 'Ensemble vocal Stéphane Caillat' under Duruflé in 1965. The well-known Duruflé Requiem (Op. 9) had premiered years earlier in 1947 and had since become a favorite of all choirs.
However, Duruflé's four motets are sometimes performed less successfully, especially this Ubi caritas, which, according to amongst others Dave Hurwitz, was considered "too square" or too straightforward in some performances, with the sung Latin words taken far too literally, thus missing the expressive potential of the phrasing
[media=https://youtu.be/Btl0CqDW4GI]
"Ubi caritas et amor" is a centuries-old hymn from the Western Church, long used as one of the antiphons for the foot washing on Holy Thursday. The words are attributed to the Carolingian theologian Paulinus of Aquileia in 796. Duruflé's choral setting, however, uses this Gregorian melody, with only the text of the refrain and the first stanza.
In a Lent homily preached more than 1,400 years ago, Pope St Leo the Great said something extremely stirring. Commenting then on St John’s assertion that ‘God is love’, he placed the emphasize on ‘is’. He urged: ‘Let the minds of the faithful examine themselves. Let them, by truthful enquiry, evaluate the intimate stirrings of their hearts. Then, should they find in their consciences some repository of love, let them not doubt that God is present in them. Let them be ever more expansive in works of persevering mercy in order to be ever better able to put up such a guest.’
The performance of its chant in Kenneth Clark's BBC television series Civilization was conducted by the 'Ensemble vocal Stéphane Caillat' under Duruflé in 1965. The well-known Duruflé Requiem (Op. 9) had premiered years earlier in 1947 and had since become a favorite of all choirs.
However, Duruflé's four motets are sometimes performed less successfully, especially this Ubi caritas, which, according to amongst others Dave Hurwitz, was considered "too square" or too straightforward in some performances, with the sung Latin words taken far too literally, thus missing the expressive potential of the phrasing
[media=https://youtu.be/Btl0CqDW4GI]
