John 1: 1–2, 4–5 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. In him was life, and that life was the light of all. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
The beginning of the Gospel of St John in the “Coronation Gospels” (Cotton MS. Tiberius A. II, f. 162r). From British Library via Wikimedia Commons.
***
“In the Beginning Was the Word” Op. 161, for SATB and organ, composed by Carson Cooman (b. 1982) in 1999 and revised in 2003.
Song of Solomon4:7,11; 2:11-13; 4:8 [Latin] – You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.
Your lips distil nectar; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your perfumes is beyond all spices.
For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
The flowers have appeared; the flowering vines have given forth their fragrance, and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land.
Arise, my love, my fair one; come from Lebanon, Come, you will be crowned.
Original Latin:
Tota pulchra es, amica mea, et macula non est in te;
favus distillans labia tua; mel et lac sub lingua tua;
odor unguentorum tuorum super omnia aromata:
jam enim hiems transiit, imber abiit et recessit.
Flores apparuerunt;
vineae florentes odorem dederunt,
et vox turturis audita est in terra nostra:
surge, propera, amica mea:
veni de Libano, veni, coronaberis.
Illustration of King Solomon (via Wikimedia Commons)
Philipians2: 7-8 –But [he] made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
The 17th-century painting Christ Crucified by Diego Velázquez
***
“He made Himself of no reputation,” recitative from The Crucifixion (1887), an oratorio for SATB choir and organ composed by Sir John Stainer (1840-1901)
7. He made himself of no reputation - The Crucifixion - Stainer
Luke14: 16-17 [Latin] –Jesus said, A certain man prepared a great feast, and he sent his servant at the time of the feast to tell the guests to come, for all things were prepared.
Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mixed for you, for all things were prepared. [Glory be to the Father…]
Original Latin:
Homo quidam fecit coenam magnam et vocavit multos et misit servum suum hora coenae dicere invitatis ut venirent, quia omnia parata sunt. Alleluja.
Invitation to the Great Banquet – by Phillip Medhurst (Image via Wikimedia Commons)
***
“Homo quidam fecit coenam,” sacred motet by Thomas Tallis (1505-1585), first published in The Baldwin Partbooks (1575).
