O Virgo Prudentissima (2019)
SATB a cappella choir; ca. 5 min.
The composer writes: My inspiration for O Virgo Prudentissima (2019) lies in the sacred choral music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and other Russian composers. With ponderous tempi and rich harmonic progressions, the choral music of these masters is both sonorously thrilling and profoundly moving – and I hope that those characteristics have found their way into my music.
The text I chose for this hymn to the Virgin is by Agnolo Ambrogini (known as “Poliziano”). This fifteenth-century Florentine scholar and poet was patronized by the Medici family, and served as a tutor of the future Pope Leo X.
TEXT
O Virgo prudentissima
quam coelo missus Gabriel
supremi regis nuntius
plenam testatur gratia.
Te sponsam factor omnium,
te Matrem Dei Filius,
Te vocat habitaculum
suum beatus spiritus.
Tu stella maris diceris
quae nobis inter scopulos,
inter obscuros turbines
portum salutis indicas.
Per te de tetro carcere
antiqui patres exerunt;
Per te nobis astriferae
panduntur aulae limina.
Audi Virgo puerpera
et sola Mater integra;
Audi precantes quesimus
tuos Maria servulos.
Repelle mentis tenebras
disrumpe cordis glaciem.
Nos sub tuum praesidium
Confugientes protege.
Alleluia.
TRANSLATION
O Virgin most wise,
Heaven sent Gabriel
As the Great King’s messenger
Testifying to your divine grace.
You are wife to the Maker of All,
You are mother of the Son of God,
The Holy Ghost dwells within you.
Called the star of the sea,
You guide us among rocks
And dark whirlwinds
To the harbour of salvation.
Through you the imprisoned forefathers
Escape their confinement;
Through you the sky opens for us
The starry palace gates.
Hear, eternal virgin,
The only mother who remains pure;
Your servants pray
And cry out to you, Mary.
Banish the darkness of our minds,
Break the ice in our frozen hearts.
We who take refuge in you,
Keep us under your protection.
Hallelujah.
The composer writes: My inspiration for O Virgo Prudentissima (2019) lies in the sacred choral music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and other Russian composers. With ponderous tempi and rich harmonic progressions, the choral music of these masters is both sonorously thrilling and profoundly moving – and I hope that those characteristics have found their way into my music.
The text I chose for this hymn to the Virgin is by Agnolo Ambrogini (known as “Poliziano”). This fifteenth-century Florentine scholar and poet was patronized by the Medici family, and served as a tutor of the future Pope Leo X.
TEXT
O Virgo prudentissima
quam coelo missus Gabriel
supremi regis nuntius
plenam testatur gratia.
Te sponsam factor omnium,
te Matrem Dei Filius,
Te vocat habitaculum
suum beatus spiritus.
Tu stella maris diceris
quae nobis inter scopulos,
inter obscuros turbines
portum salutis indicas.
Per te de tetro carcere
antiqui patres exerunt;
Per te nobis astriferae
panduntur aulae limina.
Audi Virgo puerpera
et sola Mater integra;
Audi precantes quesimus
tuos Maria servulos.
Repelle mentis tenebras
disrumpe cordis glaciem.
Nos sub tuum praesidium
Confugientes protege.
Alleluia.
TRANSLATION
O Virgin most wise,
Heaven sent Gabriel
As the Great King’s messenger
Testifying to your divine grace.
You are wife to the Maker of All,
You are mother of the Son of God,
The Holy Ghost dwells within you.
Called the star of the sea,
You guide us among rocks
And dark whirlwinds
To the harbour of salvation.
Through you the imprisoned forefathers
Escape their confinement;
Through you the sky opens for us
The starry palace gates.
Hear, eternal virgin,
The only mother who remains pure;
Your servants pray
And cry out to you, Mary.
Banish the darkness of our minds,
Break the ice in our frozen hearts.
We who take refuge in you,
Keep us under your protection.
Hallelujah.
