• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Pope Saint Paul VI (3 April 1969): “Although the text of the Roman Gradual—at least that which concerns the singing—has not been changed, the Entrance antiphons and Communions antiphons have been revised for Masses without singing.”

  • Donate
  • Our Team
    • Our Editorial Policy
    • Who We Are
    • How To Contact Us
    • Sainte Marie Bulletin Articles
    • Jeff’s Mom Joins Fundraiser
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Repository • “Spanish Music”
    • KYRIALE • Saint Antoine Daniel
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Catechism of Gregorian Rhythm
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Feasts Website
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Secrets of the Conscientious Choirmaster
    • “Wedding March” for lazy organists
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • The Eight Gregorian Modes
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
    • Seven (7) Considerations
Views from the Choir Loft

Advent Music

Veronica Brandt · November 15, 2014

Annunciation HRISTMAS GIFT GUIDES ABOUND. Professional Santas are booked out. The Christmas carols have begun in the shops already, but at Mass we’re still waiting to start waiting.

This time of expecting is really magic because you have the time to pull out all your favourite music and make grand castles in the sky of all the wonderful music you will sing with all the wonderful people in your life.

Many hymnbooks start with Advent as it is the beginning of the Liturgical Year. My little New Book of Old Hymns kicks off with

  • Conditor alme siderum
  • Veni O Sapientia
  • Rorate Caeli

Conditor alme siderum

The first is a vespers hymn for Advent. It has one of the simplest melodies of all the hymns in the Liber Usualis. The 1962 Roman version starts Creator Alme Siderum. The older version is Conditor Alme Siderum from before the reforms of Pope Urban VIII.

The Story of Redemption for Children (available at musicasacra.com) uses this tune for two rhymes by Fr Abair, one for the Annunciation, the other the Trip to Bethlehem. The whole book is a great way to introduce basic chant standards, though the lyrics are a little uninspired. But it could form part of a plan to infiltrate families – getting children singing these melodies in order to introduce the real stuff further down the track.

My favourite translation is by Fr Edward Caswall, especially the verse:

Great judge of all in that last day
When friends shall fail and foes combine
Be present then with us, we pray
And guard us with thy arm divine.

I can’t remember why I didn’t use that translation in my hymnbook. It must have been an early decision from the first edition back in 2004. Maybe that’s something to consider updating for the fifth edition.

Veni O Sapientia

The second is best known as O Come, O Come Emmanuel. It is based on the O Antiphons – the antiphons for the Magnificat for the last seven days of Advent. The antiphons themselves are also easier than they look as there is a lot of similarity between them. I think Jonathan over at the Ictus explains this one best. He has the link to the NLM article on the origins of the two part tune as well as recordings to help practice the melody and the harmony.

Rorate Caeli

The third is a great one where you have a strong cantor (or three). The choir can learn the refrain and the congregation may join in after a few repeats.

The words can be translated as “Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness” which is particularly apposite at the moment for me here. The past few days have seen a bush fire burning 120 hectares about 15km east of where I sit.

I know a flower

The fourth, which isn’t in the book, and may actually be more a Christmas piece, is Es ist ein Ros entsprungen. It isn’t even Latin (though there is a Latin version called Flos de radice Jesse). It’s a German carol singing of Mary as the Rose who bore the Saviour. The usual English translation revises the text to make Jesus the Rose, which has truth to it too, but…

Now my German is awful, despite my surname and several great-great-grandparents from that area, so I was pleased to find an English version more faithful to the German written by George Radcliffe Woodward. Better still, this version was chosen by R R Terry for his book of Old Christmas Carols.

2. This plant, with blossom laden,
As spake Esay of yore,
Is Mary, spotless maiden,
For us this flow’ret bore;

By God’s eternal will,
A seemly Babe she childeth,
Yet maid remaineth still.

You can read the rest here.

So I typed it up and you can find it (and many other versions) up at the Choral Public Domain Library.

Typing it up I was surprised to find how much repetition there is in the music. It is really quite easy to learn and very beautiful to hear.

All the best with your Advent preparations!

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

It greatly helps us if you subscribe to our mailing list!

* indicates required

About Veronica Brandt

Veronica Brandt holds a Bachelor Degree in Electrical Engineering. She lives near Sydney, Australia, with her husband and six children.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Offertory” for this Sunday
    This coming Sunday, 12 October 2025, is the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). Its OFFERTORY ANTIPHON (PDF) is gorgeous, and comes from the book of Esther, as did the ENTRANCE CHANT last Sunday. Depending on a variety of factors, various hand-missals (all with Imprimatur) translate this passage differently. For instance, “príncipis” can be rendered: King; Prince; Lion; or Fierce lord. None is “more correct” than another. It depends on what each translator wants to emphasize and which source text is chosen. All these pieces of plainsong are conveniently stored at the blue-ribbon feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Why A “Fugue” Here?
    I believe I know why this plainsong harmonizer created a tiny fugue as the INTRODUCTION to his accompaniment. Take a look (PDF example) and tell me your thoughts about what he did on the feast of the Flight of Our Lord Jesus Christ into Egypt (17 February). And now I must go because “tempus fugit” as they say!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Reminder” — Month of October (2025)
    Those who don’t sign up for our free EMAIL NEWSLETTER miss important notifications. Last week, for example, I sent a message about this job opening for a music director paying $65,000 per year plus benefits (plus weddings & funerals). Notice the job description says: “our vision for sacred music is to move from singing at Mass to truly singing the Mass wherein … especially the propers, ordinaries, and dialogues are given their proper place.” Signing up couldn’t be easier: simply scroll to the bottom of any blog article and enter your email address.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    New Bulletin Article • “12 October 2025”
    My pastor requested that I write short articles each week for our parish bulletin. Those responsible for preparing similar write-ups may find a bit of inspiration in these brief columns. The latest article (dated 12 October 2025) talks about an ‘irony’ or ‘paradox’ regarding the 1960s switch to a wider use (amplior locus) of vernacular in the liturgy.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “American Catholic Hymnal” (1991)
    The American Catholic Hymnal, with IMPRIMATUR granted (25 April 1991) by the Archdiocese of Chicago, is like a compendium of every horrible idea from the 1980s. Imagine being forced to stand all through Communion (even afterwards) when those self-same ‘enlightened’ liturgists moved the SEQUENCE before the Alleluia to make sure congregations wouldn’t have to stand during it. (Even worse, everything about the SEQUENCE—including its name—means it should follow the Alleluia.) And imagine endlessly repeating “Alleluia” during Holy Communion at every single Mass. It was all part of an effort to convince people that Holy Communion was historically a procession (which it wasn’t).
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Canonic” • Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Fifty years ago, Dr. Theodore Marier made available this clever arrangement (PDF) of “Come down, O love divine” by P. R. Dietterich. The melody was composed in 1906 by Ralph Vaughan Williams (d. 1958) and named in honor of of his birthplace: DOWN AMPNEY. The arrangement isn’t a strict canon, but it does remind one of a canon since the pipe organ employs “points of imitation.” The melody and text are #709 in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The Night Office—Nocturns or Matins—except for Holy Week, Easter Octave, and Christmas, has never appeared in the Vatican edition. The larger part of the mediaeval repertory for the Office thus remains still unpublished in the Vatican edition, and is likely to remain so, for the obvious reason that almost no cathedral chapters or monastic choirs sing the Night Office regularly today.”

— John Merle Boe (1968)

Recent Posts

  • Every Diocesan Music Commission Should Do This
  • Exclusive Interview • “Púeri Cantóres” President
  • PDF Download • “Offertory” for this Sunday
  • The Real Miracle of Gregorian Chant
  • Why A “Fugue” Here?

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2025 Corpus Christi Watershed · Isaac Jogues on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Corpus Christi Watershed is a 501(c)3 public charity dedicated to exploring and embodying as our calling the relationship of religion, culture, and the arts. This non-profit organization employs the creative media in service of theology, the Church, and Christian culture for the enrichment and enjoyment of the public.