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Views from the Choir Loft

The “O Antiphons” Begin Tonight

Andrew Leung · December 17, 2015

CTL O Antiphons ODAY IS DECEMBER 17. It is seven days before Christmas Eve. Today is the day that Advent gets even more intense. The Church have chosen special Antiphons and Readings for the coming week to help us prepare the coming of Christ. The “O Antiphons“ are a set of antiphons for Vespers that is prayed during the coming seven days.

The reason why they are called the “O Antiphons“ is because each of them start with the letter “O”. In the Liber Usualis, they are called the “Great Antiphons”. They were mentioned in the 6th century and they were used in Rome by the 8th century. The texts of these antiphons are from the Old Testament Prophetic and Wisdom Books. These antiphons are recited or sung before and after the Magnificat, or the Canticle of Mary. Each of the antiphons begins by calling out a title of Christ:

O Sapientia………….O Wisdom

O Adonai……………..O Lord

O Radix Jesse………O Root of Jesse

O Clavis David……..O Key of David

O Oriens……………..O Dayspring/Dawn

O Rex Gentium…….O King of Nations

O Emmanuel………..O Emmanuel (God is with us)

There is a very cool fact about these titles. If you take the first letters of each titles and spell out from the last one, you will get: “EROCRAS”. And the Latin words “ero cras” means “I will be (there) tomorrow”. Here are the pages of the Great Antiphons from the Liber Usualis (Solesmes 1957) with English translations:

    * *  PDF • THE GREAT ANTIPHONS OF ADVENT

CTL James MacMillan OWADAYS, many of us still sing the “O Antiphons” in Advent, just in a different setting. The text of the famous Advent hymn, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, is from the Great Antiphons. And actually, Jeff Ostrowski just wrote about the Original Setting of the Tune yesterday.

As I was searching through other pieces that are related to the Great Antiphons, I found this Percussion Concerto below. The concerto, “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel“, was composed by Sir James MacMillan, a leading composer who have just been named Catholic of the Year by the Catholic Herald magazine. He has written music for Pope Benedict’s visit to England in 2010 and he has been commissioned recently to write a work for Shrine of Fátima’s centenary which will be attended by Pope Francis. James MacMillan is also the founder of Musica Sacra Scotland, an organization that promotes Gregorian Chant in Scotland.

The Scottish composer took the tune of the hymn as the theme of his work. It is a very interesting and intense piece! It is a non-liturgical piece. But one can listen to it and meditate on Mary and Joseph’s intense and difficult trip right before the birth of our Lord.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Andrew Leung

Andrew Leung currently serves the music director of Vox Antiqua, conductor of the Cecilian Singers, and music director at Our Lady of China Church.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

    Vespers Booklet (4th Sunday of Lent)
    The organ accompaniment booklet (24 pages) which I created for the 4th Sunday of Lent (“Lætare Sunday”) may now be downloaded, for those who desire such a thing.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Vespers Booklet, 3rd Sunday of Lent
    The organ accompaniment I created for the 3rd Sunday of Lent (“Extraordinary Form”) may now be downloaded, if anyone is interested in this.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    Weeping For Joy! (We Hope!)
    Listening to this Easter Alleluia—an SATB arrangement I made twenty years ago based on the work of Monsignor Jules Van Nuffel—one of our readers left this comment: “I get tears in my eyes each time I sing to this hymn.” I hope this person is weeping for joy!
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“We being many are one bread and one body, All who share the one bread and one cup. Vs. Thou hast prepared of thy sweetness for the poor, O God, who makest us to dwell in one mind in thy house. All who share the one bread and one cup.”

— Responsory (Matins for Corpus Christi) transl. by Fortescue

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