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Views from the Choir Loft

Masterful “Salve Regina” by 17th-Century Portuguese Composer

Fr. David Friel · April 30, 2017

IOGO DIAS MELGÁS is a name that, until last week, meant nothing to me. I had never heard of him, nor had I heard any of his music, so far as I am aware. That changed during a concert given by the combined choirs of The Catholic University of America at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in downtown DC.

Melgás was a Cuban-born Portuguese composer of the late Renaissance, having lived in the seventeenth century. He first became acquainted with sacred music as a choirboy at the Cathedral of Évora. He died blind and poor, remaining relatively unknown until the publication of his complete works in modern notation in 1978.

What caught my attention during this concert was not, at first, Melgás. It was, rather, the text of the Salve Regina, which is one of my favorite prayers. Because I like the text so much, I thought I would listen extra hard. That extra listening effort was rewarded both by the quality of the performance and by the ingenuity of the composition.

The treatment Melgás gives to this prayer is very affective—an example of extreme word painting. This style is likely to turn off some listeners. For me, however, I found it particularly appropriate that such an affective prayer should receive an equally affective treatment.

Three sections of the piece especially strike me. First is the four-bar section that creatively presents the words spes nostra salve. The pitter-patter of alternation between the keys of D minor and A, combined with the rhythmic opposition of soprano and bass against the interior voices, creates a brief passage with a very playful sound.

The second section that I find delightful is the nearly staccato setting of the words ad Te suspiramus, followed immediately by the flowing richness of the phrase gementes et flentes. The contrast makes the sentiment come alive.

The third section of this work that inspires me is the meditative approach to the words O clemens, O pia, O dulcis. These are, in my opinion, among the sweetest words of any of our traditional Catholic prayers. They deserve an equally sweet musical treatment, and this they receive at the hands of Melgás.

T STRUCK ME during the concert that this particular setting of Salve Regina is great not merely because it is inventive or novel or musically interesting. It is a great piece of music because it clearly emanates from the heart of a composer who had a fertile interior life. This is the sort of setting that could only have derived from faith and grown out of the experience of praying these words repeatedly and fervently. Personal faith, without a doubt, contributes something intangible to the composition of sacred music.

For an excellent recording of this piece, check out this YouTube video.

To obtain a free copy of the score for the piece, visit the Choral Public Domain Library here.

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

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Sheet Music Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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President’s Corner

    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt

Random Quote

“However well equipped and trained a choir may be, all its good points may be obscured by an unsuitable accompaniment. In fact the organist can, in a large measure, either make or mar his choir. It must be owned, however, that the accompanist of Plainsong has to contend with many difficulties. […] The purist will still find his best enjoyment of the chant when it is sung unaccompanied, but to most a becoming accompaniment gives an added charm.”

— Benedictines of Stanbrook (1905)

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