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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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Fr. David Friel

About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel served as Parochial Vicar at St. Anselm Parish in Northeast Philly. He is currently a doctoral candidate in liturgical theology at The Catholic University of America.—(Read full biography).

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Quick Thoughts

Surprising Popularity!

One of our most popular downloads has proven to be the organ accompaniment to “The Monastery Hymnal” (131 pages). This book was compiled, arranged, and edited by Achille P. Bragers, who studied at the Lemmensinstituut (Belgium) about thirty years before that school produced the NOH. Bragers might be considered an example of Belgium “Stile Antico” whereas Flor Peeters and Jules Van Nuffel represented Belgium “Prima Pratica.” You can download the hymnal by Bragers at this link.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • To Capitalize…?

In the Introit for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost, there is a question regarding whether to capitalize the word “christi.” The Vulgata does not, because Psalm 27 is not specifically referring to Our Lord, but rather to God’s “anointed one.” However, Missals tend to capitalize it, such as the official 1962 Missal and also a book from 1777 called Missel de Paris. Something tells me Monsignor Knox would not capitalize it.

—Jeff Ostrowski
15 February 2021 • “Sung vs. Spoken”

We have spoken quite a bit about “sung vs. spoken” antiphons. We have also noted that the texts of the Graduale Romanum sometimes don’t match the Missal texts (in the Extraordinary Form) because the Mass Propers are older than Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, and sometimes came from the ITALA versions of Sacred Scripture. On occasion, the Missal itself doesn’t match the Vulgate—cf. the Introit “Esto Mihi.” The Vulgate has: “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in domum refúgii…” but the Missal and Graduale Romanum use “Esto mihi in Deum protectórem et in locum refúgii…” The 1970s “spoken propers” use the traditional version, as you can see.

—Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“The authority of the Pope is not unlimited. It is at the service of Sacred Tradition. Still less is any kind of general ‘freedom’ of manufacture, degenerating into spontaneous improvisation, compatible with the essence of faith and liturgy. The greatness of the liturgy depends—we shall have to repeat this frequently—on its lack of spontaneity.”

— Josef Cardinal Ratzinger (2000)

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