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

Corpus Christi Watershed

“What earlier generations held as sacred, remains sacred and great for us too…” Pope Benedict XVI (7 July 2007)

  • Our Team
    • Views from the Choir Loft • “Our Team”
    • Our Editorial Policy
  • Pew Resources
    • Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal
    • Jogues Illuminated Missal
    • Campion Missal, 3rd Edition
  • MUSICAL WEBSITES
    • René Goupil Gregorian Chant
    • Noël Chabanel Psalms
    • Nova Organi Harmonia (2,279 pages)
    • Lalemant Polyphonic
    • Saint Antoine Daniel KYRIALE
    • Father Enemond Massé Manuscripts
  • Miscellaneous
    • Site Map
    • Emporium Kevin Allen
    • Roman Missal, 3rd Edition
    • Saint Jean de Lalande Library
    • Sacred Music Symposium 2023
    • Gradual by Pothier’s Protégé
  • Donate
Views from the Choir Loft

PDF Download • “O Esca Viatorum”

Jeff Ostrowski · August 18, 2017

VEN AFTER ALL these years, some readers still don’t know how to download the individual rehearsal videos and PDF files. Click on the blue link called #4687.

Pardon my squeaky high notes, but I wanted to demonstrate how it sounds—so I recorded all the voice parts:

REHEARSAL VIDEOS for each individual voice await you at #4687.
The full PDF score can be downloaded there.


The complete score (English and Latin) is also there. I am deeply saddened that some people still don’t know where these items are located.



IT IS QUITE A POPULAR Eucharistic hymn. Indeed, it’s hard to find a single Catholic hymnal not containing it. A few examples, from the Brébeuf hymn website:

Cantate Omnes (1952)
Cantiones Sacrae (1878)
Laudate Hymnal (1942)
New Westminster Hymnal (1939)
De La Salle Hymnal (1913)
St. Rose Hymnal (1938) … combines it with “Tantum Ergo”
New Saint Basil Hymnal (1958)
Pius X Hymnal (1953)
St. Gregory Hymnal (1920)

Here’s how the melody appears in the 1912 hymn book created by Sir Richard Terry:

4632 Sir Richard Terry HYMNAL


British editors tend not to place the words under the notes. As someone who works with amateur choirs, I feel there are some disadvantages to this approach, along with certain undeniable positive aspects.

Here’s a translation by Msgr. Hugh Thomas Henry (d. 1946), who taught Gregorian chant at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, Pennsylvania:

1. O Food to pilgrims given,
Bread of the hosts of heaven,
Thou Manna of the sky!
Feed with the blessed sweetness
Of Thy divine completeness
The hearts that for Thee sigh.

2. O Fountain ruby-glowing,
O Stream of love outflowing
From Jesus’ piercèd side!
This thought alone shall bless us,
This one desire possess us,
To drink of Thy sweet tide.

3. We love Thee, Jesus tender,
Who hid’st Thine awful splendor
Beneath these veils of grace:
Oh, let the veils be riven,
And our clear eye in heaven
Behold Thee face to face!

TAGS:

“Amazing Eucharistic Hymn”

“O Esca Viatorum”

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

Filed Under: Articles, PDF Download Last Updated: January 1, 2020

Subscribe

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

* indicates required

About Jeff Ostrowski

Jeff Ostrowski holds his B.M. in Music Theory from the University of Kansas (2004). He resides with his wife and children in Los Angeles.—(Read full biography).

Primary Sidebar

Corpus Christi Watershed

Quick Thoughts

    “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
    I wish to thank everyone for the nice comments I received vis-à-vis my Glory To God setting for Choir & Congregation. A gentleman with a musical doctorate from Indiana University wrote: “Love this setting so much. And I will pray, as you asked, for your return to composition more fully. You are very very good.” A female choir director wrote: “I love your harmonizations, your musicality, and the wonderful interplay you have with dissonance and consonance in your music. So fun to listen to, and great for intellect, heart, and soul!”
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    William Byrd • “Mass for Five Voices”
    Our volunteer choir is learning the “Sanctus” from William Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices. You can hear a short excerpt (recorded last Sunday) but please ignore the sound of babies crying: Mp3 recording. We still have work to do—but we’re on the right track. Once we have some of the tuning issues fixed, I desire to use it as an example proving volunteers can sing complicated polyphony.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Baptism” • A Unique Hymn
    Father Christopher Phillips is the founding Pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church. One of his hymns is unique and (in my humble opinion) quite beautiful. His hymn is basically a prayer to the Holy Trinity but also speaks of Baptism and the Holy Eucharist. It would be an ideal Communion hymn on Trinity Sunday or the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. You can hear live recording from last Sunday by clicking here.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Random Quote

“For me, religious music ceased with the sixteenth century. The fresh, childlike souls of that time alone expressed their vehement, untainted fervor in music free from worldliness. Since then we have had pious musical improvisations more or less made for show. That wonderful man Johann Sebastian Bach only escaped because of his natural genius. He built harmonic edifices as a devout architect and not as an apostle.”

— Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

Recent Posts

  • What Robert Did to My Graphics
  • “Glory To God” • (For Choir + Congregation)
  • This Sunday! • Q&A “Developing a Youth Choir Program”
  • PDF Download • “Glory To God” for Congregation & Choir (Mass of Saint Noël Chabanel)
  • Gregorian Chant Introit • (Sung According to the Official Rhythm of the Catholic Church)

Subscribe

Subscribe

* indicates required

Copyright © 2023 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.