Motets for Trinity Sunday
  • -b
    Posts: 55
    Am looking for an SATB motet for Trinity Sunday. On CPDL the settings of the propers don't fit SATB, and the Victoria setting of O lux beata Trinitas is not "speaking" to me, which is, of course, quite unusual. Dr. Mahrt's choir did Sancta Trinitas by Antoine de Fevin at the Colloquium in 2011 but I can't find this on CPDL or TheCatholicChoirbook.com which is shown in my Colloquium book as the source. My notes say we took it up a step; altos have to transpose down the octave. Anyone know of a perhaps better edition of this piece, or another SATB piece good for Trinity Sunday? Many thanks for your thoughts.
  • noel jones, aagonoel jones, aago
    Posts: 6,611
    -b,

    Want it up a step?

    We engraved it as requested, but made this version as well - now it's in the key you used as well.

    noel
    ANTHEM=SanctaTrinitasSATB.pdf
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    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • Richard MixRichard Mix
    Posts: 2,799
    An early source for the Févin is here, with an attempt at an index table whose code can be seen if you hit the edit button.

    There are of course some SATB Propers on CPDL. Schubert's Tres sunt is a piece that caught my fancy and I mean to hunt up an organ accmpt someday; this year we're going with KV 117. If you don't get to sing choral Ordinaries, this Sunday of course is also a chance to sing a Sanctus as an apt anthem.
  • -b
    Posts: 55
    Noel and Richard, thank you so much for your replies and suggestions. Most kind of you!
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415

    Trinity was celebrated here and there spottily in the mediaeval era, but it was Becket, who was raised to the episcopacy on Trinity Sunday, who made the feast universal in England. After his murder, it was made universal for the whole Church. Why Trinity Sunday, the one meagre Sunday of the year devoted specifically to the Trinitarian Godhead, God himself!, is not a holy day of obligation is, like certain other priorities on our kalendar, 'beyond me'. (Of course, every mass is addressed to God himself, though the lectoral and homiletic focus is elsewhere most of the time.)
  • Josh
    Posts: 103
    Would it be inappropriate to sing the beautiful bilingual chant of the Trisagion that occurs as part of the Reproaches (Improperia) on Good Friday? The Byzantine Rite sings it thrice, followed by the "Glory be…", a repeat of the last phrase of the Trisagion, and the whole Trisagion once again.

    I couldn't seem to find what mode the Good Friday Trisagion is in, but it seems to fit with the Gloria Patri in Tone VIII.

    Do let me know if this would or would not be appropriate. Perhaps ought it be sung only in Latin? (I would be using this at an EF Missa cantata.)
    Trisagion with Doxology.pdf
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  • Josh
    Posts: 103
    PS Initially I had thought to make use of the Tone VIII doxology for long responsories, but then realised that this only includes "Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto" and not the "Sicut erat…".
  • VocesCapituli
    Posts: 123
    Duo seraphim by Victoria ! On Popular demand, we Sing It each year.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Casavant Organist
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Palestrina: O beata et benedicta et gloriosa Trinitas

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hevg7bwOasU

    Score at CPDL.

    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    A. Gabrieli: O Lux beata trinitas

    Interesting (and beautiful) performance with trombones (sackbuts) on the Altus, Tenor, and Bassus parts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-LERN1wO54

    Score at CPDL.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • -b
    Posts: 55
    Thanks for these suggestions which will get filed with my Trinity Sunday Mass propers. We did the EF Good Friday liturgy once by special request for a priest who is no longer here. What a wonderful liturgy; thanks for the idea of using the Trisagion.

    I don't have the personnel for Victoria's SSAA Duo Seraphim, but hope that will be an option someday.
  • CCoozeCCooze
    Posts: 1,259
    There's a polyphonic Alleluia, by Heinrich Isaac at CPDL.
    (As is usually the case, the Alleluia is its own separate phrase, preceding the verse, and can be omitted, if so desired.)
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • PLTT
    Posts: 150
    It's not a motet in the strict sense, but I have always liked Tchaikovsky's Cherubic hymn, which has been rendered in English as the "Hymn to the Trinity" with a rather loose, but nonetheless beautiful translation.

    http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/images/d/db/Ws-tcha-tri.pdf
    Thanked by 1Casavant Organist
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,933
    Gloria Patri by Palestrina. Found in the Pius X Hymnal (the one edited by Dr. Marier). There's also the Cor Jesu Trinitatis and De Trinitate from the same hymnal, by anonymous authors.

    I have an arrangement of Victoria's Duo Seraphim/Tres Sunt arranged for SATB. PM me if you'd like a copy.
  • -b
    Posts: 55
    The Pius X Hymnal, a great resource. I checked it earlier but didn't catch these titles.
    Very serviceable music we will surely use regularly. Many thanks!

    As we need to stay with Latin, the Tchaikovsky won't work, but many thanks for making me aware of this piece.
  • Felipe Gasper
    Posts: 804
    Not Latin, but Joel Martinson’s “’Twas in the year that King Uzziah died” works beautifully on Trinity Sunday.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    Felipe has jogged my memory -
    One of the grandest anthems ever would be David McKay Williams' 'In the year that King Uzziah Died'.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    There's also the older setting by Charles Wood (1866-1926)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7T_7WuvJSlY

    http://www2.cpdl.org/wiki/images/0/0f/Ws-wood-uzz.pdf
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    The melody of the Wood version is the same as that of a Christmas carol found at no. 105 in the Oxford Book of Carols. It is featured in numerous older Lessons and Carols services. The text is 'Lord Jesus Hath a Garden, Full of Flowers Gay'. The tune and text are of Dutch origin, first found in Geestlijke Harmonie, 1633. I had never heard it with the 'Uzziah text', but the pairing is quite nice! Many thanks to Liam and Charles Wood, Father of the Proms.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    MJO

    I don't have my OBoC handy, but I am confused - the meters of the texts are quite different. Twas in the Year has a Spenserian sonnet-ish form (in meter but not rhyme, which just march directly through in 7 couplets - if there is a volta, it is after line 12), with 3 sets of 10.10.10.10. followed by a 10.10. couplet. The Dutch tune seems hard to match to that form.
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    MJO I thought it was Sir Henry Wood?
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    Mea culpa! It isn't the Dutch tune, after all. But there is a carol set to this same tune - its words do not come to me just now. Thanks for questioning me on this!

    (After more reflection - it is Liam's Wood setting that I have heard on a CD of Kings or St John's. I now remember the imagery and smoke. There is a superficial resemblance to the Dutch tune - but they are not related. Sorry for the false alarum.)
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,415
    ...I thought it was...

    Ahh!
    This seems to be my day for error-ridden offerings.
    Mea culpa again.
  • Liam
    Posts: 5,093
    The Wood setting is classic, and often gets mixed into Advent-y music, though frankly it is really a Trinitarian praise text that need not be imprisoned in the Incarnationtide ghetto (I believe it would be interesting to do on the Baptism of The Lord, which is really a Trinitarian Theophany...).

    Now the [Whoever] Hath A Garden text is a metrical oddity in English, ungainly but lovely in a strange way, because it's basically 12.12. with refrain (but the refrain being way longer, which is untypical).

    https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/king_jesus_hath_a_garden.htm

    Back to Twas In The Year: I would suggest that the sonnet-ish form is one of the reasons it may linger in a cultivated memory.
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn CHGiffen
  • jefe
    Posts: 200
    It's a bit late, but Voces angelorum is wrapping up Trinity Sunday with Compline doing Victoria's O lux beata Trinitas, SSAA as the hymn, and an SSA trio as the anthem/antiphon with the same text. It's an anonymous Medieval organum. Not for everyone, but our orthodox Anglican Parish likes the delving into antiquity. Also find below the opening Gregorian Chant the Ladies will chant for Compline onTrinity Sunday.
    3O lux beata Trinitas SSAA Victoria - Full Score.pdf
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    11 O Lux Beata Trinitas_SSA - Full Score.pdf
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    1Benedicimus Deum caeli - Full Score.pdf
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  • CGM
    Posts: 699
    Another lovely Tchaikovsky Trinity motet (strophic with a doxology) is here.

    The source information is at the bottom of this page ("the second is transposed to D-flat...").
  • Stella611
    Posts: 112
    Too late for this year, but we learned Lasso's "Tibi Laus" for today. Great SATB piece for Trinity Sunday:
    http://www0.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Tibi_laus_(Orlando_di_Lasso)
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • KyleM18
    Posts: 150
    MJO: I've always been taught that all sundays were holy days of obligation. Is this not right?
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
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