Translation project for someone
  • AOZ
    Posts: 369
    Anyone want to take a stab at a quick translation?
    Cantus Selecti, #173, pp. 213-214; Gaude, mater Anna
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Arlene, do you want a metered, rhymed translation?

    If so, if someone could please get me a transliteration by noon tomorrow, I could take a stab at making it into a singable version. Transliteration takes me a lot of time because of my weak Latin.
  • For a totally non-poetic version, just to get some sense of the Latin, is the following anywhere close?

    1. Rejoice, Mother Anne, rejoice, holy mother,
    That thou wast made the parent of the Mother of God.
    2. Applaud that such was born, the Virgin Mary,
    Rejoice together with Joachim, her father,
    3. In this, our land, which first was blessed,*
    Which formerly had been cursed in Eve.
    4. Therefore, we give highest praises with exultation,
    We have been cleansed from all filth by thy prayer.
    5. Praise be to God the Father, glory to Christ most high,
    To the Holy Spirit, honor to the Three and One. Amen.

    *I'm guessing this phrase, primo benedicta, may refer to the old title of France as "eldest daughter of the Church."
    As St Anne is particularly revered in France, I'm presuming that this little hymn is French;
  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    Sub Tuum and a few other blogs have a verse translation, which seems to be standard. Don't know who it's by.

    Mother Anne, be joyful;
    sing, O mother lowly,
    since thou art the parent
    of God's Mother lowly.

    Praise thy wondrous daughter;
    Joachim, too, raises
    to the Virgin Mary
    his paternal praises.

    For in her our planet
    first hath benediction
    which in hapless Eva
    suffered malediction.

    Therefore take the praises
    joyous hearts are paying;
    and from all defilement
    cleanse us by thy praying.

    Father, Son eternal,
    Holy Ghost supernal,
    with one praise we bless Thee,
    Three-in-One confess Thee. Amen.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    As for the origins -- Vol. 43 of Dreves' Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevii says it comes from the "Xantonense" breviary (the diocese of Saintes, which is now in Rochelle or something), so you're probably right about it being French! There's also an Anne sequence that starts off similarly, but is totally different in substance. Don't know which came first.

    This one was meant to be sung to the tune of "Ave Maris Stella".

    But "In hac nostra terra" probably does mean Earth, not a specific country. The main point is probably not planetology. I think it's a reference to a very old idea that goes back to patristic times (I think it's in Irenaeus?), that Adam was made of "virgin earth" and that Jesus was made of Mary, a virgin who was made by God to be sinless -- hence another "virgin earth". Eve first brought sin upon the earth of which we were made; Anne's earth was first blessed by having God make her child be conceived within her sinless (or whatever similar theological theory the hymn's author held about Mary). This is a foretaste of the situation we all share -- though we are not sinless, we can have our earth baptized, and even the unbaptized share the dignity of belonging to the same species as the Son of God and his immaculate mother. This also reflects onto the rest of Creation, animate and inanimate, which was not the first to be cursed or blessed, but which (as Carl Sagan reminded us) is made of the same kind of elements and molecules as we are.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Thanks, David and Maureen.
  • AOZ
    Posts: 369
    Grateful. I was just looking for a basic translation and didn't have the time and space to hunker down over it. Thanks Maureen and David S. But Kathy, if you want to put your magic touch to this one, I'd love to see what you come up with!
  • BachLover2BachLover2
    Posts: 330
    i like the word 'Xantonense' very much
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    I have a bit of time and am already hunkering away, fwiw. Am pleased to have such a project just at the moment.
  • Ah, I always forget terra refers to the planet Earth as well as 'land.' That probably works better here.

    The exuberant rejoicing stands out in this hymn, in plaude, gaude, congaude, and my favorite: "ovantes"--think 'ovation'.
    All very cheerful. Looking forward to Kathy's rendition.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Okay, here's a draft. I can tweak things if you'd like. Cheers.

    O mother Anne, rejoice!
    O mother blest, applaud:
    Your daughter has been made
    The Mother of our God.

    The Virgin Mary born!
    A new parental bliss!
    Rejoice with Joachim
    For such a babe as this!

    Your daughter is the first
    Of blessings we receive,
    Renewing earth whose dawn
    Was cursed because of Eve.

    And so we give you praise,
    And banners raise today,
    And ask that through your prayers
    Our sins be washed away.

    To God the Father, praise,
    And glory to the Son,
    And honor to the Spirit:
    Blest Trinity in One.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Brava, Maestra! You are surely amongst the Muses in the Abbey :)
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Marvelous! Especially the banners...
  • Kathy, this is truly beautiful - nay, masterful. I really like your cadence and rhyme. Too bad there is such a paucity of moving tunes in this metre. They all seem to be rather stodgy and dull. Perhaps a fitting tune can be composed for it; one that has some rhythmic interest.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Thank you!

    I had doubts about the banners, so that's good :)

    Re: tunes, my method of hymn writing involves finding a tune in that meter and letting the text just unfold; it sings itself into being, more or less. Then the main work is sitting comfortably in an armchair and throwing away almost everything that occurs to me, and writing down things that might work. The only tune I could come up with here is Darwall's 148th (Rejoice, the Lord Is King), which explains some of the exuberance of vs. 2.

    There's a metrical issue in the last verse. I'll fix it tomorrow. Anything else?
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Thank you!

    I had doubts about the banners, so that's good :)

    Re: tunes, my method of hymn writing involves finding a tune in that meter and letting the text just unfold; it sings itself into being, more or less. Then the main work is sitting comfortably in an armchair and throwing away almost everything that occurs to me, and writing down things that might work. The only tune I could come up with here is Darwall's 148th (Rejoice, the Lord Is King), which explains some of the exuberance of vs. 2.

    There's a metrical issue in the last verse. I'll fix it tomorrow. Anything else?
  • Darwall's is one of the finest of tunes. But: it is 66. 66. 44. 44., and your verse is 66. 66.! I suppose you could write an appropriate refrain.
  • I didn't find any 6666 (that last digit is crucial...) hymns in Worship II. Are there any without a refrain? If not, the Cantus Selecti tune works.

    Kathy---you're on target-- "and honor to the Ghost" doesn't quite cut it. I like the banners, even though they're not in the Latin, because they evoke the sense of festivity that is really there.
  • rob
    Posts: 148
    I think Monk's Ravenshaw would be lovely (sometimes used with "Hail, O Star that pointest"). .
  • There are half a dozen or so in the 1940, The English Hymnal, Hymns A&M, Gracewings' The Catholic Hymn Book. But they all seem lackluster to me. Darwall's, on the other hand (even with a possible refrain) seems a little triumphalistic for this text; though it is a superb tune.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    I'd suggest singing this text as-is to a chant melody, although as David mentioned, it's a smallish hymn. I could stretch it out to an 8888, and will do that and normalize the doxological verse of the 6666 when I have time (next week probably).

    But it doesn't strike me as a great hymn, such as Nocti succedit lucifer. My translation of that is on this site someplace.
  • Maureen
    Posts: 678
    You could always sing it to "Ave Maris Stella", just like it said on the tin. :)
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Doxological verse:

    To God the Father high,
    And Christ, His only Son,
    And to the Spirit, praise:
    Blest Trinity in One.
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Here's something serviceable in Long Meter iambic. (Verse 5 is a standard doxology, probably not written especially for this hymn.)

    Rejoice, O mother Anne, rejoice!
    O holy mother, lift your voice!
    The daughter you have brought to birth
    Is mother of our God on earth.

    Ring out your joy, exult and pray:
    The Virgin Queen is born today!
    And celebrate with Joachim
    This child who springs from you and him.

    Behold, the blessings of her birth
    Shall overturn the curse of earth.
    What our first mother lost by sin
    This newborn mother's Son will win.

    St. Anna, hear our joyful cries,
    And raise our banners to the skies,
    Where you delight to see His face
    Who cleanses us from sin by grace.

    I wanted to mention that this hymn makes prolonged use of a verb form I like to think of as "the devotional imperative." We are telling saints how to feel. It's a funny thing: if we didn't tell St. Anne to rejoice, she probably would anyway! But our act of telling her increases OUR joy. At least that's one way of taking it.

    This kind of expression abounds in Latin hymns. There are times when an imperative expression might be taken differently, as a kind of priestly prayer--a directive--rather than a devotional prayer of honor. For example, I take the "benedicite's" of the morning canticle from Daniel to be priestly prayers in this sense. We can, and are supposed to, tell mountains and hills to bless the Lord. But I don't think we can talk to a saint in quite that way. Our imperative in this case must mean something different.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    (Bumping). Happy Feast Day of the Birth of Mary!
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    I'm liking this better in Short Meter.

    O mother Anne, rejoice!
    O mother blest, applaud:
    Your daughter has been born today:
    The Mother of our God.

    The Virgin Mary born!
    A new parental bliss!
    Rejoice, rejoice with Joachim
    For such a babe as this!

    Your daughter is the first
    Of blessings we receive,
    Renewing earth whose early dawn
    Was cursed because of Eve.

    And so we give you praise,
    And banners raise today,
    And ask that through your holy prayers
    Our sins be washed away.

    To God the Father, praise,
    And glory to the Son,
    And honor to the Spirit bright:
    Blest Trinity in One.
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,394
    I agree that 6666 meter is sing-songy, which is probably the chief reason it is rarely used in hymnody. The short meter version is MUCH better. I also like Kathy's long meter version.
    Thanked by 1Kathy
  • I would probably want to sing this so Swabia or something like that, the text just seems to fit for me.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Happy feast!
  • CGM
    Posts: 695
    Everyone decried the lack of fitting tunes, and Jackson suggested something with rhythmic interest, so I decided to submit a little hymn-smithery: something jaunty for Kathy's translation.
    OMotherAnneRejoice_PluthMueller.pdf
    129K
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,187
    It's not sufficient just to say that the meter of Gaude mater Anna is 6.6.6.6. It's actually 6.6.6.6 trochaic (not iambic), and to some, an attempt (or is it an obsession?) to translate it (and other trochaic texts) in iambic meter (whether 6.6.6.6, S.M., or C.M., or L.M.) can seem somewhat stilted.

    That said, Kathy's S.M. seems the best of her efforts, and the 6.6.6.6 trochaic translation that Maureen supplied seems quite serviceable.

    The present Latin text is a small gem. A small gem of a translation would suit it best
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    Blessed feast day.
  • As soon as I saw the text I began singing it in my head to the St. Thomas tune [which I associate with The Advent of Our God].
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,507
    This is one of my favorite old-timey threads here.

    Blessed feast day!