O Antiphons
  • Jeffrey TuckerJeffrey Tucker
    Posts: 3,624
    Here are files of Scott Turkington singing the O Antiphons

    Antiphon 1
    Antiphon 2
    Antiphon 3
    Antiphon 4
    Antiphon 5
    Antiphon 6
    Antiphon 7
  • David Sullivan
    Posts: 355
    Do you know the word game of the O Antiphons?

    Look at the seven invocations: Sapientia, Adonai, Radix Jesse, Clavis David, Oriens, Rex gentium, Emmanuel. Take the first letter of each: S-A-R-C-O-R-E, then reverse them: ERO CRAS, meaning "tomorrow I shall be." An appropriate statement for Christmas Eve, the day after the O Antiphons end.

    Very clever, those medievals. Would this be called an acrostic?
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    David: my boss gave a lecture on the O Antiphons, and he mentioned that. He connected it with some pope of the same period who was famous for acrostics. Very interesting stuff.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Briefly, the "O Antiphons" are…?
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,187
    Mark M.: Magnificat antiphons for Vespers from the 17th to the 23rd of December.
  • Mark M.Mark M.
    Posts: 632
    Thanks, Aristotle.
  • Steve CollinsSteve Collins
    Posts: 1,022
    Actually, some Breviaries also have an 8th "O Antiphon" for Christmas Eve:

    "O Virgo virginum" translated from The English Hymnal (ca 1936) "O Virgin of virgins, how shall this be? For neither before thee was any like thee, nor shall there be after. Daughters of Jerusalem, why marvel ye at me? The thing which ye behold is a divine mystery"

    And, of course, the metric version of these 8 verses are the very familiar "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel. I have added my own metric version of verses 8 (Christmas Eve) as follows:

    "O Virgin blest, how shall this be?
    For none before or after thee
    Are blest this Myst'ry to behold:
    The coming of the Lord foretold."

    I do have it available, for anyone who want it, in a TIF file (melody and text only, for inserting in a bulletin) and in a PDF file for the accompaniment. Just email me.
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 905
    I would like a copy of the the extra O Antiphon. It would work nicely for our Advent Novena. The original script of the Novena calls for a different antiphon on the first and last days with the traditional O Antiphons being sung on the 7 days intervening. However one those other antiphons is in a different mode which throws off the pattern and we are not singing the Antiphons on the traditional dates anyways. Singing O Virgo on the first and 9th day might make for a more balanced novena.

    While most of the references to it are from the English tradition, there are copies online in Latin set in mode ii in the style of the other O antiphons. These are not clean copies however. Does anyone know the source or have a copy they can share?

    This is the page where I found the blurry copy:

    http://norbertinevocations.wordpress.com/2008/12/21/the-o-antiphons
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    The Sarum version (ed. Mary Berry IIRC) is in Advent for Choirs (OUP).

    BTW - the link redirects to the thread.
    Thanked by 1Earl_Grey
  • Earl_GreyEarl_Grey
    Posts: 905
    Fixed the link. I don't know why it does that.
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