Proper hymns for the Nativity of our Lady?

PLTT

Does anyone know of any proper hymns for the Nativity of B.V. Mary? Or a suitable hymn that can be more closely tied to the mystery celebrated by this feast? I have only found one (which is partially satisfactory) in Caswell's Lyra Catholica.

Most hymns of our Lady celebrate either the Conception or the Annunciation, or some other mystery of her life.....

M. Jackson Osborn

The finest Mary hymn that I know of is 'Ye Who Own the Faith of Jesus', providing it is matched with Old 120th as found at number 218 in The English Hymnal.of 1906. It would be supremely appropriate for our Lady's nativity.

Kathy

Here is one of the proper hymns from the Office for that feast. Feel free to use it this year. http://www.chantcafe.com/2012/11/singing-the-theology-of-christmas/

Kathy

Also, this was sort of a group project here from a few years back: https://forum.musicasacra.com/forum/discussion/3828/translation-project-for-someone/p1

I was on a road trip that day and worked on each verse in my head, then pulled off to a rest stop or Scenic Overlook to type them into my BlackBerry. Good times.

tomjaw

Gueranger in his 'Liturgical year' has a few options, (Vol. 14)

Sequence, Ecce Solemnes diei canamus festa, (10th c. St Gall)

Also a 10th c. hymn / Sequence 'O sancta mundi Domina' it has been set to the common Marian tone.

Another Sequence, Nativitas Mariae Virginis (14th century)

tomjaw

Sequence, Ecce solemnis diei canamus festa is in the Cantus database http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/sequence/620810 or
http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/id/ah53096
it is also in the Analecta Hymnica vol. 53 pg. 96?
and looking online we have a 10th c. manuscript, Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek, cod. 121
see page 578 if the below link does not take you to the page.
http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/sbe/0121/578/0/Sequence-974

I have not looked at the other 13 or 14 references but they also may be online...

The other Sequence, Nativitas marie virginis que nos lavit is also in the Analecta Hymnica Vol. 54, pg. 188. Cantus database http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/id/ah54188
and gives 20 manuscripts. I have not looked for them...

N.B. Just because the Cantus database does not have links to a facsimile does not mean the manuscript is not online.

Have looked in the Sarum books and they also have a Sequence, Alle celéste it is on page 163 of the Sarum Sequentiarium.
Cantus database http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/sequences?title=Alle+celéste&siglum=&field_cantus_id_value=

Adam of St. Victor also has a sequence, Salve Mater Salvatoris Music can be found here, https://archive.org/details/lesprosesdadamd00aubrgoog/page/n327/mode/2up
This may also be of interest, http://www.motetcycles.ch/motet/1030
and a recording,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Bw_bCOpPFw
Cantus Database http://cantus.uwaterloo.ca/sequences?title=Salve+Mater+Salvatoris&siglum=&field_cantus_id_value=

Cantus_varii_in_usu_apud_Nostrates_ab_or a google book, has the music for Salve Mater Salvatoris and the music of yet another Sequence / Alleluia, Alleluia, O mediatrix hominum
on page 205 / 206 (of book not of pdf.)

rich_enough

This one might work. Note the original texts for the Nativity of Our Lady in the first two verses.

Chrism

Adding to the above suggestions:

The Dominican Nuns of Summit have translated Joachim est nata (gregobase) into English, as "To Joachim is born", at Summit Choirbook # 335. The translation was written to fit into the original chant melody, which is irregular in metre. Some lyrics and discussion here.

You mention Fr. Caswall's hymn, "Sweet morn thou parent of the sun", which I have set to St. Anne and Winchester Old. This is a translation of an 18th Century Neo-Gallican hymn, Aurora, quæ solem paris, which had originally been listed for the Assumption (citation), although the first stanza clearly refers to Our Lady's Nativity.

Back in the 19th Century, Sister Mary Xavier, SSND, wrote the original English hymn, "Who is this cometh over the mountains", found at # 95 in the Notre Dame Hymn Tune Book. Beware, it is a sweet one--and sweetness can be an acquired taste in tea, wine and hymns.

Summit Choirbook also has, at # 352, "Dawn-Star of the world's redemption", listed for the Nativity of Mary, but this original English hymn written by one of their sisters could seemingly fit any Marian occasion.

Fast forwarding to the Modern Rite, the 1983 Liber Hymnarius has two hymns, Beata Dei Genitrix (gregobase) and O sancta mundi Domina (gregobase, mentioned upthread). These were translated by St. Cecilia's Abbey on the Isle of Wight as "O Blessed Mother of our Lord" and "O Mary, Mistress of the world", respectively, and set to chant tones in Fr. Weber's Hymnal for the Hours at ##418-419. The former does not really mention Our Lady's Nativity, while the latter is explicit about it.

The sequence Nativitas Mariae, mentioned above, is found in both Cantus variae (1928), p. 300, and Variae preces (1892), p. 203.

Cantus selecti also has the responsories Solem justitiae (gregobase) and Ad nutum Domini (gregobase), written by King Robert the Pious of France. See discussion here. His third responsory for the feast, Stirps Iesse, was promoted to the Common, and can be found in Cantus selecti (gregobase) and the Dominican antiphonary (gregobase).

Lastly, the Magnificat antiphon for the feast, Nativitas tua (gregobase), is a reasonable length and quite recommendable.

Chrism

Shipley's Carmina Mariana has several poems written for Our Lady's Nativity, of which I can't find any extant settings, including:

Henry Rawes, "Our Lady's Birth" (87.87D), p. 329
"Hail, the Saviour's Blessed Mother", a translation of Adam of St. Victor's sequence, Salve, Mater Salvatoris, p. 3
Sir John Barrow, Bart.'s "Mary's Birth and Childhood", p. 51
Fr. Caswall's "Angels' Birthday Song to Mary" (Irreg., could fit 8.8.8), p. 90
Kelly's "Mary in Relation to the Months" has a verse on September, "Sighing, Soughing Wind: September", which could serve as a boutique prelude carol, p. 194
St. Robert Southwell, SJ's "Seven Lyrics on the Life of Our Lady" (10.10.10) has a section on "Her Nativity", p. 358, and you'd probably want to include some of "Her Conception", ibid., which is set as "Our Second Eve Puts On Her Mortal Shroud", #777 in the St. John de Brébeuf Hymnal

and, in Shipley's second volume:

Kelly's "Foot-prints of the months" has a section on "September; Nativity", p. 208
Sweetman's translations of Procopius's "Birth of Mary" and Vehe's "Mary's Nativity", pp. 423 & 425

a_f_hawkins

Here on page 4 is a slightly different version of Caswall's Angels' Birthday Song to Mary.

Chrism

A translation of Ecce solemnis diei festa canamus, "We keep the feast in gladness", by the Anglican Dr. Littledale (a colleague of Dr. Neale's), can be found at # 498 in the St. Alban Hymnal for the Liberal Catholic Church in America.

tomjaw

The Programme from Schola Sainte Cécile, Paris,
https://schola-sainte-cecile.com/2020/09/08/programme-de-la-fete-de-la-nativite-de-la-sainte-vierge-4/

Don9of11

There is a hymn Stella Matutina "Birthday Hymn to Our Lady", from the 1892 New Hymns by the Sisters of Notre Dame. This is something you could do between the beginning of Mass and the consecration. The verses are very nice and the music typical of that time. It's nice hymn.

tomjaw

Another Sequence / Prose, from the Paris Missal, Gaudii promordium,
https://schola-sainte-cecile.com/2020/09/08/gaudii-primordium-prose-parisienne-de-la-nativite-de-la-sainte-vierge/
and a Prose,
https://schola-sainte-cecile.com/2020/09/08/nativitas-mariae-virginis-une-prose-du-xiiieme-siecle-pour-la-fete-de-la-nativite-de-la-sainte-vierge/

oldhymns

Stella Matutina, the version posted by Don9of11, is one of my favorite hymns for this special feast day. As Chrism wrote, "it is a sweet one and sweetness can be acquired...". The version of the hymn Chrism posted was set to a different melody by Frank N. Birtchnell, compiler of the Notre Dame Hymn-Tune Book; but not a word in the text has been changed from the original that first appeared in NEW HYMNS BY S.N.D. These hymns were authored/composed by Sister Mary Xavier Partridge (better known for her composition "Lord, for Tomorrow and Its Needs" (Just for Today) and Sister Mary of St. Philip Lescher (better known for her "O Come, Divine Messiah), both of the Liverpool Community of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

Another fine hymn for Our Lady's Birthday is As the Dawn in Queenly Splendor by Louis Berge, appearing in Half a Hundred Catholic Hymns and The New Catholic Hymnal, published by McLaughlin & Reilly.

If you would like to hear fine renditions of these hymns sung go to my website www.catholicdevotionalhymns.com

Click the St. Paul, Cambridge I link to hear As the Dawn in Queenly Splendor. Click the St. Paul, Cambridge II link to hear Stella Matutina/Who is This Cometh over the Mountains. (or just go to the index of hymns)

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