"Jesu clemens pie Deus"
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,311
    We were presented with this text, which Hymnary.org lists only in a mid-nineteenth-century Evangelical hymnal from Germany. (I make no claims about the merits.) It has no associated melody. What could we use?

    1 Jesu clemens pie
    Deus Jesu dulcis,
    amor meus, Jesu bone,
    Jesu pie Fili Dei et Mariae.

    2 Quisnam possit enarrare,
    quam jucundum te amare,
    tecum fide sociari,
    tecum mente delectari.

    3 Fac ut possim demonstrare,
    quam sit dulce te amare,
    tecum pati, tecum flere,
    tecum semper congaude re.

    4 O Majextas infinita!
    amor noster, spes et vita,
    fac nos dignos te videre,
    tecum semper permanere.

    5 Ut videntes et fruente
    jubilemus et cantemus,
    in beata coeli viat.
    Amen, Jesu fiat ita.
    Thanked by 1Chris Garton-Zavesky
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    hymnary.org apparently goofed on getting the lines of the 1st stanza correct. The first stanza obviously should be given as:

    1 Jesu clemens, pie Deus,
    Jesu dulcis amor meus,
    Jesu bone, Jesu pie,
    Fili Dei et Mariae.

    Additionally, "Majextas" should be "Majestas" (from the scan they provide).

    The hymn is in 88.88 trochaic meter.

    Here is a link to a scan of a manuscript of the Samuel Capricornus setting - for Violin 1 & 2, SSATTB, and continuo.
    Thanked by 2Chris Garton-Zavesky tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    Here is a quite good translation into English (77.77 metre), from Lyra Eucharistica (1864), which gives the hymn (or its translation?) as being by F. C. Husenbeth:

    Jesus, God of Grace above,
    Jesus Sweet, and all my Love,
    Jesus Good, O Jesus Mild,
    Son of God, and Mary's Child,

    Who the Bliss can freely tell
    Felt by those who love Thee well,
    Those by faith bound fast to Thee,
    Those who joy to be with Thee?

    O, the sweetness let me show
    With Thy holy Love to glow;
    With Thee to endure and weep,
    With Thee ever joy to keep.

    Majesty of boundless scope
    All our Love, our Life and Hope,
    Make us worthy Thee to see,
    Make us ever dwell with Thee;

    That in blissful joy and sight
    We may chant in Realms of Light,
    In Heaven's Life effulgent glow;
    Amen, Jesus, be it so.

    Thanked by 3ServiamScores Chris Garton-Zavesky tomjaw
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 2,311
    Yes, I noted those errors too.

    Well, alas, we'd be obliged to do it in Latin at the traditional Mass. I can't say that I've ever run into a hymn in 88.88 trochaic meter before…
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    The Latin hymn is found in the Darmstadt Geistreiches Gesangbuch (1698) on pp. 174-5, with a nice 88.88 trochaic melody with basso continuo. This was used to make the tune BONIFACE (88.86) in the Congregational Psalmist Hymnal (2nd tune for #475). The only essential difference is that the last two notes (semibreves) of BONIFACE are actually four minims (two per semibreve) of the Darmstadt Gesangbuch tune.

    Here is a link to the Congregatinalist Psalmist Hymnal. The book is "Edited by Henry Allon, D,D, - The music (first edition) edited by Henry John Gauntlett, Mus. Doc. - The whole revised by Prof. Willam Henry Monk, Mus. Doc." Pretty good credentials!

    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    By the way, several 87-ish tunes were originally trochaic 88-ish. For example, the chorale melody from which "At the Lamb's high feast we sing" (SALZBURG) was set was originally 88.88.D (trochaic), not 77.77.D (as we sing it in English).
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    I forgot to attach the relevant pages from the Geistreiches Gesangbuch.
    Geistreiches Gesang-Buch-Jesu clemens pie Deus.pdf
    952K
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,782
    I would use this melody, https://gregobase.selapa.net/chant.php?id=9564
    Or this,
    https://gregobase.selapa.net/chant.php?id=3311
    Thanked by 1ServiamScores
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,193
    The only problem with the two melodies (nominally for "Jesu dulcis memoria") is that they are iambic, not trochaic, and do not fit the accent of the text of "Jesu clemens, pie Deus" very well.
    Thanked by 1tomjaw
Add a Comment