Music on texts of St. Francis of Assisi
  • PLTT
    Posts: 192
    Since this year is the 8th centenary of the Transitus of St. Francis, I'm trying to put together a list of musical settings of texts written **by St. Francis**, for use at Mass or other liturgies/devotions. Links appreciated, especially to sheet music. Or if metrical, to the suggested hymn tune.

    As an example, I found this nice one from the Franciscan of Immaculate (unfortunately, can't locate the sheet music seen int the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQgPUiPkCX8 . It is Francis' salutation to the Blessed Virgin.

  • PLTT
    Posts: 192
    Bumping this thread as various Franciscan celebrations draw closer in the hope someone my have something....
  • tomjaw
    Posts: 2,987
    Have you checked the Cantuale Romano-Seraphicum?
  • rich_enough
    Posts: 1,117
    Searching for "Francis of Assisi" at hymnary.org and Sheet Music Plus would be a quick and dirty start.
  • dannyboi0513
    Posts: 47
    Probably not relevance enough but there is a Polyphonic Mass setting based on themes of Franciscan litanies called "Mass in Honor of Our Lady, Queen of the Franciscan Order.
  • PLTT
    Posts: 192
    @tomjaw - yes, but as a rule it seems that the texts OF St. Francis have rarely been set to music. Usually, it is more common to find them as spoken texts (Rituale Romani-Seraphicum) - if at all. There are more texts in honour of St. Francis, but that is a bit different from what I am looking for.

    Just for reference, here you can find some of the prayers written by St. Francis:
    https://ofm.org/en/prayers.html
    https://sacred-texts.com/chr/wosf/wosf18.htm
  • Xopheros
    Posts: 166
    Just for reference, here you can find some of the prayers written by St. Francis:
    https://ofm.org/en/prayers.html
    https://sacred-texts.com/chr/wosf/wosf18.htm

    Unfortunately, the second site only has English translations and no original texts. On the first one, you can choose Italian, but does someone know whether these are indeed the original texts or whether they are transcriptions to modern Italian?
  • RoborgelmeisterRoborgelmeister
    Posts: 418
    Most High Omnipotent Good Lord
    Closer to Francis.
    The tune Assisi, is in a chant style form.
    https://hymnary.org/text/most_high_omnipotent_good_lord
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • rebeccaraber
    Posts: 6
    https://giamusic.com/resource/illumina-le-tenebre-satb-octavo-sbmp861

    Illumina le tenebre by Joan Szymko

    GORGEOUS SATB setting on a prayer by St. Francis
    Thanked by 4CHGiffen Xopheros PLTT probe
  • probe
    Posts: 234
    I set the Canticle of the Creatures in English to the chant of Beati Mundo Corde. I can upload a Cantamus rendering if desired. I tried to stick to the chant melody except where I had to repeat some phrases to accommodate long stanzas. If you notice awkward word setting, please tell me where.
    Canticle of the Creatures (A)3.pdf
    56K
  • probe
    Posts: 234
    @Xopheros, the Italian in ofm.org is the same as the Wikipedia Umbrian dialect with the occasional typographical difference, such as v for u. So it looks original to me.
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