Pearsall: Ave, verum corpus

Ave verum corpus natum
ex Maria Virgine,
vere passum, immolatum
in cruce pro homine,
cujus latus perforatum
fluxit unda et sanguine,
esto nobis praegustatum
mortis in examine.
O clemens, O pie,
O dulcis Jesu, Fili Mariae.

Hail,true body
born of the Virgin Mary,
Who truly suffered, sacrificed
on the Cross for man,
Whose pierced side overflowed
with water and blood,
Be for us a foretaste
In the test of death.

O clement, O loving, O sweet Jesus, son of Mary.

Salut vrai corps né
de la vierge Marie
Qui est mort et a été
immolé pour les hommes,
Dont le côté a été percé
et d'où a jailli l'eau et le sang.
Sois pour nous un avant-goût
de l'heure de notre mort.

Ô clément, ô pieux, ô doux Jésus, fils de Marie

King's College Cambridge Easter 2011

There is a Green Hill far away Horsley Miserere Gregorio Allegri O Sacred head Sore Wounded JS Bach Surely, He hath borne our Griefs, G.F.Handel, from Messiah The Crown of Roses Tchaikovsky The Call Ralph Vaughan Williams Hail Gladdening Light Charles Wood And I saw a New Heaven Edgar Bainton Drop, Drop, Slow Tear Orlando Gibbons When I survey the Wonderous Cross Rockingham Crucifixus Antonio Lotti O Saviour of the World Sir Frederick Arthur Gore Ouseley Ave Verum Corpus W A Mozart This Joyful Eastertide Charles Wood The Strife is O'er Vulpius Hallelujah Chorus, Handel Messiah Jesus Christ is Risen today arr. Stephen Cleobury End Credits

Richard Dering: Ave verum corpus

Ave verum corpus, natum de Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine, cuius latus perforatum fluxit aqua et sanguine: esto nobis praegustatum in mortis examine.O dulcis, O  pie, O Jesu, fili Mariae. Miserere mei. Amen.

Hail true body, you who hung on the cross for the sake of humanity, from whose side flowed both water and blood. Be our food both now and at our death. O sweet, O holy Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on us. (Innocent VI)

This work is available for free online listening by the Naxos Music Library. Check with your librarian.  Cardholders of the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec, ready to open their account online, click on: [BNQ]; cardholders of the Bibliothèque de Montréal click on: [BM].


Performance of the Cambridge Singers, John Rutter conducting.  

Ave verum corpus

Joos van Wassenhove, The Institution of the Eucharist, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche, Urbino, 1473-75

Ave verum corpus

Ave verum corpus is a short Eucharistic hymn that has been set to music by various composers. It dates from the 14th century and has been attributed to Popes Innocent III, Innocent IV and Innocent VI.

During the Middle Ages it was sung at the elevation of the host during the consecration. It was also used frequently during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

The hymn's title means "Hail, true body", and is based on a poem deriving from a 14th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Reichenau, Lake Constance. 

The poem is a meditation on the belief in Jesus's Real Presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and ties it to ideas on the redemptive meaning of suffering in the life of all believers [adapted from Wikipedia].

Ave verum corpus, natum

   de Maria Virgine, [or: ex Maria Virgine]

Hail, true Body, born

  of the Virgin Mary,

vere passum, immolatum

   in cruce pro homine,

truly suffered, sacrificed

   on the cross for humankind,

cuius latus perforatum

   fluxit aqua et sanguine: [or: unda fluxit sanguine]

whose pierced side

   flowed with water and blood:

esto nobis praegustatum

   in mortis examine. [or: mortis in examine]

May it be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet]

   in the trial of death.

O Iesu dulcis, O Iesu pie, O Iesu, fili Mariae.

   Miserere mei. Amen.

Oh dear Jesus, Oh merciful Jesus, Oh Jesus, son of Mary,

   have mercy on me. Amen.  

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's setting of Ave verum corpus (K. 618) is perhaps the best known of all. Of the many other settings of the poem, the best known are probably those by William Byrd and Sir Edward Elgar. There is a version by Camille Saint-Saëns.  The text is even used in an opera, Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites.

Mozart's version, with instruments only, was adapted by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as one of the sections of his Mozartiana, a tribute to Mozart. 

The Vienna Boys' Choir (Wiener Sangerknaben) made some notable recordings of Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus in the 20th century.

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Gregorian chant

Monks of the Abbey of St. Maurice and St. Maur, Clervaux [listen]

Monks and boys of Downside Abbey [listen]

The Brotherhood of St. Gregory [listen]

Susan Peck [listen]

Giovanni Vianini [YouTube]

_______________

Orlande de Lassus, Ave verum corpus, Canticum [YouTube]

Lodovico da Viadano, Ave corpus verum, Vox Hesperia (Romano Vettori), Ensemble de cuivres anciens du Conservatoire supérieur de Lyon, Jean-Pierre Canihac conducting. [listen]

 

William Byrd, Ave verum corpus, The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips conducting [YouTube]

William Byrd, Ave verum corpus, Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Timothy Brown conducting; Dominic Wheeler, organ [listen]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ave Verum corpus, Vienna Boys' Choir [YouTube]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ave Verum corpus, Chor und Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leonard Bernstein conducting [YouTube]  

Charles Gounod, Ave verum corpus, performed by the Peiyang Chorus & Mao Yong [YouTube]

Francis Poulenc, Ave verum corpus, Sofia Vocal Ensemble [YouTube]

Gabriel Fauré, Ave verum corpus, Op. 65, No. 1, Cambridge Singers, John Rutter conducting; John Scott, organ [listen]

Sir Edward Elgar, Ave verum corpus, Op. 2, No. 1, Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Timothy Brown conducting; Dominic Wheeler, organ [listen]

Karl Jenkins, Ave verum corpus, sung by Chantelle Constable [YouTube]

Colin Mawby, Ave verum corpus, Tewkesbury Abbey Choir, Nicholas, Benjamin, conducting  [NML] (info) 

_______________

Franz Liszt composed a version for organ and choir in 1871 [Searle 44].  This had been preceded by a fantasy for piano on Mozart's Ave verum corpus, preceded by a version of Allegri's celebrated 'Miserere', under the title 'A la Chapelle Sixtine' [Searle 461 - two versions]. Versions of this fantasy for orchestra [Searle 360] and piano four-hands [Searle 633] follow closely the 2nd version for piano. The is also a version for organ [Searle 658] with the title 'Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine.'

Franz Liszt, A la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart) [1st version], S461, Leslie Howard, piano [CML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, A la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart) [2nd version], S461, Leslie Howard, piano [CML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, A la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum Corpus de Mozart), S461, Valerie Tryon, piano [NML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, Ave verum corpus, S44, for chorus and organ [ensemble not identified] [YouTube]

Franz Liszt, Ave verum corpus, S44, Stuttgart Sudfunkchor, Rubert Huber conducting [NML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, A la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum corpus de Mozart), S360, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Hartmut Haenchen conducting. [NML] (info)

Franz Liszt, A la Chapelle Sixtine (Miserere d'Allegri et Ave verum corpus de Mozart), S363, Elisabetta Dessì and Francesco Giammarco, S363 [NML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Olivier Vernet on 1888/2001 Rinckenbach/Aubertin organ in the church of Saint-Thiébaut in Thann, Haut-Rhin.  [YouTube: Part I - Part II]  

Franz Liszt, Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Christoper Herrick, on the 1878/2000 Lewis/Harrison organ of Ripon Cathedral [CML] (info) 

Franz Liszt, Evocation à la Chapelle Sixtine, S658, performed by Martin Hasselbock on the Ladegast organ of St. James Cathedral in Köthen [NML] (info) 

_______________

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Orchestral Suite No. 4 Op. 61 (Mozartiana) performed by The Chicago Symphony, Claudio Abbado conducting.  [listen to entire work]

Mozartiana is in four movements and lasts approximately 20 minutes.

1) Gigue. Allegro (G major)After the Little Gigue for piano, K. 574. [listen]

2) Menuet. Moderato (D major)After the Minuet for piano, K. 355.  [listen]

3) Preghiera. Andante ma non tanto (B flat major)After Franz Liszt's piano transcription of the Ave verum corpus, K. 618. (In 1862 Liszt wrote a piano transcription combining Gregorio Allegri's Miserere and Mozart's Ave verum corpus, published as "À la Chapelle Sixtine" (S.461). Tchaikovsky orchestrated only the part of this work that had been based on Mozart.)  [listen]

4) Thème et variations. Allegro giusto (G major)After the piano Variations on a Theme by Gluck, K. 455. (The theme was the aria "Unser dummer Pöbel meint", from Gluck's opera "La Rencontre imprévue, or Les Pèlerins de la Mecque").  [listen]

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A recent version of this piece was recorded by the girl choristers that make up the group "All Angels"; the words set to the music from the ITV series Brideshead Revisited by Geoffrey Burgon. [YouTube]

[Information from Wikipedia.]

William Byrd: Ave verum corpus (1605)

Ave verum corpus, natum de Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine, cuius latus perforatum fluxit aqua et sanguine: esto nobis praegustatum in mortis examine.O dulcis, O  pie, O Jesu, fili Mariae. Miserere mei. Amen.

Hail true body, you who hung on the cross for the sake of humanity, from whose side flowed both water and blood. Be our food both now and at our death. O sweet, O holy Jesus, son of Mary, have mercy on us. (Innocent VI)

Performance by:

Tallis Scholars [YouTube]

Ave verum corpus

Ave, verum corpus natum de Maria Virgine:
vere passum, immolatum
in cruce pro homine:
cuius latus perforatum
unda fluxit et sanguine:
esto nobis praegustatum,
in mortis examine.
O clemens, O pie,
O dulcis Jesu, Fili Mariae,
Miserere mei. Amen. .

Hail the true body, born of the Virgin Mary:
You who truly suffered and were sacrificed
on the cross for the sake of man.
From whose pierced flank
flowed water and blood:
Be a foretaste for us
in the trial of death.
O clement, O pious,
O sweet Jesus, son of Mary,
have mercy on me. Amen.

Salut vrai corps, né de ka vierge Marie,

toi qui était sur la croix pour le bien de l'humanité, 

à partir de quel côté coulait l'eau et le sang.

Sois notre nourriture aujourd'hui et à notre mort. 

O douce, ô saint serviteur Jésus, fils de Marie, 

aie pitié de moi. (Innocent VI)