Past Event: 2021 Advent Concert

The Missa brevis (Short mass) by contemporary English composer Jonathan Dove is as concise as its name implies: each of the four movements takes about as long to perform as a standard popular song. The second movement, a joyfully exuberant Gloria, with its Latin text celebrating the birth of Christ, makes a fitting opener for our Advent concert. (It’s worth noting, however, that in the Catholic Church the Gloria is omitted from celebrations of the mass during Advent, which is considered a time of penance.) Dove is best known for his many operas, and his setting of the Gloria bespeaks a seasoned dramatic flair, both in the driving, energetic rhythms of the choral writing and in the resplendent colors of the organ part. (The Missa brevis was composed for a convention of cathedral organists in 2009.) The alternation of duple and triple meters, carefully calibrated to the shifting phrase lengths of the Latin text, and the briskly oscillating organ accompaniment enhance the music’s dance-like vitality.

Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a dead princess) is one of Ravel’s most popular and affecting works, the epitome of sweet sorrow and restrained grief. The composer insisted that he “had nothing more in mind than the pleasure of alliteration” when he chose the piece’s historically evocative name: “It is not a dirge for a recently deceased princess, but evokes a pavane that such a young princess might once have danced at the court of Spain.” Yet it was the Pavane’s funereal association that attracted Rupert Gough when he was searching for a companion piece to perform alongside his arrangement of Pierre Villette’s Messe “Da Pacem” (to be heard next on the program). Observing how closely Ravel’s melody aligned with the prosody of the Latin mass for the dead, Gough re-envisioned the Pavane as a choral ode. Like the orchestral version, it begins in an atmosphere of ceremonial solemnity, the measured eighth-note tread varied only by the introduction of triplets on the word “requiem” (rest). This is one of several resting points in Ravel’s stately procession, after each of which the music resumes with renewed energy and more complex harmonies. The tempo picks up in the minor-key middle section, which is more urgent and animated in character, and the final reprise of the wistful G-major theme is accompanied by undulating organ arpeggios.

Sensuousness and spirituality have long coexisted in the music of certain French composers, from Gounod, Franck, and Fauré in the nineteenth century to Poulenc, Messiaen, and Duruflé in the twentieth. The latter’s protégé Pierre Villette fits comfortably into this line of succession. Born in 1926, Villette occupies a comparatively inconspicuous niche in French music of the postwar era, in part because he rejected the dominant orthodoxy of dissonant serialism championed by his close contemporary Pierre Boulez. Instead, he remained loyal to the fundamentally tonal, post-Romantic idiom that Duruflé instilled in him as a teenager. As Boulez’s fellow pupil at the Paris Conservatoire, Villette appeared to be on the fast track to a major career until a chronic illness sidelined him to the provinces. There, in addition to heading conservatories in Besançon and Aix-en-Provence, he produced a steady stream of sacred and secular works, of which the chastely sensual “Hymne à la Vierge” (Hymn to the Virgin) is the most widely known. 

Villette’s style—a yeasty blend of post-Debussyan harmonies, winding, chant-like melodies, and vigorous, faintly jazzy rhythms—remained remarkably consistent over the fifteen or so years it took him to bring the Messe “Da Pacem” to fruition. Completed in 1970, the first of his two masses takes its title, as well as its overarching mood of prayerful beneficence, from the early medieval Latin hymn “Da pacem, Domine, in diebus nostris” (Give us peace in our time, O Lord). In this arrangement by the distinguished British choral director and organist Rupert Gough, Villette’s sumptuous scoring for full symphony orchestra and one or two organs is reduced to single organ. Yet the sheer sonic splendor of the music remains undimmed, enhanced by Villette’s polychromatic tonal palette and Gough’s imaginative organ registrations. Villette balances the richly textured sonorities of the four-part choir against leaner passages for solo soprano in the Gloria and Benedictus sections of the mass and a mini-chorus of “celestial” voices in the Sanctus, echoing the full ensemble’s ecstatic repetitions of “Hosanna in excelsis.” (Pierre Villette’s Messe “da Pacem,” published by United Music Publishing Ltd, England. www.ump.co.uk(link is external))

Adolphus Hailstork came of age in an era of social and cultural upheaval. As a youth in upstate New York, the aspiring African American composer was insulated from the racial attitudes and politics that sparked the civil rights movement. Not until he enrolled at the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1960s did he become aware of the stark cultural divide between Black and white America. “I’ve tried to integrate African American elements with my Euro training,” he said in a recent interview, “and sometimes my works are strictly without any racial influence and sometimes very strongly and deliberately focused on using African American elements. And sometimes I blend them and juxtapose them.” Describing himself as a “cultural hybrid,” Hailstork has written a wide range of music in the European concert-hall tradition as well as works that reflect African American culture and experience, including a song cycle on poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar, an opera about Paul Robeson, and a choral-orchestral memorial for George Floyd titled A Knee on the Neck, which the National Philharmonic will premiere in March 2022.

I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes springs from Hailstork’s early musical training in the Episcopal Church. Scored for solo tenor, mixed choir, and orchestra, the three-movement cantata is a large-scale choral anthem based on texts from the biblical Book of Psalms. After a lengthy orchestral introduction, the tenor leads the choir in an energetic call-and-response-style rendition of the psalmist’s “I will lift up mine eyes.” The second movement begins with a plaintive prelude scored for horns and bassoon in G minor, laced with bluesy harmonic alterations. The choir’s long litany of anguish climaxes in an impassioned evocation of a prayer meeting, with solo voices interjecting improvised responses “in a mournful style.” The last movement modulates to radiant A major, as the sopranos’ lightly syncopated reiterations of “Alleluia” underpin the tenor’s soaring melody on the familiar prayer beginning “The Lord is my shepherd.” The cantata ends with a brief reprise of the first movement and a majestic “Alleluia.”

Keep Your Lamps!, arr. André Thomas: First recorded (and possibly composed) in 1928 by the African American blues singer and guitarist Blind Willie Johnson, this short, mesmerizing spiritual has become a beloved staple of the gospel repertoire. The text alludes to the biblical parable of the ten Wise and Foolish Virgins who await Jesus’s arrival in the guise of a bridegroom. The faithful are admonished to “keep your lamps trimmed and burning” in preparation for the Day of Judgment, for, as the refrain reminds us, “the time is drawing nigh.” In André Thomas’s skillful arrangement for chorus and conga drums, the vocal writing is mostly homophonic, with the four parts marching in lockstep. In contrast, the middle section (“Children, don’t get weary”) is characterized by overlapping phrases and a smoother, less syncopated style.

Additional note by the composer: In Matthew 25:1–13, Jesus tells the story of the wise and foolish virgins, who had been told that the bridegroom would be coming soon. They trimmed and lit their lamps and went to the appointed place, but the bridegroom did not arrive at the appointed time. The foolish virgins had brought enough oil for only one night, and as they returned to get more oil, the bridegroom came while they were away. This song was sung by slaves working the fields, imparting its lesson from Jesus, and perhaps also as a coded message. If an opportunity for escape was approaching, slaves might have sung Keep Your Lamps with particular urgency, communicating with each other under the watchful eyes of the overseers. Be ready!

Although its origins lie in late-medieval England, the “Corpus Christi Carol” is more popular in Nordic countries than in English-speaking lands. The anonymous lyric is traditionally associated with Christmas, perhaps because it served as a source of the better-known carol “Down in Yon Forest.” Yet the “Corpus Christi Carol” has no discernible yuletide theme. A variety of interpretational contexts have been hypothesized for the lugubrious text, ranging from the Holy Grail of Arthurian romance to the sepulcher in which the “corpus Christi” (body of Christ) was entombed. In this a cappella version by Norwegian composer Trond Kverno, five stanzas of the poem are interspersed with a lilting refrain referring to a mysterious falcon (hence the alternate title Falcon Carol). Kverno’s intense, slightly archaic-sounding harmonies accentuate the haunting strangeness of the sixteenth-century poem, which was also set, to very different effect, by Benjamin Britten.

The text and melody of this jubilant carol [Personent hodie] first appeared in Piae Cantiones (Pious songs), an anthology of medieval Latin lyrics published in Germany in 1582. The volume eventually made its way by way of Sweden to nineteenth-century England, where it swelled the burgeoning repertoire of Victorian carols for Christmastide and Easter. Over the years “Personent hodie” (Resound today) has been variously arranged by sundry hands, from Gustav Holst to Wayne Shorter. In the 1980s, the American conductor and music educator Lara Hoggard set it as a “festival processional,” reinforcing the vocal parts with organ, brass instruments, and percussion. The simple, emphatically rhythmical text is based on a popular medieval song addressed to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of children. Their jocund voices join those of clerics and angels in praising the newborn Christ child.

Notes © by Harry Haskell

A former editor for Yale University Press, Harry Haskell is a program annotator for Carnegie Hall in New York and the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin and the author of several books, including The Early Music Revival: A History. His three-part podcast about Katharine Wright, the sister of the Wright Brothers, will be released this winter.

Yale Camerata

André Thomas, conductor

Maura Tuffy, principal assistant conductor

Rhianna Cockrell, Harrison Hintzsche, Laurie Ongley, managers

Ryan Rogers, Gloria Yin, student managers

Soprano

• Yuran Anne An
• Alexandra Apolloni
• Shivani Bhandarkar
• Peyton Cabaniss
• Jordan Davidson
• Rachel Glodo
• Jennifer A. Herdt
• Carolyn Ladd
• Geriana Vanatta Lagase
• Ellie Latham
• Joy Lee
• Julia Regier
• Michelle Spicer
• Maura Tuffy
• Anna Vavra
• Yiran Zhao

Alto

• James Applegate
• Helen Bartlett
• Ava Estacio-Touhey
• Anna-Maria Glueck
• Riana Heath
• Clarice Lee
• Luba Margai
• Sarah Sparling
• Martha Kirk Swartz
• Akiko Uemura
• Mengfei Xu
• Gloria Yin

Tenor

• Collin Edouard
• Michael Lukin
• Patrick Maisch
• Jake Mazeitis
• Rohin McIntosh
• Sean McMillan
• Sydney Mukasa
• Ryan Rogers
• David Townley
• Pak Hang Wan
• Nate Widelitz
• Jason Zentz

Bass

• Lucas Bacho
• Samuel Brock
• James Brown-Kinsella
• Blake Bruchhaus
• Stephen Carrabino
• Patrick Holland
• Philipp Keckeis
• Joon Lee
• Mattias Lundberg
• Gustav Kjær Vad Nielsen
• Sean Patterson
• Clay Thames
• Terence Wu

Instrumentalists

Violin 1

• Freya Liu, concertmaster
• Herdís Gudmundsdóttir, associate concertmaster
• Katherine Cheng

Violin 2

• Yan Li, principal
• Youngji Kim
• Wei Zhu

Viola

• Deng Zhang, principal
• Madison Marshall
• Kayla Cabrera

Violoncello

• Allen Liang, principal
• Ji hyun Hwang

Double Bass

• Dylan Reckner

Flute

• Danielle Maeng

Oboe

• Mickenna Keller
• Clarinet
• Tianyi Shen

Bassoon

• Matthew Matheny

Horn

• Kate Warren

Trumpet

• Connor Holland, principal
• Joshua Bialkin

Trombone

• Addison Maye-Saxon

Timpani & Percussion

• Russell Fisher
• Jacob Gutierrez

Organ and Rehearsal Piano

• Ethan Haman

André Thomas is visiting professor of choral conducting and interim conductor of the Yale Camerata. He recently retired from Florida State University, where he was Owen F. Sellers professor of music, director of choral activities, and professor of choral music education. He received degrees from Friends University (BA), Northwestern University (MM), and the University of Illinois (DMA). He is in demand as a choral adjudicator, clinician, and director in North America, Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, and Africa. He has conducted choirs at conventions of the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He has conducted the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England, the Berlin Radio Choir and the North German Radio Choir in Germany, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Bulgarian Radio Choir and Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the Tallahassee Symphony, the People’s Liberation Orchestra in China, and the Czech National Symphony. Thomas has been honored with distinguished achievement awards by the African Diaspora Sacred Music, Chorus America, ACDA, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the Florida Music Educators Hall of Fame. He is the current president of national ACDA.

Concert and recording artist Nathaniel Gumbs is a native of the Bronx, and currently serves as the director of chapel music at Yale. As a recitalist, he has performed throughout the United States and abroad. Gumbs was acclaimed in the New York Times for playing “deftly and feelingly” on his duo recording with bass-baritone Dashon Burton. The Diapason recently recognized Gumbs as one of 20 organists under 30 years old for outstanding achievement in organ performance and church music. Gumbs has also served as the director of music and arts and church organist at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. His teachers have included Steven Cooksey, David Higgs, and Martin Jean, and he holds degrees from Shenandoah Conservatory, Yale University, and the Eastman School of Music.

Ethan Haman, from Fremont, California, studies organ at Yale with Jon Laukvik and is the organist of Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien, Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Southern California with a BM in organ performance, studying with Cherry Rhodes, and in composition, studying with Morten Lauridsen, Andrew Norman, Donald Crockett, Sean Friar, and Daniel Temkin. At USC, Haman was organist for both Knox Presbyterian Church in Pasadena and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, as well as an improvisation instructor for the San Francisco Peninsula Organ Academy. He took four organ and improvisation study trips to Lyon and Paris on scholarships from USC and the SFPOA. Haman enjoys recording organ videos for YouTube.

Albert R. Lee is the inaugural director of equity, belonging, and student life at the Yale School of Music. He comes to Yale from the University of Nevada, Reno, where he was associate professor of voice and opera; he has also taught at Troy University and Lincoln University. At universities across the United States he has delivered lectures such as “American Art Song: Reframing and Reforming the Canon” and “The Musical Legacy of Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance.” Lee has performed as a recitalist and in oratorio and operatic settings with such ensembles as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Collegiate Chorale, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, National Chorale, Reno Philharmonic, Cincinnati Opera, Opera Las Vegas, Opera Steamboat, and Palm Beach Opera. He appears as a featured soloist on Sinfonia da Camera’s recording of George Walker’s Lilacs, for voice and orchestra. A native of New Haven, Lee earned a BM from the University of Connecticut, an MM from Juilliard, and a doctorate from Florida State University.

An accomplished keyboardist, Michael Lukin holds an AMusA in piano performance and an AMusA and LMusA in organ performance from the Australian Music Examinations Board, winning the A. J. Leckie Memorial Award for the best diploma candidate in Western Australia in 2015. Having served as the assistant organist of St. George’s Cathedral from 2016 to 2019, Lukin earned a bachelor’s degree from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in 2019, where he specialized in conducting and historical keyboard performance. Lukin is presently in the second year of his master of music in choral conducting at Yale University, where his studies are supported by the 2020 Western Australian Postgraduate Fulbright Scholarship.

Greer Lyle is a Carrollton, Georgia, native and a soprano in the Yale Opera program. She made her professional debut in 2018 as a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where she earned the Gaddes Career Award and an invitation to return as a Gerdine Young Artist in 2019. In 2021 Lyle was a semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Her previous awards include first prize in the 2017 Atlanta Music Club Scholarship Competition, Encouragement Awards at the 2017–2020 Georgia and Arkansas District Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and an Encouragement Award at the 2018 Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta. Lyle’s upcoming projects are the Yale Opera Gala and Handel’s Alcina. She is currently a student of Gerald Martin Moore.

Conductor and soprano Maura Tuffy currently serves as principal assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata under the direction of André Thomas. As a soloist, she has performed with groups such as the USC Thornton Wind Ensemble and USC Thornton Percussion Ensemble. Tuffy was one of eight conductors selected to participate in the 2019 national ACDA Undergraduate Conducting Masterclass. Tuffy earned her bachelor’s degrees in vocal arts and choral music from the University of Southern California. She holds a master of music in choral conducting from the Yale School of Music and is currently pursuing a master of musical arts, also at Yale.

Founded in 1985 by Marguerite L. Brooks and conducted by André Thomas, the Yale Camerata is a vocal ensemble sponsored by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. The group’s singers are Yale graduate and undergraduate students, faculty, staff, and experienced singers from the New Haven community. The Camerata performs a widely varied spectrum of choral literature, with a specific commitment to recently composed choral music. It has collaborated with the Yale Glee Club, Yale Philharmonia, Yale Symphony, Yale Band, Yale Chamber Players, Yale Collegium Musicum, New Haven Chorale, and the orchestras of Hartford, New Haven, and Norwalk. The ensemble has also performed for Yale Music Spectrum and New Music New Haven. The Camerata has been heard on Connecticut Public Radio and on national broadcasts of National Public Radio’s program Performance Today, and has performed at a national conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization and a regional conference of the American Choral Directors Association. Guest conductors have included Marin Alsop, Simon Carrington, Matthew Halls, David Hill, Sir Gilbert Levine, Sir Neville Marriner, Nicholas McGegan, Erwin Ortner, Stefan Parkman, Grete Pedersen, Krzysztof Penderecki, Helmuth Rilling, Jaap Schröder, Robert Shaw, Dale Warland, and Sir David Willcocks. With the Institute of Sacred Music, the Camerata has commissioned and premiered works of Martin Bresnick, Daniel Kellogg, Robert Kyr, Ingram Marshall, Tawnie Olson, Stephen Paulus, Daniel Pinkham, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, among others. The chorus has sung first performances of works by many composers, including Kathryn Alexander, Aaron Jay Kernis, Robert Sirota, and Francine Trester, and regularly programs student works.

The Yale Institute of Sacred Music is an interdisciplinary graduate center dedicated to the study and practice of sacred music, worship, and the arts. Institute students receive rigorous training for careers in performance, church music, pastoral ministry, the academy, and much more. The Institute sponsors several choruses, including the Yale Camerata and Yale Schola Cantorum. As a major arts presenter in New Haven, it offers a full schedule of concerts, art exhibitions, literary readings, lectures, conferences, and multimedia events during the year. For updated listings, visit the website at ism.yale.edu.

Jonathan Dove, “Gloria,” from Missa brevis

Gloria in excelsis Deo                                                                      Glory to God in the highest,

et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.                       and on earth peace to people of good will.

Laudamus te, benedicimus te,                                                    We praise you, we bless you,

adoramus te, glorificamus te.                                                     we adore you, we glorify you.

Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam.     We give thanks to you for your great glory.

Domine Deus, Rex celestis,                                                           Lord God, heavenly King,

Deus Pater omnipotens.                                                                 God the Father almighty.

Domine, Fili unigenite Jesu Christe,                                         Lord, only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ,

Domine Deus, Agnus Dei,                                                              Lord God, Lamb of God,

Filius Patris,                                                                                           Son of the Father,

Qui tollis peccata mundi,                                                               Who takes away the sins of the world,

miserere nobis.                                                                                    have mercy on us.

Qui tollis peccata mundi,                                                               Who takes away the sins of the world,

suscipe deprecationem nostram.                                             receive our prayer.

Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris,                                                     Who sits at the right hand of the Father,

miserere nobis.                                                                                    have mercy on us.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus.                                                           For you alone are the Holy one.

Tu solus Dominus.                                                                             You alone are the Lord.

To solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe.                                            You alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ.

Cum Sancto Spiritu,                                                                          With the Holy Ghost,

in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.                                                              in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Maurice Ravel, arr. Rupert Gough, Requiem aeternam 

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,                                     Grant them eternal rest, Lord,

et lux perpetua luceat eis.                                                             and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion,                                                 A hymn to you is fitting, O God, in Zion,

et tibi reddetur votum                                                                    and a vow shall be paid to you

in Jerusalem.                                                                                         in Jerusalem.

Exaudi orationem meam,                                                               Hear my prayer,

ad te omnis caro veniet.                                                                 to you all flesh shall come.

Pierre Villette, arr. Rupert Gough, Messe “Da Pacem,” Op. 38

Kyrie eleison.                                                                                           Lord, have mercy.

Christe eleison.                                                                                      Christ, have mercy.

Kyrie eleison.                                                                                           Lord, have mercy.

Gloria in excelsis Deo…                                                                     (as above at Dove Gloria)

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus                                                               Holy, holy, holy

Dominus Deus Sabaoth.                                                                   Lord God of Hosts.

Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua.                                              Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in excelsis.                                                                           Hosanna in the highest.

Benedictus qui venit                                                                          Blessed is he who comes

in nomine Domini.                                                                                in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in excelsis.                                                                           Hosanna in the highest.

Agnus Dei                                                                                                Lamb of God

qui tollis peccata mundi,                                                                 who takes away the sins of the world,

miserere nobis.                                                                                     have mercy on us.

Agnus Dei                                                                                               Lamb of God

qui tollis peccata mundi,                                                                who takes away the sins of the world,

miserere nobis.                                                                                    have mercy on us.

Agnus Dei                                                                                               Lamb of God

qui tollis peccata mundi,                                                                who takes away the sins of the world,

dona nobis pacem.                                                                             grant us peace.

Adolphus Hailstork, I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes

I will lift up mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help.

My help surely cometh from the Lord. Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.

He that keepeth thee will not slumber nor sleep.

The sun will not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.

The Lord shall preserve thee from evil. The Lord shall preserve thy soul.

(Psalm 121:1–4, 6–7)

How long O Lord will Thou forget me?

How long will Thou hide Thy face from me?

How long must I suffer anguish in my soul and grief in my heart?

Look now and answer me O Lord. Give light to my eyes lest I sleep the sleep of death.

How long O Lord?

I will lift mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh my help.

(Psalm 13:1–2a, 3)

Alleluia. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters.

He restoreth my soul.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

I will lift up mine eyes to the hills. Alleluia.

(Psalm 23)

André Thomas, arr., Keep Your Lamps!

Keep your lamps trimmed and burning,

the time is drawing nigh.

Children don’t get weary

’til your work is done.

(Traditional, adapted from Matthew 25:1-13)

Trond Kverno, Corpus Christi Carol

Lully, lulley, the faucon hath borne my make away.

He bare him up, he bare him down,

he bare him into an orchard brown.

Lully, lulley, the faucon hath borne my make away.

In that orchard there was a bed,

It was hanged with gold so red.

Lully, lulley, the faucon hath borne my make away.

And in that bed there lieth a knight,

his woundès bleeding both day and night.

Lully, lulley, the faucon hath borne my make away.

And by that bedes side there kneeleth a may

and she weepeth both night and day.

Lully, lulley, the faucon hath borne my make away.

And by that bedes side there standeth a stone:

CORPUS CHRISTI written there on.

(Medieval Latin text)

Lara Hoggard, arr., Personent hodie

Personent hodie                                                                                   Resound today

voces puerulae,                                                                                     children’s voices,

laudantes iucunde                                                                               joyfully praising

qui nobis est natus,                                                                             who is born today,

summo Deo datus,                                                                              given to us of God

et de virgineo                                                                                         and born of a virgin.

ventre procreatus.

In mundo nascitur                                                                               He was born in the world

pannis involvitur,                                                                                 wrapped in cloths,

praesepi ponitur                                                                                  placed in the stable

stabulo brutorum,                                                                               of brute beasts

rector supernorum.                                                                            by the king of the heavens.

Perdidit spolia                                                                                       The prince of hell

princeps infernorum.                                                                         has lost his spoils.

Magi tres venerunt,                                                                           Three wise men

munera offerunt,                                                                                  offer gifts,

parvulum inquirunt,                                                                           they search for a little one,

stellulam sequendo,                                                                           following the star,

ipsum adorando.                                                                                  adoring him.

Aurum, thus,                                                                                          Gold, incense,

et myrrham ei offerendo.                                                                and myrrh they offered him.

Omnes clericuli,                                                                                   All clerics,

pariter pueri,                                                                                          all children,

cantent ut angeli:                                                                                sing with the angels:

advenisti mundo,                                                                                 you have come to the world,

laudes tibi fundo.                                                                                 we praise you from the lowest depths.

Ideo gloria in excelsis Deo.                                                             Glory to God in the highest.

(Medieval Latin text)