Hvalite imia Gospodnie (Taizé)

Hvalite imia Gospodnie, hvalite, rabi, Gospoda.
Blagoslovjen Gospod ot Siona, živy vo Ierusalimie.
Ispoviedaitiesia Gospodievi, iako Blag, iako v viek milost iego.
Ispoviedaitiesia Bogu Niebiernomu, iako v viek milost iego.
Aliluia, aliluia, aliluia.

Louez le nom du Seigneur, louez, serviteurs du Seigneur, Alleluia.
Beni soit le Seigneur depuis Sion, lui qui habite Jerusalem.
Rendez grace au Seigneur, car il est bon, car eternel est son amour.
Rendez grace au Dieu du ciel, car eternel est son amour. Alleluia.

Praise the name of the Lord, give praise, servants of the Lord. Alleluia.
Blessed be the Lord from Zion, he who resides in Jerusalem.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his love is everlasting.
Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his love is everlasting. Alleluia.

Words: Psalm 135, 1.21; 136, 1.26.
Music: Dimitry Arzumanov

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Alleluia de Kiev (Taizé)

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I am risen and behold (Michael Barger)

Antiphon:

I am risen and behold and am with you, Alleluia!
You have placed you hand on me, Alleluia!
O God, how wonderf'lly you know me, Alleluia!

1. O Lord, you search me and you know me.
You know when I sit down and rise up again, Alleluia! (Antiphon)

2. Behold, Lord, you know all things both ancient and new.
You have conceived me, and laid your hand upon me, Alleluia! (Antiphon)

3. Glory be to the Father of Love,
And to the Son, who is risen from the dead,
And to the Spirit giving us new life,
As it was in the beginning, is now, and every shall be, Alleluia! (Antiphon)

Composer: Michael Barger 

Michael Barger grew up in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. His work is highly influenced by Islamic and Byzantine Arabic chant and especially by the Lebanese Byzantine chanter, Sister Marie Keyrouz

Composer's Notes:

The text of I Am Risen is that of the Introit (Entrance chant) of the Roman rite celebration of the Eucharist on Easter day, Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum, which serves as the antiphon for the chanting of Psalm 139. The composition was inspired by the recording of Resurrexi et adhuc tecum sum on Ensemble Organum's recording,  Chants of the Church of Roman - Byzantine Period. It is devoted to chants of the Church of Rome when most of the popes came from the churches of the Byzantine Empire ( 590-752), coinciding with the rise of the Prophet Muhammad (550-632) and the Umayyad Caliphate (660-750). Liturgies were celebrated with chants in both Greek and Latin. Musically the hymn is in the Mixolydian mode and marked by chords of the ninth.

Heruvicul lui / Cherubic Hymn (Ioan Zmeu)

Carii pe heruvimi cu taină închipuim,
Şi făcătoarei de viaţă Treimi întreit-sfântă cântare aducem,
Acum toată grija cea lumească să o lepădăm,
Ca pe Împăratul tuturor, să primim,
Pe Cel înconjurat în chip nevăzut de cetele îngereşti.

We, who in a mystic way represent the Cheubim
And sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving Trinity,
Let us now lay aside all earthly care
So that we may welcome the King of All,
Who comes escorted by invisible angelic hosts.

Ioan Zmeu was a great 19th century chanter, composer, and professor of Romanian Orthodox music. He was born January 30, 1860, in Botoşani where he studied with his father Emanoil Zmeu at the School of Church Music. He completed his studies in Constantinople and Jerusalem. He served as protopsalt (head chanter) and professor of vocal music at the the School for Church Singers in Rimnicu Vilcea (1882-1886), the great monastery of Curtea de Argeş (1886-1894), and from friom 1894 to 1901 at the Metropolitanate (subsequently as of 1922, the Patriarchate) in Bucharest. He returned to Curtea de Argeş and spent the last twenty-one years of his life there dying on April 28, 1922 at the age of sixty-two.

Zmeu was one of the greatest composers of Romanian Byzantine chant in the 19th and early 20th centuries with numerous compositions and editions of books of chant to his credit. There was an explosion of interest in chant in Romania beginning in the early 19th century with the printing and composing activities of such great names as Anton Pann and Dimitrie Suceveanu, and Zmeu is one of the outstanding figures of the era.

Unlike composers in the Latin Church, Romanian composers continued to compose liturgical chants well into the 20th century. The last major plain chant masses in the Gregorian tradition in the West were composed during the French Baroque period by Henri Dumont (1610-1684) and Michel-Richard de Lalande (1657-1726) and remained in the repertorie of some French parishes into the early 20th century.

This Heruvic or Cherbuic Hymn is among the greatest of Zmeu's compositions. The Cherubic hymn accompanies the preparation of the eucharistic gifts for the Great Entrance of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. Since the ritual and prayers invoved may be quite lengthy, Cherubic Hymns may last as long as ten minutes and more. The length of time required by the liturgical action make the Cherubic Hymn the longest piece of music by far in the Divine Liturgy allowing composers ample scope for their art.

The Heruvic is sung by the group Psalmodia under the direction of Dr. Archdeacon Sebastian Barbu-Bucur (b. Feburary 6, 1930).

God is with us / A Christmas Proclamation (John Tavener)

God is with us.
Hear ye people,
Even to the uttermost end of the earth.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.
The people that dwell in the shadow of death,
upon them the light has shined.
For unto us a child is born!
For unto us a son is given!
And the government shall be upon his shoulder,
And his name shall be called Wonderful! Counsellor!
The Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Hear ye people,
Even to the uttermost end of the earth.
God is with us,
Christ is born!

Words: from the Orthodox Great Compline for Christmas Eve
Music: John Tavener (b. 1944)

Exomologisthe to Kyrio (Taizé)

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Official Taizé Community Website

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Bogoroditse Dievo 2 / Богородице Дево (Taizé)

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Gospodi / Господи (Taizé)

Gospodi A




Gospodi B




Gospodi C




Gospodi E




Gospodi F



See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

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Sviaty Bože (Taizé)

Sviaty Bože 100












Sviaty Bože 109





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Official Taizé Community Website

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Bogoroditse Dievo 1 / Богородице Дево (Taizé)

See my other blog postings in the "Taizé" series of chants.

Official Taizé Community Website

Wikipedia information on the Taizé Community
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Slava vo visnjim Bogu

Slava na visini Bogu!
Zapevajte ljudi.
Danas se Hristos rađa,
u pelene se povija.
Bog naš pravedni
jagnje nezlobivo.
Carevi putujte danas,
Hristu darujte darove.
Pastiri svirajte,
pesmu Bogu zapevajte,
sa Anđelima i sa Arhanđelima.
I vi gore i brežuljci
zapevajte sa nama,
doline i kedri,
sa preslavne gore Livanske,
uzvisite se i veselite se.

Traditional Serbian Carol.

Lazarus Saturday & Palm Sunday Troparion

English Text:

O Christ our God,
when Thou didst raise Lazarus from the dead, before Thy Passion,
thou didst confirm the resurrection of the universe.
Wherefore, we, like children,
carry the banner of triumph and victory,
and we cry to Thee, O Conqueror of death,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the Lord.

Troparion for Lazarus Saturday and Palm Sunday

Rejoice O Bethany / افرحي يا بيت عنيا (Koinonikon for Lazarus Saturday)

I. ARABIC




II. ENGLISH TRANSLATION:





I. ARABIC TEXT

افرحي يابيت عنيا …. نحوك وافى الإله

من به الأموات تحيا …. كيف لا وهو الحياه

إن مارثا استقبلته …. ببكاء وعويل

وشكت لما رأته …. شدة الحزن الطويل

صرخت بالحالة ربي … أنت عوناً للرفيق

فا أعني إن قلبي …. ذاب من فقد الشقيق

قال كفي عن بكاكي …. ودعي هذا النحيب

واعلمي أن آخاك … سوف يحيا عن قريب

ثم نحو اللحد بادر …. ذلك الفادي الأمين

حينما نادى لعازر …. انهض ياذاك الدفين

أيها الأختان هيا …. انظرا الأمر العجيب

قام من في اللحد حيا …. واشكرا الفادي الحبيب

لك يارب البرايا …. لك نسجد بخشوع

إننا موت الخطايا …. بك نحيا يا يسوع


II. ENGLISH TRANSLATION:

Rejoice, rejoice, O Bethany!
On this day God came to thee,
And in Him the dead are made alive,
As it is right for He is the Life.

When Martha went to receive Him,
Grieving loudly with bitter tears,
She poured out the sorrow of her heart to Him
With great sadness, wailing her lament.

She at once cried out unto Him:
“My most compassionate Lord, my Lord,
At the great loss of my brother Lazarus
My heart is broken, help me.”

Jesus said to her, “Cease your weeping,
Cease your grieving and sad lament;
For your brother, My most beloved friend, Lazarus,
Very soon will live again.”

Then He, the faithful Redeemer,
Made His way unto the tomb,
Where he cried unto him who was buried four days,
Calling him forth, saying “Lazarus, arise.”

Come with haste, ye two sisters,
And behold a wondrous thing,
For your brother from the tomb has returned to life.
To the beloved Redeemer now give thanks.

To Thee, O Lord of creation,
We kneel down in reverence profound,
For all we who are dead in sin,
In Thee, O Jesus, are made alive.

A Koinonikon for Lazarus Saturday,
Original Arabic text افرحي يا بيت عنيا composed by the Thrice-Blessed Athanasius (Atallah), Metropolitan of Homs. Transcribed in English & Western Notation by Bishop +Basil Essey (1986).

Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός / Trisagion (Greek Orthodox)

Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.
Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος Ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.

Δόξα Πατρί καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι.
Καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεί καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰώνας τῶν αἰώνων, Ἀμήν.
Ἅγιος Ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς.

Historical Information

The Lord's Prayer (Rimsky-Korsakov) / Russian Orthodox

Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done,
in earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.

Composer: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)

Phos Hilaron (Φῶς Ἱλαρόν) (Greek)

Φῶς ἱλαρὸν ἁγίας δόξης ἀθανάτου Πατρός, οὐρανίου, ἁγίου, μάκαρος, Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, ἐλθόντες ἐπὶ τὴν ἡλίου δύσιν, ἰδόντες φῶς ἐσπερινόν, ὑμνοῦμεν Πατέρα, Υἱόν, καὶ ἅγιον Πνεῦμα, Θεόν. Ἄξιόν σε ἐν πᾶσι καιροῖς ὑμνεῖσθαι φωναῖς αἰσίαις, Υἱὲ Θεοῦ, ζωὴν ὁ διδούς· διὸ ὁ κόσμος σὲ δοξάζει.

Transliteration:
Phos hilarón haghías dóxis, athanátou Patrós, ouraníou, haghíou, mákaros, Iesoú Hristé, elthóntes epí ten helíou dýsin, idóntes phos esperinón, hymnoúmen Patéra, Hyión, kai hághion Pnéuma, Theón, Haxión se en pási kairoís hymneisthai, phonáis aisíais, Hyié Theoú, zoén ho didoús, dió o kósmos se doxázei.

English Translation:
O Gladsome Light of the Holy Glory of the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed Jesus Christ! Now that we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening, we praise God Father, Son and Holy Spirit. For meet it is at all times to worship Thee with voices of praise. O Son of God and Giver of Life, therefore all the world doth glorify Thee.

Words: Phos Hilaron (Φῶς Ἱλαρόν), Greek, 3rd century
Greek Chant

Nyne Otpushchaeshi Raba Tvoego Vladyko (Nunc Dimittis) (Russia)

NYNE OTPUSHCHAYESHI RABA TVOEGO, VLADYKO

Nyne Otpushchaeshi raba Tvoego, Vladyko,
po glagolu Tvoyemu s mirom:
yako videsta ochi moi spaseniye Tvoye,
ezhe esi ugotoval pred litsem vsekh lyudei,
svet vo otkrovenie yazykov, i slavu lyudei Tvoikh Izrailya.

English Translation (Book of Common Prayer, 1662):
Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

Taken from Sergei Rachmaninoff's All Night Vigil

Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff (1915)