Wednesday, August 7, 2024

O beatissime Ruperte

Psalm antiphon for St. Rupert [May 15] (D 164v, R 471ra) by Hildegard of Bingen Back to Table of Contents
O beatissime Ruperte,
qui in flore etatis tue
non produxisti
nec portasti vicia diaboli,
unde
naufragum mundum reliquisti:
nunc intercede
pro famulantibus tibi
in Deo.
Alleluia.
O blessed Rupert!
In the flower of your youth
you neither sired
nor suffered the devil’s vices
as you
left behind this shipwrecked world:
Now intercede
for those who minister for you
in God.
Alleluia!
Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.





Transcription and Music Notes
by Beverly Lomer

Mode: D
Range: A below the final to F an octave and a third above
Setting: Mixture of syllabic, neumatic and one long melisma (conclusion)

The phrasing in this antiphon is generally straightforward, with phrases outlined by the final of the mode. When phrases do not employ the final for opening and closing, they employ the secondary modal tone, A, which is typical for chant in general in this era.

Readers will note that we have placed a tick barline on page 1, line 3 of the transcription. Although this makes for a long phrase connecting lines 2-3 (“qui in flore etatis tue”), it maintains the melodic structure in which lines 2-3 are an elaboration of the same melody as line 1.. Similarly, a tick barline has been placed at the end of page 2, line 1, to show that “reliquisti” belongs with “naufragum mundum.”

Interestingly, the Alleluia at the end of the piece begins with the pitch F but concludes traditionally with the final.

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