Saturday, January 16, 2010

Dicit Dominus

This is the Communion Song for The Second Sunday after the Epiphany: Dicit Dominus - "The Lord said".
The Lord said: "Fill the jars with water and bring some to the master of the feast." When the master of the feast tasted the water, which had now become wine, he declared to the bridegroom: "You have kept the good wine until now". This was the first sign which Jesus accomplished before his disciples.

Here's the mp3
, from Jogueschant, and here's the chant score:



There's a beautiful version of this, titled Nuptiae/Dicit Dominus at YouTube, which I think includes more of the reading on the day from John; the Dicit Dominus section begins about 2/3 of the way through.  Gorgeous, in any case, from the choeur gregorien de Paris:



Here's the entire reading (John 2:1-11) from Year C of the RCL, in English, according to IO Lectionary:
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward." So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now." Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

This is also the reading from the BCP Lectionary, and the other readings match up, too. I especially adore the reading from the Old Testament, Isaiah 62:1-5, which I would swear I've never heard - or at least listened to very closely! - before:
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

How great is that, anyway? "You shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married."  I really love these kinds of things from the Hebrew Bible, and again I wish I could read the language - I'd sure like to hear what it sounds like, and is like, in the original.

Here's another version of the shorter piece:



For some reason I thought I'd find a number of polyphonic versions of this, given the topic - wine at weddings!- but I haven't. The field is wide open!

Here are the Office Hymns "From the Octave of Epiphany until the 1st Sunday of Lent."

No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...