Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

O Magnum Mysterium

Another submission from Keith Fraser:

On the night before Christmas we sing of the birth of the Saviour, but who should have been the first to gaze on this wonder? Certainly the Holy Family of Our Lady and St Joseph but also the Ox and the Cattle present in the stable. Many visual depictions of this scene include the stars and the angels standing guard over that most precious of new-born sons.

The piece of music that depicts that moment is the motet O Magnum Mysterium, translated as

O most awesome mystery
and sacrament divine and most wondrous:
that animals should look and see the Lord a babe newborn
beside them in a manger laid.
O how truly blessed is the Virgin whose womb was worthy
to bear and bring forth the Lord Christ Jesus.
Alleluia!

Composers have set this text in many ways, but recently it has been composed in a number of ethereal motets. The text itself is taken from the Matins of Christmas Day but has become a setting more commonly heard at Midnight mass and I have to confess that while the liturgical purist may not agree with me, I actually like it in that context. Perhaps the more commonly known settings are those of Byrd and Palestrina, but last year the setting everyone was doing was Morten Laurisden’s with it making an appearance at Carols from Kings College Cambridge, and both Westminster Abbey and Cathedral.

Laurisden was the composer in residence during the tenure of Paul Salumanovic at the Los Angeles Master Chorale. It’s worth noting that some of who I consider the best amongst contemporary American Composers, Leo Nestor, Laurisden, and Julian Wachner, all have had an association with Mr Salumanovic somewhere down the line, and all have developed in their style this ethereal resonance in their writing that builds and resolves tensions with subtly, and dissonant clashes that one could imagine the likes of Bruckner (himself a master at evoking a certain liturgical mood using similar devices) being quite taken aback with.

I can only leave it for more accomplished musicologists than myself to consider this piece in detail, suffice to say if I had to imagine the choirs of angels above the manger I could do worse than let myself become lost in Laurisden’s work of awe and wonder. I leave you with the choir of Westminster Cathedral singing it as the offertory motet at Midnight Mass last year and in doing so, I wish you all a joyful, peaceful, and blessing filled Christmas and new year.

13 Replies to “O Magnum Mysterium”

  2. Perhaps the more commonly known settings are those of Byrd and Palestrina
    Don't forget the version from Tomas Luis de Victoria!

    Thanks so much for this from Morten Laurisden, unknown to me until now. Ethereal! And the comparison with Bruckner is well made.

    The world is divided into two kinds of people:
    Bruckner fans, and Mahler fans.

  3. Lauridsen's work has a Chant-esque sound. One wonders if the association with Paul Salamunovich might have had something to do with that, as Paul's chant-work is really VERY good.

  4. Stunningly Beautiful!! Here is the richness of the the English Choral tradition within the Roman Rite with Westminster Cathedral Choir singing this beautiful work by a twentieth century American composer in the dignified and reverent context of superb Catholic liturgy. Hopefully, many Catholic musicians and liturgists will be able to watch this on Youtube and realize with what Grace and Diginity coupled with reverence the Mass can be celebrated.

    Merry Christmas to all.

  5. O great mystery,
    sacrament strange, contrary —
    for the animals can see
    the Lord born, his bed to be
    in a manger, in a byre.
    Blessed is the Virgin Mary,
    whose womb was fit to carry
    the Lord, the Messiah.

  6. It just occurred to me that "virgo" can be the vocative case as well as the nominative, which would mean that it's really "O great mystery/(O) Blessed Virgin", so that you're addressing both in parallel.

    Am I right that this is what's going on?

  8. I remember that opening low D singing second Bass for Lauridsen's arrangement for male choir, specifically for Toronto's Victoria Scholars with whom I first sang this. A truly beautiful composition that deserves to be sung and heard over and over.

  9. AndyMo, thou speak Heresy amongst the believers! Now go and wash your keyboard out with soap and have a quiet word with yourself!

    The second bass at "The Drome" is Graham Titus, and he wouldn't have needed any help from the Gern-Willis.

  10. I was just asking. I don't hear them enunciating with the rest of the choir. It's a drone in my ear.

    I actually didn't mean it to be critical. My thought was: hey, if they can get away with it, so can I! It's about the only thing preventing me from attempting this piece with my choir.

  13. I loved this. So I went looking for it in my trusty Volume I of the Liturgy of the Hours — in the Office of Readings for Christmas and in the Appendix for Vigils of Christmas. I couldn't find it. Did this Responsory not make it into the revised Liturgy? If so, a sad omission like Dies Irae.

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