4th Sunday of Lent (Lætare)
Processional hymn: O Kind Creator, Bow Thine Ear, 832
Recessional hymn: Lift High the Cross, 835
Kyriale: Mass XVII, 762; Credo VI, 788
Offertory Antiphon: Ave Regina Coelorum, Antonio Lotti (1667–1740)
Communion Hymn: Audi Benigne Conditor, Orlandus Lassus
This Sunday’s processional is an English version of the hymn Audi Benigne Conditor. It is the Vespers Hymn during Lent and its Latin text is attributed to Pope St. Gregory the Great (540-604).
Orlandus Lassus set the same text for five voices and divided the motet into two parts. Both parts have two verses from the hymn while omitting the fifth verse. One notable moment in his motet occurs in the second part when the text says, “grant a remedy to the weak” and shifts the harmony on “weak” in a way that draws the ear as it moves a tone down from the key center.
Orlandus Lassus (c.1532–1594) is known for the mature polyphonic style in the Franco-Flemish school. He wrote over 2,000 works in Latin, French, Italian, and German both sacred and secular. Lassus along with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria are the most influential composers of the late Renaissance.