4th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Processional hymn: All Ye Who Seek A Comfort Sure, 862
Recessional hymn: Faith of Our Fathers, 928
Credo IV, 780
Kyriale: Missa O quam gloriosum est regnum, Tomás Luis de Victoria (c.1548–1611)
Offertory Antiphon: Illumina oculos meos, Orlandus Lassus (c.1532–1594)
Motet at Communion: Factus est Dominus, Orlandus Lassus
The communion is taken from Psalm 17:3 which proclaims, “O Lord, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer: my God, my rock of refuge!” Orlandus Lassus sets this same verse in the motet Factus est Dominus. This work, as Discite a Me sung last week, is structured in three distinct sections. The A section has all voices singing simultaneously with varied rhythms to the text, “The Lord is become my rock.” For the words, “my refuge and deliverer,” the top voices sing as a duet and is followed by the lower voices also in a duet. The voices meet together in groups of three and sing together rhythmically for the words, “I will trust in Him,” followed by overlapping duets. In the final three measures, the addition of an altered tone—specifically the flattened 7th scale degree—creates a somewhat surprising tonality just before the voices reach their final cadence. This altered 7th scale degree is not only common among the renaissance composers, but is also a character of some Gregorian melodies to indicate approaching the end of the chant.
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.