The Twelve Days (Before!) Christmas

 It has been quite a while since I've posted something here - the turn for the worse of the pandemic took the wind out of my sails, so to speak. With the approach of the Christmas holidays, I've been inspired - as I always have been in the past preparing for our PCO Holiday concert - to dig through my files and present some music you may not normally hear in the tidal wave of holiday tunes coming your way these days. I hope some of the pieces I'll be sharing will find a place in your heart. Even though the Twelve Days of Christmas officially come AFTER Christmas day, I thought it would be nice to enjoy some beautiful and unique music of the season during the Twelve Days Before Christmas!

For Day 12 I've chosen a piece we performed on the 2017 PCO Holiday concert, with tenor Thew Elliott - Angelus Ad Virginem. A popular medieval carol, whose English title is Gabriel, From Heven King Was To The Maide Sende, it is a poetic version of the Hail Mary and the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary. The earliest version of the piece found dates from 1361, and is said to have originally consisted of 27 stanzas, with each following stanza beginning with the consecutive letter of the alphabet. Angelus Ad Virginem is also mentioned in Chaucer's The Miller's Tale.

I've found three outstanding versions . . . by The Sixteen, Voces8, and Ian Pittaway (medieval harp). Enjoy!

Angelus Ad Virginem

The angel came to the Virgin,
entering secretly into her room;
calming the Virgin's fear, he said, "Hail!
Hail, queen of virgins:
you will conceive the Lord of heaven and earth
and bear him, still a virgin,
to be the salvation of mankind;
you will be made the gate of heaven,
the cure of sins."

"How can I conceive,
When I have never known a man?
How can I transgress
resolutions that I have vowed with a firm mind?"
"The grace of the Holy Spirit
shall do all this.
Do not be afraid, but rejoice
without a care, since your chastity
will remain in you unspoilt
through the power of God."

To this, the noble Virgin,
replying, said to him,
"I am the humble maidservant
of almighty God.
To you, heavenly messenger,
and bearer of such a great secret,
I give my consent, and wishing to see
done what I hear,
I am ready to obey
the will of God."

The angel vanished,
and at once the girl's
womb swelled
with the force of the pregnancy of salvation.
He, protected by the womb
for nine months in number,
left it and began the struggle,
fixing to his shoulder
a cross, with which he dealt the blow
to the deadly Enemy.

Angelus Ad Virginem - The Sixteen

Angelus ad virginem / Gabriel fram evene king - Ian Pittaway

Angelus Ad Virginem - Voces8