Tuesday, December 02, 2003
Music of the Day
Peace, all.
We're gonna drift a bit today. Here's a tune I've always loved but have never taught: GAUDEAMUS PARITER. I sang it at a reading session about twenty years ago. It probably didn't have Christopher Idle's setting of Isaiah 35 (see 90's GIA hymnals), but the funky Renaissance rhythm really struck me.
I once heard a jazz piece called Sackbut City. I thought at first it might have referred to some piece of drug paraphernalia, but the sackbut was a precursor to the trombone. Anyhow, I can imagine this hymn tune being performed on sackbuts and krummhorns and lots of dancing going on. Probably to the horror of curial medievalists.
Anyway, there's something to be said for filling out one's Advent repertoire with a jaunty tune like this. And Isaiah 35 is such a good fit for a rousing melody.
