| O Emmanuel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | 2016 |
| Genre | Sacred jazz |
| Length | 43:45 |
| Language | English |
| Label | Dynamic Catholic |
| Producer | Thomas Moore |
O Emmanuel is a 2016 Adventide album composed by J.J. Wright and performed by the Notre Dame Children's Choir, Fifth House Ensemble, and Wright himself. [1] [2] [3] [4] The album is a mix of various genres of sacred music, including traditional choral music, gregorian chant, gospel, and sacred jazz. [2] [3]
O Emmanuel was composed by J.J. Wright while pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Notre Dame, while he was an intern for the Sistine Chapel Choir in Rome and studying abroad at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. [5] [6] Speaking with Catholic News Agency , Wright described the composition's music as an authentic description of his own Catholic faith, and described the album's composition as an attempted mixture of musical traditions native to the United States with the sacred music traditions of Western Europe. [2] In doing so, his music on the album took inspiration from the spirit of Sacrosanctum Concilium , a document produced during the Second Vatican Council that stated that a suitable place be given to the various musical traditions of the world within the context of religious life. [2] [3] The particular songs Wright chose to compose for the album itself were inspired by O Antiphons, Christian prayers sung by Catholics in the final week of Advent during vespers. [3] [7]
The album was recorded at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center in Notre Dame, Indiana. [3] The album, produced by Thomas Moore with sound engineer Robert Friedrich, was performed by the Notre Dame Children's Choir and four adult vocalists, alongside the Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble and Wright, who performs as part of his jazz trio. [3] [7]
All tracks are written by J.J. Wright.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Gabriel's Message" | 3:08 |
| 2. | "I. Sapientia" | 1:46 |
| 3. | "II. Adonai" | 4:52 |
| 4. | "III. Radix" | 4:05 |
| 5. | "IV. Clavis" | 4:51 |
| 6. | "V. Oriens" | 3:57 |
| 7. | "VI. Rex" | 5:05 |
| 8. | "VII. Emmanuel" | 4:33 |
| 9. | "VIII. When the Sun Rises in the Morning Sky" | 6:19 |
| 10. | "IX. Christ the Lord is Born Today" | 5:09 |
| Total length: | 43:45 | |
Upon its release, O Emmanuel shot to the top of the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart, a place where it would spend the next eight weeks. Reviews of the album were generally positive. [8] Mary Kunz Goldman, writing in The Buffalo News , described the song's charting as "impressive" in light of the album's fusion of jazz with gregorian chant. [6]
Plainsong or plainchant is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive form of Christian church music until the ninth century, and the introduction of polyphony.
An antiphon is a short chant in Christian ritual, sung as a refrain. The texts of antiphons are the Psalms. Their form was favored by St Ambrose and they feature prominently in Ambrosian chant, but they are used widely in Gregorian chant as well. They may be used during Mass, for the Introit, the Offertory or the Communion. They may also be used in the Liturgy of the Hours, typically for Lauds or Vespers.
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campus covers 1,261 acres in a suburban setting and contains landmarks such as the Golden Dome, the Word of Life mural, Notre Dame Stadium, and the Basilica. Originally for men, the university did not formally accept undergraduate female students until 1972.
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of the Old Roman chant and Gallican chant.
Vespro della Beata Vergine, SV 206, is a musical setting by Claudio Monteverdi of the evening vespers on Marian feasts, scored for soloists, choirs, and orchestra. It is an ambitious work in scope and in its variety of style and scoring, and has a duration of around 90 minutes. Published in Venice as Sanctissimae Virgini Missa senis vocibus ac Vesperae pluribus decantandae, cum nonnullis sacris concentibus, ad Sacella sive Principum Cubicula accommodata, it is sometimes called Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610.
Saint Mary's College is a private Catholic women's liberal arts college in Notre Dame, Indiana. Founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the name of the school refers to the Virgin Mary.
The O Antiphons are Magnificat antiphons used at Vespers on the last seven days of Advent in Western Christian traditions. They likely date to sixth-century Italy, when Boethius refers to the text in The Consolation of Philosophy. They subsequently became one of the key musical features of the days leading up to Christmas.
Marian hymns are Christian songs focused on Mary, mother of Jesus. They are used in both devotional and liturgical services, particularly by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran churches. They are often used in the month of May devotions. Some have also been adopted as Christmas hymns. Marian hymns are not popular among some Protestants, as they see Marian veneration as idolatry. However, the practice is very common among Christians of Catholic traditions, and a key component of the Eastern Orthodox liturgy. There are many more hymns to Mary within the Eastern Orthodox yearly cycle of liturgy than in Roman Catholic liturgy.
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) in the United States. The neo-gothic church has 44 large stained glass windows and murals completed over a 17-year period by the Vatican painter Luigi Gregori. The basilica bell tower is 230 feet (70 m) high, making it the tallest university chapel in America. It is a contributing building in Notre Dame's historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The basilica is a major tourist attraction in Northern Indiana, and is visited annually by more than 100,000 tourists.
St Mary's Cathedral Choir in Sydney is the oldest musical institution in Australia. In 1818 a group of choristers was formed to sing Vespers before the Blessed Sacrament in the Dempsey Household, the centre of Roman Catholic worship in Sydney as a penal colony. When St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, was constructed, the successors of these choristers formed the Permanent Cathedral Choir under the guidance of Catherine Fitzpatrick.
Ambrosian chant is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Ambrosian rite of the Roman Catholic Church, related to but distinct from Gregorian chant. It is primarily associated with the Archdiocese of Milan, and named after St. Ambrose much as Gregorian chant is named after Gregory the Great. It is the only surviving plainchant tradition besides the Gregorian to maintain the official sanction of the Roman Catholic Church.
Thomas George Doran was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Rockford in Illinois from 1994 to 2012.
"O come, O come, Emmanuel" is a Christian hymn for Advent, which is also often published in books of Christmas carols. The text was originally written in Latin. It is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas. The hymn has its origins over 1,200 years ago in monastic life in the 8th or 9th century. Seven days before Christmas Eve monasteries would sing the “O antiphons” in anticipation of Christmas Eve when the eighth antiphon, “O Virgo virginum” would be sung before and after Mary’s canticle, the Magnificat. The Latin metrical form of the hymn was composed as early as the 12th century.
Notre Dame Regional Secondary is a co-ed Catholic Secondary school, under the administration of Catholic Independent Schools Vancouver Archdiocese (CISVA) school board inn Canada. The school participates in sporting events under the name of the "Jugglers", with the team colours of blue, white and silver.
The Santa Cecilia Choir is a polyphonic male choir composed of seminarians of the Rachol Seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in Goa, India.
Salve Regina is a composition for organ by Olivier Latry, a meditation of the Latin hymn "Salve Regina". Each of the seven movements reflects one line of the hymn which can optionally be sung in chant before the related movement. The work was first performed on 9 October 2007 by the composer at Notre Dame in Paris, recorded there and published by Gérard Billaudot.
Chaplain Corby of Gettysburg is an outdoor sculpture by American artist Samuel Murray (1869–1941). It is located on the University of Notre Dame campus, and is owned by the University. The sculpture, made of bronze and limestone, depicts Father William Corby giving absolution to soldiers at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10, are four sacred motets composed by Maurice Duruflé in 1960, based on Gregorian themes. He set Ubi caritas et amor, Tota pulchra es, Tu es Petrus and Tantum ergo.
J.J. Wright is an American composer, conductor, and piano player who currently serves as the director of the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir in South Bend, Indiana. He is the composer of O Emmanuel, a 2016 Adventide album that drew upon jazz and sacred music traditions and peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Albums chart. Wright is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where he earned Master of Sacred Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, and of The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts.