Adoro Te

By Mark Emerson Donnelly
Composer-in-Residence

Adoro Te Devote
by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74)

Organum Novi Mundi  (of the 13th century Benedictine plainsong)
by Mark Emerson Donnelly (1989)

(Links to both the PDF and practice video below)

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This week concludes the annual liturgical cycle, which begins with the eager anticipation of the Messiah’s birth at Christmas and ends with the descent of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church at Pentecost. But right off the bat, in this Time after Pentecost, we have two great devotional feasts: the Solemnities of the Blessed Trinity and of the Blessed Sacrament (Corpus Christi: Body of Christ).

These two feast days have a special connection for my family. The main chapel at Thomas Aquinas College (TAC), alma mater for seven of us(!), is dedicated to Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. And it was Saint Thomas who was commissioned by Pope Urban IV to write the hymns for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

Of the many sublime masterpieces he created for this feast, which include the Lauda Sion, Pange Lingua/Tantum Ergo, and O Salutaris, perhaps the most beloved is the Adoro Te Devote (I adore Thee devoutly).

Although we do not know the melody used for this hymn when the feast was first celebrated in 1264, we do know that, at least sometime in that century, Adoro Te Devote was sung to the same Benedictine plainsong with which we associate it today.

I first encountered this tune, in my late teens, as the hymn “Humbly We Adore Thee.” Though Gregorian melodies are often haunting, I found this one rather gentle, while at the same time soaring. It became for me, as for others, a favourite.

The Birth of Organum Novi Mundi

Having already completed my music degree at the University of British Columbia (UBC), it seemed natural that my work-scholarship at TAC would be that of student choir director. My fellow UBC music grad, Michael Perry, had the position before me.

The greater part of my duties was to prepare the music for the sung Latin Mass on Sundays and other major feast days. In my sophomore year, when looking for Lenten music, I happened upon the 1661 Mainz Hymnal harmonization of the simple strophic chant Stabat Mater. The notation seemed to suggest that it was to be sung as a regular hymn, i.e., slower and more rhythmically inflexible than Gregorian Chant. We tried singing it as a hymn. In that manner, it seemed like it would take FOREVER to get through the 20 verses!

As an experiment, I suggested to the choir, “Let’s sing it quicker and lighter, like the chant, BUT WITH THE HARMONY.” Voilà! Musically, it came to life, but in a very fresh and unique way! At the faster tempo, the rapidly changing simple harmonies added a sparkle we had not heard before.

Fast forward two years. Freshly graduated from TAC and newlywed to Catherine, I was, once again, conducting the choir at the Latin Mass back in Vancouver. That lovely melody I sang as a teenager, but now with its traditional Latin text, was part of the choir’s repertoire. How exactly it came to me, I don’t recall, but in the fall of 1989, I wrote my own Mainz-style Adoro Te Devote.

In my mind, I wanted to push it beyond the Mainz Stabat Mater; I wanted to synthesize the sober delight of Medieval organum (without the bass drone) with traditional diatonic harmonies (no accidental sharps or flats), while at the same time making it seem to the choir that they were singing four simultaneous melodies!

Well, I completed it that fall, and we’ve been singing it now for over 30 years. My kids have performed it when they’ve directed their own choirs. My daughter Colleen specifically requested this setting for her nuptial mass two years ago, and it continues to be one of her devotional favourites.

I remember meeting someone several years ago at a TAC graduation. Upon introducing myself, she said, “Oh, you’re Mark Donnelly! We sing your Adoro Te at my parish!” I guess people like it.

Sometime in that fall of 1989, one of the singers in our choir came up to me and said, “You know, Mark, this is really great! You have to do this for all the Gregorian hymns!” Well, I haven’t managed that, but I have written over forty ONM. There’s more to come. Stay tuned!

Why Novi Mundi?

Two reasons:

1. I wanted to distinguish what I write from European (Old World) Medieval organum, which died out in the 14th and 15th centuries as more complex harmony and counterpoint developed.
2. I live in the New World, that is, the Americas. To be honest, I’ve never been outside of North America. One of our rather ambitious projects involves Europe, but that’s all I can say for now. In the meantime, you can keep it in your prayers. God willing, we’ll have an announcement about it soon!

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Score: Adoro Te Devote (ONM-MED)
For this edition, I have added the equally sublime English rendering by the great 19th century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Seldom do we find practical translations which are not only beautiful but also faithful to the original’s spirit and meaning.

Formatting Note: The score is margin-optimized for reading on a tablet or phone. It can still be printed in Adobe Reader, using the “Actual size” setting.

YouTube: Adoro Te Devote (OFFERTORIUM, May 14, 2020)

As with the previous scores, the accompanying YouTube video is for practice use, but feel free to enjoy listening to it.

Performance notes

As with all my ONM, the movement and expression is according to the “Old Solesmes Method.” However, this setting assumes the following liberties common to the singing of this tune:

1.  The timings at the half bars are treated like full bars.
2.  The direction to sing the second syllable of “veritátis” (verse 2) and the word “ab” (verse 6) as single beats is ignored; i.e., they are sung as a dotted punctum (mora vocis), as in the other verses.
3. For this recording, we chose to sing a semi-tone lower than is indicated in the score (D-flat instead of D). FYI: We sing at A = 432 Hz. Try it, you’ll like it!

God bless and happy singing!

Mark
markemersondonnelly.com
VocalArt.ca (YouTube)

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