Trinity Booklet - Buywell

techniques of imitation and inversion in clever word painting of the rising of the morning hymns and
the lowering of heads at evening prayer, before a final joining of both choirs at the words ‘eternal
praise’. The hymn was most likely written by St Ambrose (340-397), and is set for First Vespers on
Sundays throughout the year, but especially Trinity Sunday.
O lux beata Trinitas,
Et principalis Unitas,
Iam sol recedit igneus,
Infunde lumen cordibus.
Te mane laudum carmine,
Te deprecamur vespere:
Te nostra supplex gloria
Per cuncta laudet saecula.
O blessed light of Trinity,
and fundamental Unity,
as now the fiery sun departs,
instil your light within our hearts.
To you our morning song of praise,
to you our evening prayer we raise;
to you, through supplication low
eternal praise and glory go.
0 Te Deum (from the Great Service)
William Byrd
Due to his long life and remarkable gifts, Byrd is regarded as the finest English composer of his age.
Probably a chorister at the Chapel Royal and a pupil of Thomas Tallis, Byrd took the post of Organist
and Master of the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral in 1563. Almost all Byrd’s church music in English,
except for the Great Service, was written for Lincoln, but some of his Latin motets were also written
during this time. He returned to the Chapel Royal in 1572. After the death of Tallis in 1585, Byrd held
the sole patent for printing music, and over the next ten years, composed and produced many
volumes of songs, anthems and madrigals. The Great Service dates from this time. Written for five
parts on each side (SAATB on both decani and cantoris), it is likely that parts of the service were
written for an as-yet-unidentified but grand state event; the other parts were probably added later so
that the full service in English would be complete. Byrd’s ‘Te Deum’ is an extended work featuring
elaborate polyphonic treatment of important phrases and sections of massive semi-homophonic
chording, often alternating between the two sides of the choir, and between verse (solo voices) and
full choir. The style is a world away from the simple and flowing Latin works of his later years,
exemplified by the three famous mass settings for three, four and five voices.
We praise thee, O God,
We ’knowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud: the Heaven and all the powers therein.
To thee Cherubin, and Seraphin continually do cry,
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth.
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee.
The Holy Church throughout all the world doth ’knowledge thee,
The Father of an infinite Majesty.
Thine honourable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou took’st upon thee to deliver man,
Thou didst not abhor the Virgin’s womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the Glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants,
Whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted:
Let me never be confounded.
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