Untitled - Naxos Music Library

Opening invocations with Psalm 3.
Invitatory (an antiphon “inviting” the community to the celebration) with Psalm 94.
Hymn Christe redemptor omnium, by an anonymous sixth-century poet. A hymn is a song of
praise either in several strophes of identical structure or in free rhythm (Te Deum, Te decet laus).
Three Nocturns
1st Nocturn: Six psalms with antiphons, versicle (a short psalm verse), and an absolution (plea to
God) by the officiant. The lectors receive the blessing before beginning to read the lesson. There
follow four lessons from the Book of Isaiah. At Christmas time, solemn, even polyphonic psalm
tone patterns are used for these lessons. Each lesson is followed by a responsory consisting of a
section sung by the choir and another – the verse – sung by a soloist. The choir responds (hence
the term) with the second part of the choral section, the repetenda. The first responsory of Matins
and the last in each nocturn have a second verse, the Doxology (Gloria patri). Though not written
out, these sections may be easily added.
2nd Nocturn: Six psalms with antiphons, versicle, and absolution, four lessons from the Christmas
Sermon of Pope Leo the Great (d. 461 CE) with four responsories.
3rd Nocturn: Three canticles (songs of praise) from the Book of Isaiah, versicle, absolution, and
four lessons with four responsories.
Each of the lessons for the 3rd Nocturn begins with the opening of the four gospels read in the
Christmas liturgy (for Matins, Midnight Mass, Dawn Mass, and Christmas Day Mass), ending
with Et reliqua (“and so forth”). The four church fathers Jerome (d. 420), Gregory the Great
(d. 604), Ambrose (d. 397), and Augustine (d. 430) interpreted these texts in homilies (sermons
and written exegeses).
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Hymn “Te Deum”
Gospel “Liber generationis”
One peculiarity of the Christmas Feast is the solemn reading of Christ’s genealogy, the liber
generationis, from the opening of the Gospel of Matthew.