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cantos sagrados | James MacMillan, 1989
From the composer:
In writing this work I wanted to compose something which was both timeless and contemporary, both sacred and secular. The title (Sacred Songs) is therefore slightly misleading as the three poems are concerned with political repression in Latin America and are deliberately coupled with traditional religious texts to emphasise a deeper solidarity with the poor of that sub-continent.
It was my interest in Liberation Theology which made me combine the poems of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in Argentina with the texts of the Latin mass in Búsqueda (an earlier music-theatre work) and has now led me to attempt a similar synthesis of ideas in Cantos Sagrados.
The voices in Ariel Dorfman’s poems belong to those who suffer a particular type of political repression: the ‘disappearance’ of political prisoners. Ana Maria Mendoza’s poem about the Virgin of Guadalupe tackles the same problem by asking a more fundamental cultural and historical question.
I. IDentity | Text by Ariel Dorfman
What did you say – they found another one?
– I can’t hear you – this morning
another one floating
in the river?
talk louder –
so you didn’t even dare
no one can identify him?
the police said not even his mother
not even the mother who bore him
not even she could
they said that?
the other women already tried
– I can’t understand what you’re saying,
they turned him over and looked at his face,
his hands they looked at,
right,
they’re all waiting together,
silent, in mourning,
on the riverbank,
they took him out of the water
he’s naked as the day he was born,
there’s a police captain
and they won’t leave until I get there?
He doesn’t belong to anybody,
you say he doesn’t belong to anybody?
tell them I’m getting dressed, I’m leaving now
if the captain’s the same one as last time
he knows what will happen
that body will have my name -
my son’s my husband’s
my father’s name
I’ll sign the papers tell them
tell them I’m on my way,
wait for me
and don’t let that captain touch him
don’t let that captain take one step closer to him.
Tell them not to worry:
I can bury my own dead.
Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni, et de profundo lacu:
Libera eas de ore leonis ne absorbeat eas tartarus, ne cadant in obscuram.
Deliver the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the depths of the pit:
deliver them from the lion’s mouth, that hell devour them not, that they fall not into darkness.
II. Virgin of Guadalupe | Text by Ana Maria Mendoza
Sweet Virgin of Guadalupe,
oh virgin of the gentle eyes,
dark-eyed virgin, good Lady, my love,
painted by God’s own hand
on the cloak of the Indian Juan Diego,
Sweet virgin, my love,
who commanded the bishop to build you a shrine,
where my brothers the Indians lived in Tapeyepac
in Mexico, outside the city.
Flogged and burned were these poor little ones,
despised, deceived and mocked,
my brothers the Indians.
A thousand times mistreated,
a thousand thousand killed.
What did you say to the bishop?
“You will build me a house outside the city,
where I will wait, where I can hear the cries,
the pleas of my Indian children.”
Sweet Virgin of Guadalupe, oh virgin of the gentle eyes,
dark-eyed virgin, my girl, my love,
I want to ask you this question, dear mother:
Why is it that in Spain,
on the far side of our hills and valleys, across the sea,
why is there another Virgin of Guadalupe,
Patron Saint of the Conquerors?
men with great beards,
men on horses,
men with swords and fire,
who crush and burn our homes,
and the Indians, your children, still inside?
Why is it, Sweet Virgin, sweet mother,
why is there another Virgin of Guadalupe,
“Patroness of the Conquerors”?
Salve Mater coeli porta Virga florens et exorta David ex prosapia.
Hail Mother, portal of heaven Flowering Virgin, sprung from the line of David.
III. SUN STONE | Text by Ariel Dorfman
They put the prisoner against the wall.
A soldier ties his hands.
His fingers touch him – strong, gentle, saying goodbye.
– Forgive me, compañero – says the voice in a whisper.
The echo of his voice and of those fingers on his arm
fills his body with light
I tell you his body fills with light
and he almost does not hear
the sound of the shots.
Et incarnatus est de spiritu sancto Ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est. Crucifixus etiam pro nobis.
He became incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified.
REQUIEM, OP. 9 | MAURICE DURUFLé (1947)
From the composer:
“This Requiem is not an ethereal work which sings of detachment from earthly worries. It reflects, in the immutable form of the Christian prayer, the agony of man faced with the mystery of his ultimate end. It is often dramatic, or filled with resignation, or hope or terror, just as the words of the Scripture themselves, which are used in the liturgy. It tends to translate human feelings before their terrifying, unexplainable of consoling destiny. The final movement, In Paradisum, marks the ultimate answer of faith to all the questions by the flight of the soul to Paradise.”
I. Introit
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine: et lux perpetua luceat eis. Te decet hymnus, Deus, in Sion, et tibi reddetur votum in Jerusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam: ad te omnis caro veniet.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord: and let perpetual light shine upon them. A hymn befits you, O God in Zion, and to thee a vow will be fulfilled in Jerusalem: Hear my prayer: for unto you all flesh shall come.
II. Kyrie
Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
III. Domine Jesu Christe
Michael Dauterman, baritone
Domine Jesu Christe, rex gloriae, libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum de poenis inferni et de profundo lacu. Libera eas de ore leonis, ne absorbeat eas Tartarus, ne cadant in obscurum: sed signifer Sanctus Michael repraesentet eas in lucem sanctam
quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini eius. Hostias et preces tibi, Domine, laudis offerimus: tu suscipe pro animabus illis,
quarum hodie memoriam facimus; fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam quam olim Abrahae promisisti, et semini eius.
Lord Jesus Christ, king of glory, liberate the souls of all the faithful departed from the pains of hell and from the deep pit. Deliver them from the lion’s mouth, let not hell swallow them up, let them not fall into darkness. Let Michael, the holy standard-bearer, bring them into the holy light, which you once promised to Abraham, and to his posterity. Sacrifices and prayers of praise, O Lord, we offer to thee. Receive them, Lord, on behalf of those souls, we commemorate this day. Grant them, O Lord, to pass from death unto life, which you once promised to Abraham, and to his posterity.
IV. Sanctus
Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth: pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. Hosanna in excelsis.
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of hosts: heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
V. Pie Jesu
Heather Witt, mezzo soprano
Pie Jesu, Domine, dona eis requiem sempiternam.
Dearest Lord Jesus, grant them eternal rest.
VI. Agnus Dei
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem sempiternam.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them eternal rest.
VII. Lux aeterna
Lux aeterna luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in aeternum, quia pius es.
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis, quia pius es.
Let eternal light shine upon them, O Lord, in the company of your saints forever and ever, for you are merciful.
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
VIII. Libera me
Michael Dauterman, baritone
Libera me, Domine, de morte aeterna, in die illa tremenda: quando caeli movendi sunt et terra; dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem. Tremens factus sum ego, et timeo, dum discussio venerit, atque ventura ira, quando caeli movendi sunt et terra;
Dies illa, dies irae, calamitatis et miseriae, dies magna et amara valde, dum veneris iudicare saeculum per ignem. Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Deliver me, O Lord, from eternal death, on that dreadful day, when the heavens and earth will quake, when you will come to judge the world by fire. I am seized by trembling, and I fear until the judgment should come, and I also dread the coming wrath when the heavens and earth will quake. O that day of wrath, day of calamity and misery, momentous day and exceedingly bitter, when you will come to judge the world by fire. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
IX. In paradisum
In paradisum deducant te Angeli, in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres, et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Jerusalem.
Chorus Angelorum te suscipiat, et cum Lazaro quondam paupere, aeternam habeas requiem.
May flights of angels lead you into Paradise; may the Martyrs welcome you when you come and lead you into the holy city Jerusalem.
May a choir of angels welcome you, and, with Lazarus who was once poor, may you have eternal rest.
