Vox Naturalis

This ae night, this ae night Every night and alle’ Fire and fleet and candle lighte, And Christ receive thy saule If thou from here away dost past To whinny moor thou com'st at last If thou gavest ever hosen and shoon Sit thee doon and put them on. If hosen and shoon thou ne'er gav'st nane The whinnies shall prick thee to thy bare bane. If thou from there away dost past To purgatory fire thou com'st at last. If ever thou gav'st meat or drink The fire shall never make thee shrink. If meat or drink thou ne'er gav'st nane The fire will burn thee to the bare bane. This ae night, this ae nighte Fire and fleet and candle lighte.

dir. Paul Hillier

O what a miracle is this inspiration by which humanity was awakened.

Antioch 277 – Henagar Union Sacred Harp Convention

It has been praised as Rachmaninoff’s finest achievement and “the greatest musical achievement of the Russian Orthodox Church”; the composer requested that one of its movements (the fifth) be sung at his funeral.

No contemporary portrait of Tallis survives: although an engraving by Gerard Vandergucht exists, it dates from 150 years after Tallis died, and there is no reason to suppose that it is a likeness of the composer. In a rare existing copy of his black letter signature, the composer spelled his last name “Tallys”.

Rachmaninov composed the work in July, 1910 at his summer estate Ivanovka, following his American tour of 1909. Writing to his friend Nikita Morozov, Rachmaninov said of the work, “I have been thinking about the Liturgy for a long time and for a long time I strove to write it. I started to work on it somehow by chance and then suddenly became fascinated with it. And then I finished it very quickly. Not for a long time have I written anything with such pleasure.”

Pádraig Ághas - “An Baile atá Láimh Leí Siúd,” sung at a pub in County Kerry in 1967. How they sang ‘em back in the day. Raw and real as shit.

Jacob Regnart ‘Quare tristis es, anima mea?’ motet Cinquecento