Crucifixum in carne laudate
The Ambrosian Singers
Programme introduced by Dom Anselm Hughes , O.S.B.
Third of a series of four programmes
This programme traces the way in which one particular plainsong melody served over a period of four centuries as a basis for harmonised music. The melody chosen is Crucifixum in carne laudate, an antiphonal verse sung at Mass on Easter Sunday. The first setting comes from Chartres, where some of the earliest two-part organa are preserved; the second, from a manuscript in Karlsruhe, where florid descants seem to have been much in favour. The Parisian school provides a three-part version for voices and instruments, and this is followed by a motet setting of English provenance (only treble and bass survive, the middle part having been devoured by rats). The last setting is a three-part one taken from a recently discovered MS of the Chapel Royal. D. S.