Psallite superi. Dialogo (unreleased)

track name: Psallite superi. Dialogo (unreleased)
album and band name: from Volume II: Concerti Sacri (1642) by Magnificat/Musica Omnia - The Cozzolani Project

about: Cozzolani's dialogue motet "Psallite superi" has not yet been released. Pre-order CDs from The Cozzolani Project's recordings of Cozzolani's complete works at cozzolani.com/subscribe and receive free digital downloads of all tracks as they become available. Please visit cozzolani.com for more information about Cozzolani and these recordings.

Psallite, superi, is a text for the Assumption (August 15); its refrain frames a series of questions whose answers are taken from a standard Song of Songs verse used on the liturgy of that day in Cozzolani's Benedictine breviary. The form of this dialogue also derives from the cantilena motets pioneered in Alessandro Grandi's book of 1619. The scoring (two sopranos, two altos) points directly to the all-women choir of S. Radegonda's nuns, the ensemble which presumably premiered most of Cozzolani's music.

Magnificat
Warren Stewart, artistic director

Catherine Webster & Jennifer Ellis Kampani, soprano
Meg Bragle & Deborah Rentz-Moore, alto
David Tayler, theorbo
Hanneke van Proosdij, organ

Peter Watchorn, producer
Joel Gordon, engineer
lyrics: Test & English Translation

Psallite, superi; plaudite, cœlites; canite, angeli; iubilate.

Quæ est ista, quæ ascendit quasi aurora consurgens?

Maria est, q1uæ noctem peccati depulit, gratiæ diem protulit, iustitiæ solem peperit.

Psallite, superi; plaudite, cœlites; canite, angeli; iubilate.

Quæ est ista, quæ ascendit pulchra ut luna?

Maria est, humore fecunda cœlitium gratiarum, ut soli Deo placeat; Spiritu Sancto superimpleta, ut terra gratias influat, ut miseris mortalibus depluat.

Psallite, superi; plaudite, cœlites; canite, angeli; iubilate.

Quæ est ista, electa ut sol?

Maria est, sola peccati nescia, ignara noctis tartari, virtutem luce fulgida, vitæ cœlestis radiis coronata.

Psallite, superi; plaudite, cœlites; canite, angeli; iubilate.

Quæ est ista, terribilis ut castrorum acies ordinata?

Maria est, singularis inimica diaboli; Maria virguncula, tenellula, placidula, metuenda; diabolo invisa, terribilis, formidabilis; expugnatrix, triumphatrix Maria diaboli.

Quæ est ista?

Maria est.

Psallite, superi; plaudite, cœlites; canite, angeli; iubilate.

Sing, you above; rejoice, you heavenly ones; sing you angels, rejoice.

Who is this woman, who ascends like the rising dawn?

It is Mary, who took away the night of sin and gave the day of grace; she has given birth to the sun of justice.

Sing, you above; rejoice, you heavenly ones; sing you angels, rejoice.

Who is this woman who ascends, fair like the moon?

It is Mary, filled with the dew of heavenly grace, that she alone might please God; brimming over with the Holy Spirit, that she might bring grace to the earth, that she might succour miserable mortals.

Sing, you above; rejoice, you heavenly ones; sing you angels, rejoice.

Who is this woman, chosen like the sun?

It is Mary, alone free from sin, ignorant of Hell’s night, full of the light of virtue, crowned with the rays of heavenly life.

Sing, you above; rejoice, you heavenly ones; sing you angels, rejoice.

Who is this woman, frightful like a deployed battle-line of military encampments?

It is Mary, the matchless enemy of the devil, Mary the young girl, the tender and pleasing one, the venerable one; hated by the devil, frightful, imposing; the expiator, the conqueror, Mary, the one who triumphed over the devil.

Who is this woman?

It is Mary.

Sing, you above; rejoice, you heavenly ones; sing you angels, rejoice.
credits: from Volume II: Concerti Sacri (1642), released 27 November 2009
license: All rights reserved
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