Pieter Aertsen, Adoration of the Magi, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, c.1560Christ Church Cathedral Choir Notes
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1) The Music Programme Homepage
2) The Music Calendar for Choral Eucharist and Evensong
3) The Concert Calendar.
Following Christmas, the emphasis in Christian worship shifts to Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ to the world. In the West, Epiphany is associated principally with the coming of Magi; in the East, it is the baptism of the Lord.
Tribus miraculis ornatum,
diem sanctum colimus:
Hodie stella magos duxit ad praesepium:
Hodie vinum ex aqua factum est adnuptias:
Hodie a Joanne Christus baptizari voluit,
ut salvaret nos,
Alleluia.
We solemnly observe this day ornamented with three miracles:
today the star led the magi to the manger;
today wine was changed to water at the wedding;
today Christ desired to be baptized by John in the river Jordan so that He might save us, alleluia.
Last Sunday, January 4, at Christ Church Cathedral, Tribus miraculis, by Claudio Merulo, was included in the afternoon Festival of Lessons and Carols for Epiphany. This coming Sunday, January 11, Tribus miraculis of Luca Marenzio will be sung at Choral Eucharist and that of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina at evensong.
The tradition triple manifestation of Epiphany has been somewhat dimished by the gospel of the wedding feast at Cana being now read only every third year (Cycle C, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany).
Click to read about all three manifestations in Father Paul Hinnebusch, O.P., The Epiphany at Cana.
Those with access to the Naxos Music Library online may listen to Tribus miraculis in Gregorian chant by the Schola Hungarica directed by Laszlo Dobszay and Janka Szendrei. [NML] (info)
As well as an anonymous version sung by Montreal's Viva Voce, directed by Peter Schubert. [NML] (info)
Celebrate Epiphany by listening to three cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach:
Christmas Oratorio: Canata 6 (The coming of the Magi);
Cantata 7 (The Baptism of the Lord);
Cantata 3 (The Beginning of the public ministry at Cana).
Kent Nagano will conduct Johann Sebastian Bach, Mass in B Minor, on Friday, January 16, at 8:00 pm, and Sunday, January 18, at 2:30 pm: Sibylla Rubens, soprano; Renata Pokupic, mezzo-soprano; Christoph Genz, tenor; Detlef Roth, bass; and the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir with musicians from the OSM.