Ave verum (2009) 2' 20" SATB a cappella (2 pages) £2.45

To purchase this complete score in high resolution pdf format, please click on the 'Buy now' disc below.

Payment can be made by credit/debit card or Paypal. You do not need to have a Paypal account.

Download will be activated automatically upon confirmation of payment.

Once the pdf is in your computer, you can view the whole file and print it out.

Programme Notes

Ave verum is a short Eucharistic hymn dating from the fourteenth century and believed to be of papal provenance. Many composers over the years have set the text to music, most famously Mozart, but also Josquin, Lassus, Byrd, Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Fauré, Elgar and Poulenc, to name but a few. This is the second version by Ronald Corp and dates from 2009.

The complete hymn is as follows:

  Hail, true Body, born
  of the Virgin Mary,
  who having truly suffered, was sacrificed
  on the cross for mankind,
  whose pierced side
  flowed with water and blood:
  May it be for us a foretaste [of the Heavenly banquet]
  in the trial of death.
  [Oh dear Jesus, Oh merciful Jesus, Oh Jesus, son of Mary,
  have mercy on me. Amen.]

Composers often omit the final two lines or simply round off with the 'Amen'. The second setting by Ronald Corp (the first is from 2001) does the former. It is in two sections each of which is repeated. A lament-like descending triadic motif infuses the soprano part of the first half; in the second half the sopranos sing it in inversion, then the lower voices deploy the motif in staggered entries. Within the context of an F minor key signature, the actual sound is Lydian modal (C minor with a D flat), fluid as this is to draw the first proper cadence onto the remote chord of G minor. Along with the canonic entries and suspensions at cadences, this modality gives the piece a quasi-archaic feel, placing the work in the tradition of Vaughan Williams' Tudor-inspired pieces. The first half closes in C minor, the second in the 'home' key of F minor; yet the second-time repeat of the second half allows for a simple modulation into the 'happier' relative major key of A flat, bringing an understated sense of resolution through transformation.

© David M. Hoyle, 2011

(You are welcome to copy and paste the programme notes – please credit the author.)