Veni Emmanuel: Chant and Polyphony for Advent and Christmas

The seven “O” Antiphons for the Magnificat at Vespers on the days leading up to Christmas—familiar as the verses of the hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”—are heard here in their original Gregorian melody, in organum (medieval improvised polyphony), and as woven into a five-part setting by Lionheart member Richard Porterfield, who cites as influences the French composer Maurice Duruflé and the Estonian Arvo Pärt, two of whose settings are also included.

These mystical verses are presented with the Magnificat, or Canticle of Mary, in an anonymous fifteenth-century setting for three voices, and in a four-voice setting by the Spanish Renaissance master Cristóbal de Morales (c.1500–1553). Motets by Morales and his countrymen Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599) and Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548–1611) lead the listener from the penitent expectation of Advent to the joyful fulfillment of Christmas.

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