Description
The earliest known settings of the ancient Compline hymn Te lucis ante terminum appear as plainsong versions in Catholic liturgical books from the mid-sixteenth century. In these intimate settings by Thomas Tallis, included in the 1575 Cantiones quad ab argumento sacrae vocantur, two verses of the chant frame a simple five-voiced middle section in which the highest voice sings the melody. Tallis’s craft is reserved for the lower parts which subtly bring out the nuances of the text, a prime example of this being the wide-eyed chord that heralds the night’s ghostly company (‘fantasmata’) in the 1st setting.
© Owain Park 2020
Te lucis ante terminum,
Rerum creator, poscimus,
Ut solita clementia
Sis praesul ad custodiam.
Procul recedant somnia
Et noctium fantasmata,
Hostemque nostrum comprime,
Ne polluantur corpora.
Praesta, Pater omnipotens,
Per Jesum Christum Dominum,
Qui tecum in perpetuum,
Regnat cum Sancto Spiritu. Amen.
To thee before the close of day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That with thy wonted favour thou
Wouldst be our guard and keeper now.
From all ill dreams defend our eyes,
From nightly fears and fantasies;
Tread under foot our ghostly foe,
That no pollution we may know.
O Father, that we ask be done,
Through Jesus Christ thine only Son,
Who, with the Holy Ghost and thee,
Doth live and reign eternally. Amen.
English by John Mason Neale (1818 – 1866)
