O bone Jesu - Carver, Robert

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":<u>'''Notes by Mick Swithinbank'''</u> Carver's ''O bone Jesu'' is scored for 19 voices, most of the parts being suitable only for men, although they also include two high treble lines, which would have been sung by groups of boys. (A curious detail is that one of the men's voices has a range of two octaves, from F to f', suggesting that Carver had a specific singer in mind). Although some excellent professional recordings of the work exist, the scoring presents insuperable problems to most choirs. However, it is only at certain points that Carver uses the full 19 voices, particularly to lend weight to the invocations of the name of Jesus, which he does with massive and awe-inspiring sonorities. Otherwise, much of the work is scored for 3 to 5 voices, which means that in my rescoring for 6, not a note has been lost in these sections, although inevitably the variety of voicing has. A large choir could choose to assign certain sections of the arrangement to soloists - not least, because of the complexity of the writing - and by all means to different soloists for different sections of the work. (If in doubt, see the Cassola edition on cpdl to identify the appropriate sections). I have pitched the work in D major: this is less of a strain for the sopranos, who no longer have to sustain frequent top As and struggle with a generally unkind tessitura. As Carver wrote the full and solo sections in very different styles, there is still a good deal of variety in this 'chamber' version of the work, and it is interesting to contrast the same composer's 'Gaude flore virginali', which is for 5 voices throughout and maintains a decorated style at all times, so that the contrast between sections can only be produced by varying the number of singers - whereas my version of ''O bone Jesu'' can if necessary even be (and has been) performed by six soloists. Purists may look askance at this venture, but I feel that it would be a pity for choirs not to have the opportunity to experience such a magnificent work as ''O bone Jesu'' at first hand. As usual, the score may be freely performed, but I would be interested to hear about any performance at mickswithinbank at gmail.com (or indeed to receive any other comments)."

⌛ Period → Renaissance ◈ Genre / Form → Motets

♯ Key D major

⁄ Time Signature 3/4

♬ Voicing → SAATBB

◆ Difficulty

Beginner

↕ Range E2 – F#5

¶ Language → Latin

Measures 215

Texture mixed texture

Parts 6

Instruments SAATBB

Pages 18

CPDL # 12709

Editor Philip Legge

Posted 2006-09-28

License Personal

♫Pitch Ranges

Treble

E4 – F#5

Mean

A3 – E5

Alto

F#3 – C#5

Tenor

D3 – G#4

Baritone

A2 – E4

Bass

E2 – D4

¶Lyrics / Text

O bone Jesu, O piissime Jesu, O dulcissime Jesu, O Jesu fili virginis Mariae plenus pietate O dulcis Jesu secundum magnam misericordiam tuam miserere mei. O clementissime Jesu deprecor te per illum sanguinem pretiosum quem pro peccatoribus effundere voluisti ut abluas iniquitatem meam et in me respicias miserum et indignum peccatorem et hoc nomen Jesum invocantem. O nomen Jesu, nomen dulce, nomen Jesu, nomen dilectabile, nomen Jesu, nomen suave, quid enim est Jesus nisi salvator? Ergo bone Jesu propter nomen tuum salva me ne peream et ne permittas me damnari quem tu ex nihilo creasti. O bone Jesu ne perdat me iniquitas mea. Rogo te, piissime Jesu, ne perdas me quem fecit tua bonitas. O dulcis Jesu, recognosce quod tuum est et absterge quod alienum est. O amantissime Jesu, O desideratissime Jesu, O mitissime Jesu, O Jesu, admitte me intrare regnum tuum, dulcis Jesu.