As you know, this song is used to teach children
how to sing – as Julie Andrews teaches the children in “The Sound of Music.”
Ut queant laxis is a Latin hymn in honor of John the Baptist
written in Horatian Sapphics[1] and traditionally attributed to Paulus
Diaconus, the eighth century Lombard historian. It is famous for its part in
the history of musical notation, in particular solmization. The hymn is sung to a Gregorian chant, the original
"do-re-mi" music.
The chant is useful for teaching singing because of the way
it uses successive notes of the scale, ut (replaced in modern solfège by
do)–re–mi–fa–so–la. The first six musical phrases of each stanza of the hymn
begin on a successively higher notes of the hexachord. The naming of the notes
of the hexachord by the first syllable of each hemistich (half line of verse)
of the first verse is usually attributed to Guido of Arezzo. Guido, who was
active in the eleventh century, is regarded as the father of modern musical
notation. The hymn does not help with the seventh tone as the last line, Sancte
Iohannes, breaks the ascending pattern. The syllable "si", for the
seventh tone, was added in the 18th century.
St. John’s Birthday Song:
or
Ut
Queant Laxis
Ut queant laxis resonare fibris
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti labiis reatum,
Sancte Joannes.
Nuntius celso veniens Olympo,
te patri magnum fore nasciturum,
nomen, et vitae seriem gerendae,
ordine promit.
Ille promissi dubius superni
perdidit promptae modulos loquelae;
sed reformasti genitus peremptae
organa vocis.
Ventris obstruso recubans cubili,
senseras Regem thalamo manentem:
hinc parens nati, meritis uterque,
abdita pandit.
Sit decus Patri, genitaeque Proli
et tibi, compar utriusque virtus,
Spiritus semper, Deus unus,
omni temporis aevo. Amen
Mira gestorum famuli tuorum,
Solve polluti labiis reatum,
Sancte Joannes.
Nuntius celso veniens Olympo,
te patri magnum fore nasciturum,
nomen, et vitae seriem gerendae,
ordine promit.
Ille promissi dubius superni
perdidit promptae modulos loquelae;
sed reformasti genitus peremptae
organa vocis.
Ventris obstruso recubans cubili,
senseras Regem thalamo manentem:
hinc parens nati, meritis uterque,
abdita pandit.
Sit decus Patri, genitaeque Proli
et tibi, compar utriusque virtus,
Spiritus semper, Deus unus,
omni temporis aevo. Amen
English translation:
So that these your servants can, with all their voices, to sing your wonderful feats, clean the blemish of our spotted lips. O Saint John!
An angel came from the heavens to announce to your father the greatness of your birth, dictating your name and destination.
He (Zacarias) doubted these divine promises and was deprived of the use of speech; but when you were born he recovered the voice that he had lost.
Still locked in your mother's breast, you felt the King's presence housed in the vestal womb. And prophet, before being born, you revealed this mystery to your parents.
Glory be to the Father and to the only-begotten Son, and to you, Holy Spirit, their equal in greatness: one God forever. Amen.
So that these your servants can, with all their voices, to sing your wonderful feats, clean the blemish of our spotted lips. O Saint John!
An angel came from the heavens to announce to your father the greatness of your birth, dictating your name and destination.
He (Zacarias) doubted these divine promises and was deprived of the use of speech; but when you were born he recovered the voice that he had lost.
Still locked in your mother's breast, you felt the King's presence housed in the vestal womb. And prophet, before being born, you revealed this mystery to your parents.
Glory be to the Father and to the only-begotten Son, and to you, Holy Spirit, their equal in greatness: one God forever. Amen.
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