Prelude: My Favourite Word
Like Susan Lukey’s favourite word ("Favourite Liturgical Words", Gathering, Pentecost 2, 2024) —asperges, not to be confused with asparagus—my favourite word also seems food-like: the word is macaronic and should not be confused with macaroni!
While not specifically liturgical, the word macaronic is associated with music in the church. A macaronic text is one that mixes Latin with the vernacular language of the place where it was created.
Many carols are macaronic. While not in Voices United or More Voices, a common macaronic carol is “On this day earth shall ring,” with its verses in English and the refrain in Latin. The Latin refrain translates to: “Therefore, glory to God in the highest.” Similarly, “Angels we have heard on high” (VU 38) has verses in English and a Gloria refrain in Latin. ADESTE FIDELES or “O come, all ye faithful” (VU 60) is still treated as a macaronic carol by many, who often sing the first verse in Latin and the rest in English. IN DULCI JUBILO or “Good Christian friends, rejoice” (VU 35) is another example, originally sung in German and Latin in the Middle Ages. While Voices United has translated all of this carol to English, many other translations from the German are still macaronic and mixed with Latin. The Latin lines often appear at the beginning, middle, and end, with English interspersed. Another example of a macaronic text is “The boar’s head carol.”
“There Is No Rose,” a poem from around 1420, is set by many choral composers for use at the Annunciation or in Advent. Often, the choral settings are a modernized version of the old English text, and each stanza features a final line in Latin. The medieval poetry manuscript Carmina Burana is well-known macaronic text, commonly recognized with music by Carl Orff. In it, Latin is often combined with medieval German or French.
The English Baroque composer Thomas Morley used the macaronic text “Nolo mortem peccatoris” (I do not wish the death of the wicked) written in the mid-1500s by John Redford, to great effect, repeating the title line many times for emphasis.
Technically, poetry or music with an “alleluia” in it is macaronic, too, because alleluia is a Hebrew word!
Creating a macaronic piece takes great skill, blending the languages, metre, and perhaps even a rhyming scheme to make it all work. A contemporary example of this was derived out of creativity and necessity: on pp. 59 and 60, you will see that Nicholas Capozzoli’s pieces are macaronic! He is Music Director at Christ Church Cathedral, Montreal, where he works in English, French, and of course Latin! Have you ever considered writing a macaronic text?
Tammy-Jo Mortensen, Gathering Music Editor
