Masterworks for Corpus Christi
Renaissance Devotion
Saturday, June 10, 7:00 p.m., St. Bernadette Church
70 University Blvd. East, Silver Spring, MD (just off the Beltway, free parking)
Josquin Missa Pange lingua
Byrd Gradualia Propers for Corpus Christi
Victoria Pange lingua ("more hispano")
Byrd Ave verum corpus and O salutaris hostia
* Josquin’s Missa Pange lingua, thought by many then and now to be his greatest, was his
final masterpiece. It is based on the plainsong melody for the great hymn for Corpus
Christi by St. Thomas Aquinas, Pange lingua gloriosi.
* Byrd's Gradualia Propers for Corpus Christi were probably first performed at a private
Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi celebrated on the country estate of one of Byrd’s
noble Catholic patrons, at a time when public celebration of the Mass was forbidden.
Byrd risked his life to compose this music in honor of his faith.