I’m not sure who is responsible for translating Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer into latin and setting it to plainsong.
Whoever it was, they have earned an Advent Blessing and a Tip of the Biretta from me.
You can hear it here:
Rudolphus
Comments
35 responses to “Rudolphus”
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This sounds more Gregorian than plainsong to me. Wish it had been around when I was studying HS Latin – but that was well before Al Gore invented the Internet.
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Isn’t Gregorian Chant a type of plainsong??
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The composer of the tune (and the typesetter, and the recording artist) is Eyolf Østrem. More on the origin of all of this here: http://oestrem.com/thingstwice/2013/12/some-more-about-rudolphus/
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To all concerned:
May I add my ‘Alleluia’ to the words of LJ Graf above. As a
singer/musicologist who has been working for 50 years in
the chant traditions of both the East and West, this rendition
of Eyolf Oestrem’s Rudolph’s Gregorian transformation is truly
en’chant’ing! This is the first time I have heard ‘Western’ musicians
(with the possible exception of those I have tried to train to sing
modal music modally) sing chant – Rudolphed or otherwise –
so movingly. I mean this literally. Our tonally-trained Western
voices are absolutely incapable of even hearing the nuances, let
alone sing them, which constitute the essence of chant the world over.
Thank you, Mr. Oestrem! Thank you very much! And your Mode III is
Rudolphus is spot on: sol-la-sol-mi-fa-la-sol.-
To Rebecca Stewart:
As a tonally-trained Western musician and indeed singer/musicologist of s similar if not greater length of experience, I take great exception to your comment. Even were I to ignore the carelessness with which you berate our voices for the inability to hear (sic) nuances, I would repudiate it. Perhaps your immersion in one particular genre has left you less sensitive to the skills of advanced practitioners in others.
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I agree, Pam – as another experienced practitioner whose voice does not hear either! (And, of course, as a pedant who is particular about the nuances conveyed by an imperfect grasp of English …)
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Interesting to compare these lyrics with those produced for the traditional tune by a teacher at my secondary school back in the 1970’s:
Rubriconasus reno
Nasum habuit rubrum,
Siquandoque videres
Diceres et igneum.Et ceteri renones
Hilares irridebant;
Rubriconasum ludos
Ludere suos vetant.
(Sed) Christi nataliciis
Santa “Nebulis”
Inquit “naso ludico,
Duc mi traham, obsecro”.Tum ceteri renones
Cacchinnant hilariter
“Rubriconase Reno,
Celebraberis semper”. -
Hmm… wonder if anyone would like to try this with Shine Jesus Shine? It can only be an improvement….. (I have a Latin translation of some of it)
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Even Rudolph sounds spiritual in plainsong.
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haec versio plena est mendarum. “si quando hunc videbat (videbas?), hunc candere tu dicas?” sententia turpissima est. nonne etiam opporteat “nocte nebulosa?” scribere pro sententia “nocte nebulae”? etiam quid significat “nocte hac visne traham ducere?” hoc plane non intellego. estne nondum qui latine sane loquatur?
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Cur tu carmen non convertis, si hoc modo sentis! Tu latine aperte sane loquaris, ut demum. Et cur scripsis “opporteat”, non “oportet”? Gaude, quod Christmas est!
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recte dicis “oportet” in loco verbi “oporteat”. gratias tibi ago pro emendatione. atque gaude, quod dies natalis Iesu Christi est (in primis si christiana es.)
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Francis illustrare. lolivus
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Amo.
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