Cantique de Jean Racine
When I heard this piece for the first time, I was so stunned that I dropped everything I was doing. It is what happens you find music you didn’t know you were looking for — when you know in your bones that you’ve heard this music already in a past life.
The lyrics of Cantique de Jean Racine is paraphrased from the Latin hymn Consors paterni luminis which is translated into French. The English version:
Word of God, one with the Most High,
in Whom alone we have our hope,
Eternal Day of heaven and earth,
We break the silence of the peaceful night;
Saviour Divine, cast your eyes upon us!
Pour on us the fire of your powerful grace,
That all hell may flee at the sound of your voice;
Banish the slumber of a weary soul,
That brings forgetfulness of your laws!
O Christ, look with favour upon your faithful people
Now gathered here to praise you;
Receive their hymns offered to your immortal glory;
May they go forth filled with your gifts.
I’ve only felt this way with two other piece, the third movement of Brahms’ Symphony №3 (Which I was able to see live when the Vienna Philharmonic came to Berkeley!).
