Dixit Dominus
Dixit Dominus: This is not your grandfather’s Puccini . . . . this is your great, great, great grandfather’s Puccini.
The title “Dixit Dominus” comes from the first two words in the Latin text of Psalm 110 (or Psalm 109, depending on how you count). The first verse is:
Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum.
The Lord says to my lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
till I make your enemies your footstool.”
Georg Handel wrote the most famous musical setting for Psalm 110. I was intrigued, however, when I came across a musical rendition attributed to Gaicomo Puccini.
Not That Puccini
At first I thought that the composer was the operatic composer of the late 19th and early 20th century. That Puccini wrote some magnificent music, such as the opera La Boheme, and what some people consider the most beautiful of arias, “O Mio Babbino Caro” from his comic operetta Gianni Schicchi (here). The opera composer, however, was not what one would consider a pious person, and I wasn’t aware that he had composed any Sacred Music
His great, great-grandfather of the same name, however, is another matter altogether. The first in five generations of composers, Giacomo Puccini Senior achieved great fame in his time for his religious compositions. Below is a link to a performance of his setting for David’s Psalm, performed by Kantorei Saarlouis and Ensemble UnaVolta, with Joachim Fontaine wielding the conductor’s baton. It is not only beautiful music but is radiant with the love of God.
Featured image: King David Stained Glass Cathedral Church Bayeux Norman, photograph by William Perry
Latin and English Text
Psalmus David.
Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis,
donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum.
2 Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion:
dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum.
3 Tecum principium in die virtutis tuae in splendoribus sanctorum:
ex utero, ante luciferum, genui te.
4 Juravit Dominus, et non poenitebit eum:
Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.
5 Dominus a dextris tuis; confregit in die irae suae reges.
6 Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas;
conquassabit capita in terra multorum.
7 De torrente in via bibet; propterea exaltabit caput.
2 The Lord sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your foes!
3 Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day you lead your host
upon the holy mountains.
From the womb of the morning
like dew your youth will come to you.
4 The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest for ever
after the order of Melchiz′edek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
