TE DEUM
470
TE DEUM
ance of men, thou horydest not the Virgin's womb".
With similar accuracy a Sarum "Primer" of 1504 hiis:
"Thou (when thou ghouldest take upon our na-
ture to delj'ver man) dydest not abhorre a virgynes
wombe". The hist "Primer" of Henry VIII (1546)
was probably the first to introduce the ambiguous
rendering: "When thou tookest upon thee to deliver
man". The (Baltimore) " Manual of Prayers" is not
more accurate; "Thou having taken upon Thee to
deliver man, didst not abhor the Virgin's womb".
The "Roman Missal Adapted to the Use of the
Laity" (New York, 1901) is laboriously accurate:
"Thou, when about to take upon Thee man to de-
liver him, didst not fear the Virgin's womb". The
"Missal for the Use of the Laity" (London, new ed.
1903, cxxxiv) gives a new version in rhyme:
"Thou, to redeem lost man from hell's dark doom,
Didst not abhor the lowly Virgin's womb".
This is not far removed from Drj'den's version: "Thou, who to save the world's impending doom,
Vouchsaf'dst to dwell within a Virgin's womb". The general rubrics (titulus XXXI) of the Roman Breviary direct the recitation of the Te Deum at the end of Matins: (a) on all feasts throughout the year, whether of nine or of three lessons, and throughout their octaves. It is said on the octave day of the feast of the Holy Innocents, but not on the feast it- self unless this should fall on Sunday; (b) on all Sun- days from Easter (inclusively) to Advent (exclusively) and from Christmas (inclusively) to Septuagesima (exclusively); (c) on all ferial days during Eastertide (namely from Low Sunday to Ascension Day) except Rogation Monday. For the sake of greater explicit- ness, the rubrics add that it is not said on the Sun- days of Advent, or from Septuagesima to Palm Sunday inclusively, or on ferial days outside of Easter- tide. It is said immediately sifter the last lesson, and therefore replaces the thii'd or ninth responsory, as the case may be; but on days when it is not said, its place is occupied by the responsory. The Te Deum is followed immediately by Lauds except on Christmas Day (when it is followed by the prayer, and this by ^lass). In general, the Te Deum may be said to follow the same rubric as the Gloria in excelsis at Mass.
In addition to its use in the Divine Office, the Te Deum is occasionally sung in thanksgiving to God for some special blessing (e. g. the election of a pope, the consecration of a bishop, the canonization of a saint, the profession of a religious, the pubhcation of a treaty of peace, a royal coronation, etc.), and then usually after Mass or Divine Office, or as a separate religious ceremony. When sung thus immediately before or after Mass, the celebrant, who intones the hymn, may wear the vestments appropriate in colour to the day, unless these should happen to be black. Otherwise, while the rubrics prescribe no special colour, violet is forbidden in processions of thanksgiving (pro gratiarum actione), green is in- appropriate for such solemn occasions, red (though permissible) would not suggest itself, unless sorne such feast as Pentecost, for example, should call for it. White, therefore, or gold, which is considered its equiv- alent, is thus left as the most suitable colour. The choir and congregation sing the hynm standing, even when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, but kneel dur- ing the verse "Te ergo quaesumus . . ." At the end the versicles "Benedicamus Patrem" etc. are added, fol- lowed by the single prayer " Deus cujus misericordix". There is practically hut one plain-ohant melody for the hymn, varving" great Iv, however, in different MSS. The official and tvpical melody is now given in the Vatican Gradual (1908) in the Appendix (pro gratiarum actione) in two forms, the t07uis solemjiis (in which every verso begins with prejiaratory or intoning notes) and juxia morem romanum (in which
the verse begins ex abrupto). Pothier notes a strong
affinity between the melodies of the Te Deum
laudamus, te dominum confitemur and those of
the Preface, Per omnia . . . Sursum corda. He also
points out (Melodies gregoriennes, 239) a psalmodic
turn in the melody of the Te Deum, strengthened by
the introduction of a distinct antiphon-form at the
words "iEterna fac", etc., the antiphonal melody
being thrice repeated. While the chant melody has
been frequently used as a canto fermo for polyphonic
Masses, the polyphonic settings are few compared with
many hymns of less prominence. Palestrina, Jacob
Haendl, and Felice Anerio have thus treated the old
melody. ItaUan composers of the seventeenth cen-
tury made settings for several choirs with organ and
orchestra. Cherubini'a manuscript setting is lost.
Berlioz considered the finale of his own setting (for
two choirs, orchestra, and organ) "undoubtedly his
finest work ". Sometimes the alternate verses only are
set to music, so that another choir or the congregation
may sing the other verses in plain-chant (as in the
Miserere, q. v.). The Latin text has been translated
into English and has received many settings in that
form. Handel's "Utrecht" and "Dettingen" Te
Deums are famous. One interesting feature of the
latter is that it borrows inspiration for ten of its num-
bers from a Te Deum composed by the Minorite
Francesco Urio, an able Milanese composer of the
seventeenth-eighteenth century. Perhaps the most
satisfactory of the recent settings of the Te Deum for
use in Church is that of Edgar Tinel, written to cele-
brate the seventy-fifth anniversary of Belgian inde-
pendence (1830-1905). It is composed for six-voiced
mixed choir, orchestra, and organ.
There are about twenty-five metrical translations into English, including the sonorous version of Dry- den, ""Thee, Sovereign God, our grateful accents praise", and that of the Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, commonly used in American Catholic hymnals, "Holy God, we praise Thy Name, but wTitten be- fore his conversion, as it appeared with date of 1853 in the "Evangelical Hymnal". There are also six versions into English based on Luther's free rendering into German. "There are many German versions, of which the "Grosser Gott, wir loben dich" is commonly used in Catholic churches. Probably the most re- cent Catholic translation is that found in the new edi- tion (London, 1903) of Provost Husenbeth's "Missal for the Use of the Laity", "We praise thee, God: we glorify thee. Lord."
JuUAN, Did. of Hymnology (2nd ed.. London, 1907), s. v., 1119-34, 1547-8, 1709, an extensive and excellent article compris- ing contributions from John Sarum (i. e. John Wordsworth, Anglican Bishop of Salisbury) on the history and texts of the hymn, Birkbeck on the plain-song melody. Julian on the trans- lations with bibliographical references; Kayser, Beitrdge zur Gesch. und Erktdrung der HUesten Kirchenhymnen (Paderborn, 1881), 435-60.
MoRiN, Nouvelles recherches sur I'auleur du "Te Deum" in Revue binidktine (Feb., 1894), was the first to ascribe the author- ship to Nicetas. The ascription was adopted by Burn, Niceta of Remesiana, His Life and Works (London, 1905), mentioning (In- troduction, xcvii, footnote) other adherents of this view, among them the Anglican Bishop of Salisbury. Burn gives a bibli- ography. Reviewing Burn's work, Morin declares in the Rassegna gregoriana (May-June, 1905) that the hymn can almost certainly be attributed to Nicetas. A much earlier origin is sought by Caqin, L'Eitchologie latine Hudiie dans la tradition de ses formules el de ses formulaires. Te Deum ou lUatiot (Solesmcs, 190B), which was reviewed unfavourably by Morin, he 'Te Deum' tt/pe anonyme de I'anaphore latine prihistorique in the Rev. binMictine (1907) , 180-223. and defended by .\aAESSE, QueKiceta$ de Remesiana n' est pas I'auleur du "Te Deum" in the Revue de» sciences eccles. (Lille, Feb., -■Vpr., June, 1910), who emphasizes the negative argument, considering the silence of antiquity as per- haps equal to a formal denial of Nicetas's authorship. BLt:ME, Ursprung des ambrosianischen Lobgesangcs in Stimmen aus Maria' Laach (1911), nos. 8-10, argues for an origin earlier than a. d. 252. For the first (i. c. Trinitarian) part of the hvmn Nolan, St. Ambrose and St. Augustine the Authors of the "Te Deum" io The Tablet (London. 22 Oct.. 1910), 644-5. should be read in connexion with Merati in his notes on Gavantus, Thesaurus sac. rit., II (Venice, 1769). 109-112. A briefer statement of the question at issue (i. e. the traditional ascription to the two saints) is that of Daniel, Thesaur. hym7wlog.. II (Leipzig, 1844), 279-88, who agrees with ^Ierati in rejecting the ascription.
