Description
“Personent hodie” is a Christmas carol originally published in the 1582 Finnish song book Piae Cantiones, a volume of 74 Medieval songs with Latin texts collected by Jacobus Finno (Jaakko Suomalainen), a Swedish Lutheran cleric, and published by T.P. Rutha.
This instrumental piece is based the carol using the harmonisation by Gustav Holst.
The second verse features the tune in the lowest instruments and the third verse places the tune back up top
but with a fast flowing countermelody in some inner parts
Personent hodie
voces puerulae,
laudantes iucunde
qui nobis est natus,
summo Deo datus,
et de vir, vir, vir (2x)
et de virgineo ventre procreatus.
(etc)
Let the voices of children resound today
joyfully praising
Him who is born to us,
given by most high God,
and conceived in a virgin’a womb.
(etc)