EPISODE 50 — BEYOND THE NINTH WAVE, WITH EILISH BUTLER

hymns, chants and monophonic poem-songs from Ireland and beyond

 Contemporary composer and vocalist Eilish Butler reaches back into the misty recesses of early European history and myth, remaking poem/lyrics from Irish, German and liturgical early Christian monasteries in gloriously evocative fashion.

Included here is her take on a poem/hymn by Hildegard von Bingen, versions of the Lords Prayer and a monastic hymn titled ‘Loving Mother of the Redeemer,’ and a melodic interpretation of the legendary chant of Amergin, a bard who arrived with the Milesian invasion of Ireland in prehistoric times.

Irish singer and choir director Eilish Butler teaches Werbeck singing, medieval chant and Irish song. She combined a degree in singing at the Vrije Muziek Academy in Zeist (Netherlands) with her studies at Artez Conservatory. Later she completed an MA in Ritual Chant & Song at the University of Limerick (2011). She also attended the MA programme in Mysticism at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, RUG Groningen. She now runs the Uncover Your Voice programme in Ireland and UK. 

1. SONG OF AMERGIN/Eilish Butler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHMtz__59NE

written by Amergin, music by Eilish Butler, performed at Amergin Poetry Festival in Waterville, Irelan

An invasion song credited to Amergin, one of the Milesians who led an invasion of Ireland. Set to music and sung by Eilish Butler for the Amergin Poetry Festival in Waterville (Ireland). Milesians, in Irish mythical history, were the people who drove the race of gods, the Tuatha De Danaan, below ground. The Milesians, possibly Gaels from Spain, are thus the ancestors of the Celtic population of Ireland, establishing an ancient right to the island when they came. According to Medieval Irish historians the gods were driven from the surface and into burial mounds, where they were supposed to live.

Amergin Glúingel (“white knees”) was one of the sons of Mil. 

The Milesians had to win the island by engaging in battle with three indigenous kings, their druids and warriors and Amergin was chosen as an impartial judge for the parties, setting the rules of engagement. The Milesians agreed to leave the island and retreat a short distance back into the ocean beyond the ninth wave, a magical boundary. Upon a signal, they moved toward the beach, but the druids of the Tuatha Dé Danann raised a magical storm to keep them from reaching land. However, Amergin sang an invocation calling upon the spirit of Ireland that has come to be known as The Song of Amergin, and he was able to part the storm and bring the ship safely to land. 

I am the sea blast
I am the tidal wave
I am the thunderous surf
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am the cliff hawk
I am the sunlit dewdrop
I am the fairest of flowers
I am the rampaging boar
I am the swift-swimming salmon
I am the placid lake
I am the summit of art
I am the vale echoing voices
I am the battle-hardened spearhead
I am the God who inflames desire
Who gives you fire
Who knows the secrets of the unhewn dolmen
Who announces the ages of the moon
Who knows where the sunset settles

2. ALMA REDEMPTORIS MATER/Eilish Butler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1ab0OpnhCo

composer unknown, performed at Chartre Cathedral

A Marian hymn, written in Latin hexameter, recited at the end of the canonical hours from the first Sunday in  Avent until the Feast of the Purification. From the mid-16th century, Marian movements and societies have developed from the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

The text of “Alma Redemptoris Mater” speaks of Mary’s role as the mother of Jesus and her intercession for humanity. It reflects on her divine motherhood and her significance as the gate of heaven and the star of the sea. The hymn also includes a plea for Mary’s mercy on sinners.

Musically, “Alma Redemptoris Mater” has been set to various compositions throughout history. One notable setting is by Renaissance composer Palestrina, who composed an extremely melodic and fluid choral work in the late 1500s Marc-Antoine Charpentier created a particularly beautiful setting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuavBzelhuQ

.

Loving Mother of the Redeemer,
who remains the accessible Gateway of Heaven,
and Star of the Sea,
Give aid to a falling people
that strives to rise…

3. OUR FATHER (Ar nAthair) /Eilish Butler

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH3RVP54yp0

Sung in the Skellig Islands off the coast or Ireland. Ar nAthair is the Irish version of the Our Father. Originally composed by Seán Ó Riada (1931-1971) an Irish composer and arranger of Irish traditional music.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9aRU9v8vZM. Through his incorporation of modern and traditional techniques he became the single most influential figure in the revival of Irish traditional music during the 1960s.

Butler’s version is recorded at the ruins of a medieval monastic settlement on Skellig Michael, a rock in the ocean west of Ireland.

Ár nAthair,
atá ar neamh,
go naofar d’ainm,
go dtaga do ríocht,
go ndéantar do thoil ar an talamh,
mar a dhéantar ar neamh.
Ár n-arán laethúil tabhair dúinn inniu,
agus maith dúinn ár bhfiacha,
mar a mhaithimidne dár bhféichiúna féin,
agus ná lig sinn i gcathú,
ach saor sinn ó olc.

4. CARITAS ABUNDAT/Eilish Butler 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esfwr2AtQPQ

words by Hildegard van Bingen, performed at Hildegard Shrine in Bingen Germany.

Also known as Saint Hildegard and the Sibyl of the Rhine, Hildegard von Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath active as a writer, composer, poet, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages.She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony  There are more surviving chants by Hildegard than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages, and she is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words.

This chant, Caritas Abundat (Abundant Love) conflates romantic and spiritual love.

Lover abounds in all/from the depths exalted and excelling over every star/ and most beloved of all/ for to the highest king the kiss of peace she gave

Caritas

abundat in omnia,

de imis excellentissima

super sidera

atque amantissima

in omnia,

quia summo regi osculum pacis

dedit.