Non Nobis Domine is, indeed, not quite a song; it is a grace after meat, something between a hymn and a prayer of thanksgiving; but very few of the guests think of it in that light. There is no controversy about tie words; they are simple, and traceable to a well-known source. The composer, whoever he may have been, simply took these words, and composed music to them.
The tune is of the kind called a canon, in which three voices take up the subject alternately. The first goes through the words once, arranged in six bars of common time: Then the third singer, taking his share, begins with the first line of music, and so proceeds to the end, while the other two are singing the second and third lines respectively. The three lines of music harmonise, and blend pleasantly to the ear; they are almost alike, differing chiefly in pitch or register.
All the three singers, too, sing the same words, though they are not pronouncing the same syllables at the same time. This is not a very scientific way of describing the affair; but perhaps it will suffice to give a general notion of the style of composition. Some composers have a great liking for the canon, and for another and somewhat similar composition called a round. In both the voices imitate one another, observing particular rules in the imitation.
In England the canon came to form part of the repertory of glee clubs in the 18th and 19th centuries, and has traditionally been sung as a grace at public dinners. Deo dulce, comite ferro. As part of Psalm In exitu Israel it was recited liturgically as part of the Paschal vigil, the celebrants kneeling in a gesture of self-abasement when this verse was reached. May peace, love and light be with you! Stuart McIntosh submitted Then the third singer, taking his share, begins with the first line of music, and so proceeds to the end, while the other two are singing the second and third lines respectively. The canon is sung in the film of Henry V starring Laurence Olivier , though we now know that the retexted version was not in existence as early as , when the play was written.
A madrigal and a glee are constructed on other principles. All four kinds may be arranged for three or more voices, according to the taste and skill of the composer. A website dedicated to both the ancient and modern teachings of Gnosticism. Paul Cienniwa submitted This three-part canon is arranged for SAB.
Non nobis is the incipit and conventional title of a short Latin Christian hymn used as a prayer of thanksgiving and expression of humility. The Latin text is from the Vulgate translation of the Book of Psalms, Psalm in Vulgate numbering ( Psalm in Greek/Hebrew numbering): Nōn nōbīs, Domine, nōn nōbīs. Non Nobis Domine. Saint David St David of Wales. The motto of the Knights Templar is: Non nobis Domine non nobis sed Nomini Tuo da gloriam. Not unto us O.
Scores listed alphabetically by composer. All scores available in Scorch format, some are also available as PDF files.
Bettina Blokland submitted Files recovered using http: Stuart McIntosh submitted Realised for 3 voices, SABar. Score reposted July 14, Includes a keyboard reduction of the a cappella choral score. Rod Mather submitted The collect, which remained in the prayer book until , would have served as a constant reminder of the patriotic associations of the Non nobis Domine canon: The Matins service, and by association the canon, took on an additional layer of meaning in , when William of Orange , with characteristic political astuteness, landed with his troops on November 5, thus creating an association in the popular imagination between William's invasion and the liberation of the realm from Popery, represented by his predecessor the Catholic King James II.
A second collect, giving thanks for the Glorious Revolution , was then added to the service. Non nobis Domine appeared in print in Playford 's Musical Banquet , Hilton's Catch that catch can and Playford's Introduction to the Skill of Musick , in all three cases anonymously.
Another antiquarian, the unreliable Johann Christoph Pepusch , printed it in his Treatise on Harmony with an attribution to Byrd which, though unfounded, has gained traditional acceptance. This attribution was repeated in the earliest known Continental source, Johann Mattheson 's Der vollkommene Capellmeister The canon forms the basis of the first movement of Concerto III from a set of six Concerti armonici by Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer formerly attributed to Giovanni Battista Pergolesi or Carlo Ricciotti published in The Hague in , where it is labelled Canone di Palestrina , and it is printed as an appendix to a set of concertos by Richard Mudge published by John Walsh in There are surviving copies of the Non nobis Domine canon in the hands of both Mozart and Beethoven.
The canon is sung in the film of Henry V starring Laurence Olivier , though we now know that the retexted version was not in existence as early as , when the play was written. There is no stage direction in the play to indicate the singing of Non nobis Domine , but if Shakespeare had a specific setting in mind he was probably thinking anachronistically of a Protestant metrical psalm tune.
However, in Hall's Chronicle Non nobis is sung as part of the complete psalm, presumably to plainsong or faburden. Non nobis domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam, whiche is to say in Englishe, Not to us lord, not to us, but to thy name let the glory be geven: In England the canon came to form part of the repertory of glee clubs in the 18th and 19th centuries, and has traditionally been sung as a grace at public dinners.
In modern times it has been quoted by Michael Tippett in his Shires Suite For the film adaptation by Kenneth Branagh , Patrick Doyle composed and sang a completely different setting that adapted the words slightly.
Non nobis Domine is usually sung as a three-part perpetual canon with the two following voices entering at the lower fourth and lower octave in relation to the lead melody dux. This is the version given in most of the early sources, but many other solutions are technically possible, a fact which has perhaps contributed much to its enduring appeal.
Non nobis Domine is the official school song of St. It is the song of the St.