(via) In the spirit of Advent, we give you Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, translated to latin, and composed using a Gregorian chant melody. (The fun things you can do with music degrees!). Though you probably won’t hear this sung at a church anytime soon, this is very well done!
Responsory for the first Nocturn at Matins on Christmas Eve, found in a manuscript from the Abbaye de Fleury, dated c. 1170. Sheet music can be found at oestrem.com/thingstwice/2013/12…eno-erat-rudolphus/
The full text reads:
Reno erat Rudolphus
Nasum rubrum habebat;
Si quando hunc videbas,
Hunc candere tu dicas.
Omnes tarandri alii
Semper hunc deridebant;
Cum misero Rudolpho
In ludis non ludebant.
V. Sanctus Nicholas dixit
Nocte nebulae,
“Rudolphe, naso claro
Nonne carum tu duces?”
Tum renores clamabant,
“Rudolphe, delectus es?
Cum naso rubro claro
Historia descendes!”
Alleluia.