Latin Moment #4: O Sanctissima

    Hello everyone. For about six years now I have been signing in the Children's Chorus of Greater Dallas. I am in the youth choir as a first Tenor. On a side note from what I am here to talk about, the word "Tenor" is actually from the Latin 'Tenor" which means "a holder". Now, there is also the verb we learned in Latin 2, "Teneo, Tenere, Tenui, Tentus" which means "to hold". As a Tenor in my choir, the word in music means a holder of the melody in a song.

     I don't think this is a coincidence as many terms in music are from Italian forms. (For instance forte, loud, and fortissimo, loudest, are from Italian and Latin origin). Anyway, most music does have many Latin related adjectives that you can decipher without knowing anything about sheet music because they usually look like the superlative, or just the adjective in general (again forte, fortissimo, piano, pianissimo).

     Here is a link to a site that has music terms that come from Italian and Latin. I have found some myself, but you all should try looking because it is very interesting: https://goo.gl/GcSvs5

     More seriously my choir, CCDG, is performing at the Meyerson on the 13th of December, and We will be performing with Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra performing some awesome songs! One part of a song we sing is actually from a Roman Catholic hymn called "O Sanctissima" this hymn, sung in Latin is a prayer to the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was the mother of Jesus in the Christian faith.

     I won't translate the whole thing, but there are some lines that have grammar we have learned recently. The first line "O sanctissma, O piissima" translates with the superlative form of the adjectives Sancta, Pia to "O most holy, O most loving". The third to last line "Audi nos, O Maria" has a verb that is in the Imperative "Audi". The whole line translates "Hear us, O Mary".

     Down below I will have a translation of the whole hymn, but I just wanted to share a cool Latin moment with everyone, and I hope you all have great holidays.

"O Sanctissima":

-Will Baschab,
12/10/2017