If you're one of the lucky ones who can come to church on the weekdays leading up to Christmas, you will hear in the daily readings not only the story of Jesus, but also that of the birth, naming, and circumcision of John the Baptist, who will be charged with preparing the way of the Lord. John's father Zechariah loses his ability to speak when he expresses doubt before the angel Gabriel, but on the day of John's naming and circumcision, Zechariah regains his speech, and the people all around begin to understand that John will play an important role in salvation history...
What does this have to do with musical notes? Well, we’re all familiar with the scene in The Sound of Music when Maria and the children dance around a
statue, singing Do-Re-Mi… The
children believe that the syllables are nonsense sounds that don’t actually
mean anything, but in fact, their origin is fascinating: they come from medieval choral music and are
taken from the first six phrases of a hymn to St. John the Baptist that reminds us of the circumstances of John's birth.
The Latin words, Ut
queant laxis, Resonare fibris, Mira gestorum, Famuli tuorum, Solve polluti,
Labii reatum, may be translated as So
that Your servants may sing at the top of their voices the wonders of Your
acts, absolve the fault from their stained lips. These words were apparently written by the monk
Paolo Diacono (Paul the Deacon) in the eighth century. Later, in the tenth or eleventh century,
another monk used the first syllables of these phrases – ut, re, mi, fa. sol and la
– as names for the six tones ranging from C to A; the ut was later replaced by a sound that was easier to sing (do), another syllable (ti) was added to complete the scale, and
sol was shortened to so, for uniformity’s sake.
The complete hymn reads,
O for your spirit, holy John, to chasten lips sin-polluted,
fettered tongues to loosen;
So by your children might your deeds of wonder meetly be
chanted.
Lo! a swift herald,
from the skies descending,
Bears to your father promise of your greatness;
How he shall name you, what your future story, duly
revealing.
Scarcely believing message so transcendent,
Him for a season power of speech forsaketh,
Till, at your wondrous birth, again returneth, voice to the
voiceless.
You in your mother’s womb all darkly cradled,
Knew your great Monarch, biding in His chamber,
Whence the two parents, through their offspring’s merits,
mysteries uttered.
Praise to the Father, to the Son begotten,
And to the Spirit, equal power possessing,
One God whose glory, through the lapse of ages, ever
resounding.
Amen.
You can hear the Hymn to John the Baptist by clicking on the video above, or by clicking here.
Source: Roman
Ritual: Complete Edition by Philip T.
Weller, S.T.D., The Bruce Publishing Company, WI, 1964, 1942.
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