O Emmanuel

This coming week, starting on the 17th, we will be releasing a series of videos organized around the “O Antiphons.” They are called the “O” antiphons, because they all begin with the word “O” (O Wisdom, O Adonai, O Root of Jesse, etc.) Each is sung at vespers on one of the 7 days leading up to Christmas. To wet your appetites, I will share a choral setting by Ēriks Ešenvalds of the last antiphon. We sang this piece a few years back at our Festival of Lessons and Carols. Perhaps you will remember it. It preserves the chant tune that will feature in the videos we release. Enjoy.

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

— Lowell