I my Best-Beloved's am - John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers

'I my Best-Beloved's am'
From the album ‘A Double Celebration’

Composer John Rutter
Conductor John Rutter
Tenor Simon Wall
Choir The Cambridge Singers

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I my Best-Beloved's am
I my Best-Beloved’s am was written in 1999 for a BBC Singers broadcast concert on the theme of the Seven Sacraments. This a cappella anthem focuses on the theme of marriage – setting the nuptial responses from the old Tridentine Catholic marriage service and stanzas from Francis Quarles’s poetic paraphrase of the Song of Solomon – but, as the Song of Solomon is often understood as symbolic of the love between Christ and his Church, is also suitable for use throughout the Church year. Gregorian chant is the prevalent musical influence, and the male and female voices are offset against each other in an effective contrast.

Confirma hoc, Deus,
Quod operatus es in nobis.
A templo sancto tuo quod est in Jerusalem.
Kyrie eleison.
(Establish, O God, what you have wrought in
us.
For your temple’s sake, which is in Jerusalem.
Lord, have mercy.)

Nor time, nor place, nor chance, nor death
Can bow my least desires unto the least
remove;
He’s firmly mine by oath, I his by vow;
He’s mine by faith, and I am his by love;
He’s mine by water, I am his by wine;
Thus I my Best Beloved’s am,
Thus he is mine.

Salvos fac servos tuos.
Deus meus, sperantes in te.
Mitte eis, Domine, auxilium de sancto:
Et de Sion tuere eos.
(Save your servants, God, whose hope is in you.
Send them help, Lord, from your sanctuary:
And strengthen them out of Sion.)

He is my altar, I his holy place;
I am his guest, and he my living food;
I’m his by penitence, he mine by grace;
I’m his by purchase, he is mine by blood;
He’s my supporting elm, and I his vine:
Thus I my Best Beloved’s am, thus he is mine.

Esto eis, Domine, turris fortitudinis:
A facie inimici.
Domine, exaudi orationem meam:
Et clamor meus ad te veniat.
(Be unto them a tower of strength, Lord,
In the face of their enemy.
Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto
you.)

He gives me wealth, I give him all my vows;
I give him songs, he gives me length of days;
With wreaths of grace he crowns my
conquering brows;
And I his temples with a crown of praise,
Which he accepts as an everlasting sign,
That I my Best-Beloved’s am, that he is mine.
Amen
(Latin text: Nuptial responses (Tridentine rite), English text: Francis Quarles, 1592–1644)

A Double Celebration
A 55 track celebration to mark 30 years of the Cambridge Singers and the 70th birthday of John Rutter.

John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1981) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.

Contact
info@collegium.co.uk

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