View source for Quempas

{{Short description|Christmas carol}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = "Quempas"
| type                = [[List of Christmas carols|Christmas carol]]
| image               = Quem pastores laudavere.jpg
| image_upright       = 1.5
| alt                 =
| caption             =
| full_title          = "Quem pastores laudavere"
| translation         = "He whom the shepherds praised"
| composer            =
| genre               = [[Christmas carol]]
| occasion            =
| text                = <!-- text author(s) -->
| language            = Latin
| written             = <!-- {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|end_date={{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|location=}} -->
| based_on            = <!-- for example biblical quotation, example {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=1 Corinthians|chapter=13|verse=1|range=–13}} -->
| meter               = <!-- of the poetry -->
| melody              = <!-- name (in quotation marks) or source of traditional melody, or of hymn whose melody is used, or by composer(s) -->
| composed            = <!-- {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|end_date={{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|location=}} -->
| published           = <!-- {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}|location=}} -->
| misc                =
}}
"'''Quempas'''" is the shortened title of the [[Latin]] [[Christmas carol]] "'''Quem pastores laudavere'''" ("He whom the shepherds praised"), popular in Germany in the sixteenth century, and used as a generic term for Christmas songs in a German caroling tradition.<ref name="Grove">{{Cite Grove|author=|title=Quempas (from Lat. Quem pastores laudavere: 'He whom the shepherds praised')|date=2001|id=22680}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> ''Quempas'' is also the name of a collection of old carols published by [[Bärenreiter]] since 1930.
== History ==
The earliest sources of the carol are from the fifteenth century, including the ''{{ill|Hohenfurter Liederbuch|de}}'' from the [[Vyšší Brod Monastery|Hohenfurth Monastery]]. Many versions exist from the sixteenth century. The most famous version is from [[Michael Praetorius]], ''Musae Sioniae'' (1607), with the German text "Den die Hirten lobeten sehre."<ref>''[[Evangelisches Gesangbuch]]'' (EG), Hessen edition, Frankfurt 1994. EG 29.</ref>
==Text and melody==
<poem lang="la" style="float:left;">Quem pastores laudavere,
quibus angeli dixere,
absit vobis iam timere,
natus est rex gloriæ.
Ad quem reges ambulabant,
Aurum, Thus, Myrrham portabant,
immolabant haec sincere,
leoni victoriae.
Christo regi Deo nato
Per Mariam nobis dato
merito resonat vere
dulci cum melodia.</poem>
<poem style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">Shepherds left their flocks a-straying,
God's command with joy obeying,
When they heard the angel saying:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem."
Wise Men came from far, and saw him
Knelt in homage to adore him;
Precious gifts they laid before him:
Gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Let us now in every nation
Sing his praise with exultation.
All the world shall find salvation
In the birth of Mary's Son.<ref>[https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/shepherds_left_their_flocks_a.htm "Shepherds Left Their Flocks A-Straying"], translation by Imogen Holst, hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com</ref></poem>
<div style="margin-left:1em; float:left;">
<score sound raw>
\header { tagline = ##f arranger = "arr.: Michael Praetorius" }
\layout { indent = 0 \context { \Score \remove "Bar_number_engraver" } }
global = { \key as \major \time 3/4 }
soprano = \relative c'' { \global
as2 c4 | es2 c4 | des (es) f | es bes2 |
c4 (des) es | des (c) bes | as2 f4 | g es2 |
c'2 des4 | es2 f4 | es2 bes4 | c as2 |
des des4 | c (bes) as | as (f) g | as2. \bar "|."
}
alto = \relative c' { \global
es2 es4 | g2 es4 | f (as) as | g g2 |
as2 bes4 | as2 es4 | es2 d4 | es bes2 |
c2 as'4 | g2 bes4 | g (as) g | as es2 |
bes'4 (as) bes | as (g) es | es (bes) es | es2. \bar "|."
}
tenor = \relative c' { \global
c2 c4 | bes2 as4 | as2 des4 | bes es2 |
es4 (f) g | es2 bes4 | c2 bes4 | bes g2 |
es' f4 | bes,2 des4 | c (es) es | es c2 |
f f4 | c (es) c | as (bes) bes | c2. \bar "|."
}
bass = \relative c { \global
as'2 as4 | es2 as,4 | des (c) des | es es2 |
as es4 | f2 g4 | as2 bes4 | es, es2 |
as f4 | es2 bes4 | c2 es4 | <as as,> <as as,>2 |
bes,8 (c des4) bes | f' (g) as | c, (des) es | <as as,>2. \bar "|."
}
verse = \lyricmode {
Quem pas -- to -- res lau -- da -- ve -- re,
qui -- bus an -- ge -- li dix -- e -- re,
ab -- sit vo -- bis iam ti -- me -- re,
na -- tus est rex glo -- ri -- ae.
}
\score {
\new ChoirStaff <<
\new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "oboe" }
<<
\new Voice = "soprano" { \voiceOne \soprano }
\new Voice = "alto" { \voiceTwo \alto }
>>
\new Lyrics \with { \override VerticalAxisGroup #'staff-affinity = #CENTER }
\lyricsto "soprano" \verse
\new Staff \with { midiInstrument = "clarinet" }
<<
\clef bass
\new Voice = "tenor" { \voiceOne \tenor }
\new Voice = "bass" { \voiceTwo \bass }
>>
>>
\layout { }
\midi {
\tempo 4=130
}
}
</score>
</div>{{clear|left}}
Students of the [[Latin school]] maintained a tradition of "Quempas singen," earning alms by going from house to house, singing carols.<ref name="Grove"/>
In order to revive the Quempas singing tradition and fight the sentimentality of 19th-century Christmas carols, {{ill|Wilhelm Thomas (theologian)|de|Wilhelm Thomas (Theologe)|lt=Wilhelm Thomas}} and [[Konrad Ameln]] published a collection of old carols under the title ''Quempas'', sometimes called ''Quempas-Heft'', printed by [[Bärenreiter]].<ref name="Bärenreiter" /><ref>Heinz Grosch, Johannes Thomas: "Thomas, Wilhelm". In: ''[[Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon]]'' (BBKL). Vol. 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, {{ISBN|978-3-88309-452-6}}, cols. 1425–1433.</ref> The first collection contained 39 songs with melodies. It was followed by choral editions, and a greater selection including 20th-century carols in 1962.<ref name="Bärenreiter" /> ''Der neue Quempas'', a collection of 41 songs, was published in 2012.<ref name="Bärenreiter" />
The carol is included in volume 2 of the British collection ''[[Carols for Choirs]]'' (1970), in an arrangement by [[John Rutter]], in Latin with an English translation by [[Imogen Holst]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Willcocks |editor1-first=David |editor1-link=David Willcocks |editor2-last=Rutter |editor2-first=John |editor2-link=John Rutter |title=Carols for Choirs |volume=2 |date=1970 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-353565-3 |pages=166–168}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[List of Christmas carols]]
==References==
{{reflist
| refs =
<ref name="Bärenreiter">{{cite web
| url = https://www.baerenreiter.com/verlag/baerenreiter-lexikon/quempas/
| title = Quempas
| publisher = [[Bärenreiter]]
| language = de
| access-date = 25 December 2018
}}</ref>
}}
==External links==
* [https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/NonEnglish/quem_pastores_laudavere.htm "Quem pastores laudavere"], hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com
* {{ChoralWiki|Quem pastores laudavere (Traditional)|"Quem pastores laudavere"|prep=of}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Christmas carols]]