Duo Seraphim - Guerrero
Description
"Duo Seraphim" by Francisco Guerrero. Sung by Oasis Chorale at Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita, Kansas on July 15, 2018.
For more information and recordings, visit: https://www.oasischorale.com/
DUO SERAPHIM
Adapted from Isaiah 6:3
Music: Francisco Guerrero
Duo Seraphim, clamabant alter
ad alterum:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Plena est omnis terra gloria eius.
Tres sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo:
Pater, Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus
et hi tres unum sunt.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Plena est omnis terra gloria eius.
English translations by John Kilpatrick:
Two seraphim cried to one another:
Holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
There are three who bear witness in heaven:
The Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit:
And these three are one.
Holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth.
The whole earth is full of his glory.
The Historic Faith · Hymn Companion
Duo Seraphim
Words by Biblical text from the Latin Vulgate, adapted from Isaiah 6:3 and 1 John 5:7Music by Francisco Guerrero
Duo Seraphim clamabant alter ad alterum:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Plena est omnis terra gloria eius.
Tres sunt qui testimonium dant in coelo:
Pater, Verbum et Spiritus Sanctus,
et hi tres unum sunt.
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.
Plena est omnis terra gloria eius.
Story Behind the Song
Duo Seraphim is a Latin Renaissance motet by the Spanish composer Francisco Guerrero. Its text joins the vision of the seraphim crying “Holy, holy, holy” in Isaiah 6 with the Trinitarian witness formula from 1 John 5:7, a pairing often associated with music for Trinity themes. Guerrero was one of the leading sacred composers of sixteenth-century Spain, and this motet belongs to the wider Renaissance tradition of elaborate polyphonic settings of biblical and liturgical Latin texts.