I Was Glad, take 3

When Hubert Parry set verses from Psalm 122 (Laetatus Sum) for  the coronation of Edward VII in 1902 the text of the middle section read

Vivat Rex Eduardus

...

Vivat! Vivat! Vivat!

It was revised for George VI, for Elizabeth II, and for Charles III (as listeners/spectators last Saturday will have heard).

In Latin, 'May he live" is Vivat, traditionally pronounced – in this context – in what Wikipedia calls 'a variant known as Anglicised Latin' though I'm not convinced about the 'Anglicised' bit. It's the traditional seventeenth to early twentieth century English pronunciation: /vaɪvæt/. This section is officially known as "The Acclamation", less formally known in choral circles as "The Vivats".

But more often than not, in concerts, the Vivats are not included, and some listeners (though not singers) are surprised by Parry's abrupt change of mood

In I Was Glad, take 2, I mentioned

 ...an ad for a concert I had missed, at Truro Cathedral, the venue

Church at Lostwithiel

for the final performance in my choir's tour of the West Country in the summer of 2013. From a base at Plymouth, we sang at various places, one being here at the pretty church at Lostwithiel. If more about the tour interests you, I covered it in this post nearer the time (a  bit parochial, but with some linguistic  interest on the subject of expressions of home and opinion [bei and chez]).

As I said, our last recital was at Truro Cathedral. By chance, only hours before we sang, the birth of Prince George was announced. In our  repertoire for the tour we had various largely devotional  pieces, and two party pieces from which our MD chose one, varying from concert to concert.

I thought that a  natural piece to sing to welcome the young prince was "I Was Glad".  But – rather tactlessly, I felt 😏 – for the Truro recital our MD chose "Zadok the priest" recalling the prince's grandfather's ill-starred wedding (where it had been played). (Perhaps, though, I was the only one to notice this rather lugubrious echo; besides, my view was probably coloured by the marvellous bass-line of the Parry (especially the last few bars).

But when we sang it at Truro we omitted the Vivats (as many choirs do, depending on the context). 

On 30 April Westminster Abbey announced the New Vivats:

    

One of many

On 4 May at about 08.50 Radio 3 played a rendition performed at Ely Cathedral, with what Petroc Trelawney said were 'the new vivats'; but the words weren't the ones announced by Westmister Abbey 4 days earlier:

The words which will be sung at this Coronation are:   

Vivat Regina Camilla! Vivat Regina Camilla! 

Vivat! Vivat! Vivat! 

 

Vivat Rex Carolus! Vivat Rex Carolus! 

Vivat! Vivat! Vivat! 

(Or ‘Long live Queen Camilla! Long live King Charles!')

These were indeed the words used during the service  I couldn't make out the words of the Ely version, but the queen was not Camilla and the king was not Carolus; not Eduardus or Georgius either – it sounded like ... 

<speculation>
Latin had a little-used case ...

<doubt type="not in the exam?">
(or perhaps we just didn't learn about it)
</doubt>

....case ending for use when addressing someone. As it was often the same as the nominative I never gave it much thought.

<autobiographical_note>
On the subject of vocatives, I'm reminded of a charming feature of Portuguese (if not current now it was still current in 1972) whereby the name of a person whose attention was sought was preceded by "O". I enjoyed people addressing me as "O Bob". That's /ɔ bɔb/, not /u bɔb/ . This is not the definite article – which would indeed be used before a name when referring to another person. That's /u/. This 'vocative'  is a full-blown open /ɔ/; 

<beware-a-little-learning> 

My big brother – not that big, actually; but senior – had a 78 called 'The bandit of Brazil", mostly in English but with the odd 'o cangaceiro' thrown in for local colour, That 'o' is just a definite article, pronounced /u/; but the singers gave it an  /ɔ/, Perhaps this is Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation, and the US singers got it right.  I doubt it though. 

</beware-a-little-learning>

</autobiographical_note>

I wonder if the  word for 'name' (nomen) has the vocative nomini, so that Vivat nomini means '"may <insert name here> live ("long", if you must, but get real)" Perhaps using the right words before the Big Day would have been Bad Luck.

</speculation>

Personally I wasn't that fussed, but whatever floats your royal barge. Good luck to him.

b

PS Save the date:

b