Dies natalis (Latin: "Natal Day" or "Day of Birth") is a five-movement work by Gerald Finzi, setting texts by Thomas Traherne, for solo sopr...
Dies natalis (Latin: "Natal Day" or "Day of Birth") is a five-movement work by Gerald Finzi, setting texts by Thomas Traherne, for solo soprano or tenor and string orchestra. This is the fifth and final movement. I think the tenor here, Philip Langridge, delivers a most delicate, touching account - a winning performance in every way.nnHere is the text:nn"These little limbs, these eyes and hands which I here find,nThis panting heart wherewith my life begins;nWhere have ye been? Behind what curtain were ye from me hid so long?nWhere was, in what abyss, my new made tongue? nnWhen silent I so many thousand thousand yearsnBeneath the dust did in a chaos lie, how could I smiles, or tears, nOr lips, or hands, or eyes, or ears perceive? nWelcome, ye treasures which I now receive.nnFrom dust from I rise and out of nothing now awake,nThese brighter regions which salute my eyes,nA gift from God I take, the earth, the seas, the light, the lofty skies,nThe sun and stars are mine: if these I prize.nnA stranger here, strange things doth meet, strange glory see,nStrange treasures lodged in this fair world appear,nStrange, all, and new to me: But that they mine should be who nothing was,nThat strangest is of all; yet brought to pass."nnThe opening painting at 0:30 (and closing detail) is "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne" (c.1508) by Leonardo da Vinci depicting St. Anne, her daughter the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus. Christ is shown grappling with a sacrificial lamb symbolizing his Passion as the Virgin tries to restrain him.nnAt 1:56, "The Nativity with St. Francis and St. Lawrence" (also known as The Adoration) from 1609 by the Italian master Caravaggio. (It was stolen on October 16, 1969 from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in Palermo, Sicily and has never been recovered).nnI took the photographs in various parts of the Derbyshire Peak District, including at 1:24 a "poppy-head" bench-end finial at the Church of St John the Baptist at Tideswell (just one of many of the mediaeval carvings there) and at 3:25, the C13 vault of the chapter house at Lincoln Cathedral, England.nnPhilip Langridge, TenornBournemouth Symphony OrchestranConductor: David HillnA Decca Recording Less
