Canticle of the Sun A legend which emphasizes the topos of “brightness” says he did not physically write the Canticle, because of his blindness from an eye disease; but he dictated it and he did it looking at Nature through the eye of mind. Fa- ther Eric Doyle wrote: “Though physically blind, he was able to see more clearly than ever with the inner eye of his mind. With unparalleled clarity he perceived the ba- sic unity of all creation and his own place as a friar in the midst of God’s creatures. His unqualified love of all creatures, great and small, had grown into unity in his own heart. He was so open to reality that it found a place to be at home in his heart and he was at home everywhere and anywhere. He was a centre of communion with all creatures”.[2] The Canticle of the Sun is first mentioned in the Vita Prima of Thomas of Celano in 1228. 1 Text and translation 2 Alternative versions Saint Francis of Assisi, Cigoli, 1600. Perhaps the best-known version in English is the hymn All Creatures of Our God and King, which contains a paraphrase of Saint Francis’ song by William H. Draper The Canticle of the Sun, also known as the Canticle of (1855–1933). Draper set the words to the 17th-century the Creatures or Laudes Creaturarum (Praise of the Crea- German hymn tune Lasst Uns Erfreuen, for use at a chil- [3] tures), is a religious song composed by Saint Francis of dren’s choir festival sometime between 1899 and 1919. Assisi. It was written in an Umbrian dialect of Italian but Hermann Suter composed an oratorio Le Laudi on the has since been translated into many languages. It is be- Italian words, premiered in 1924. lieved to be among the first works of literature, if not the first, written in the Italian language.[1] The American composer Amy Beach (1867–1944) set the Canticle to music for organ or orchestra, choir, and The Canticle of the Sun in its praise of God thanks Him solo vocal quartet, in 1924. The piece was first performed for such creations as “Brother Fire” and “Sister Water”. It with organ in 1928 at St. Bartholomew’s in New York. is an affirmation of Francis’ personal theology as he often The orchestral version was first performed by the Chicago referred to animals as brothers and sisters to Mankind, Symphony and the Toledo Choral Society in 1930. rejected material accumulation and sensual comforts in favor of “Lady Poverty”. Leo Sowerby (1895–1968) set Matthew Arnold’s English translation of the Canticle for chorus and orchestra in Saint Francis is said to have composed most of the 1945 (The Canticle of the Sun); the work was awarded canticle in late 1224 while recovering from an illness the Pulitzer Prize for Music the following year. at San Damiano, in a small cottage that had been built for him by Saint Clare and other women of her Order Charles Martin Loeffler (1861–1935) set a modern Ital- of Poor Ladies. According to tradition, the first time it ian translation of the original Umbrian dialect text for was sung in its entirety was by Francis and Brothers An- soloists and chamber orchestra ca. 1929 which was gelo and Leo, two of his original companions, on Francis’ performed in the same 1945 Carnegie Hall concert as deathbed, the final verse praising “Sister Death” having Sowerby’s setting. been added only a few minutes before. Franz Liszt (1811–1886) composed several pieces titled 1 2 5 EXTERNAL LINKS Upon the Earth was inspired by the Canticle. Laudes Creaturarum has also been set to music by Ger- man composer Carl Orff. The Italian folk singer Angelo Branduardi composed a ballad entitled Il cantico delle creature in year 2000 based on the original lyrics of the Canticle. Pope Francis published his second encyclical Laudato si' on June 18th, 2015. The Canticle inspired the encycli- cal’s title, “Praise be to you,” and was quoted in the first paragraph, “Praise be to you, Our Lord, through our Sis- ter, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruits, with colored flowers and herbs.” 3 See also • Benedicite • Great Hymn to the Aten • Laudato si' 4 References Reproduction of the Codice 338, f.f. 33r - 34r, sec. XIII - Biblioteca del Sacro Convento [1] “Franciscan Friars Third Order Regular - Canticle of Brother Sun”. Cantico del sol di Francesco d'Assisi with versions for [2] Doyle, Eric (1996). St. Francis and the Song of Broth- solo piano and orchestra. erhood and Sisterhood. Franciscan Institute. ISBN 978- 1576590034. Roy Harris (1898–1979) composed a setting for soloists and a large ensemble in 1961. Seth Bingham (1882– [3] “All Creatures of Our God and King”. Hymnary.org. 1972) made a setting in 1962. Another setting of the Canticle of the Sun, titled Cantico del sole was composed by William Walton (1902–1983) 5 External links in 1974 for the Cork International Choral Festival. • Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina wrote a piece ded- Lyrics to the Canticle at Prayer Foundation. icated to cellist Mstislav Rostropovich for his seventieth • Alternative Translation birthday. • Umbrian Version 1 A modern rendition was used in the musical biography of Saint Francis, Brother Sun, Sister Moon. • Umbrian Version 2 In the 1961 film, Francis of Assisi. the actor play- • 101 Hymn Stories ing Brother Leo begins to sing the canticle but is over- whelmed by tears. Francis (Bradford Dillman) continues • Invitation to Italian Poetry proclaiming, not singing, the rest. The 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon had a version composed by pop singer/composer Donovan. The acclaimed Spanish composer, Joaquín Rodrigo, composed a piece to the words in Spanish of the Canticle, for choir and orchestra in 1982: Cantico de San Francisco de Asis. The lines “Brother Sun” and “Sister Moon” inspired the album Brother, Sister by indie rock band mewithoutYou. The song Brother Moon by Gungor on the album Ghosts 3 6 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses 6.1 Text • Canticle of the Sun Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canticle_of_the_Sun?oldid=668158967 Contributors: Choster, Hyacinth, As- taines, Gwalla, Sonjaaa, Dbachmann, Wareh, Bill Thayer, Inky, Jakes18, YurikBot, Alexmorgan, Pfft Bot~enwiki, SmackBot, Chris the speller, Cantalamessa, Lambiam, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Ian Spackman, Metre01, Vaquero100, Cydebot, DavidRF, TonyTheTiger, Escar- bot, Freddiem, Gerry246, Olor~enwiki, Bagatelle, Paolostar, Ken123BOT, RafaAzevedo, MystBot, Good Olfactory, Addbot, NjardarBot, The C of E, Lightbot, Threxnova, Zorrobot, Luckas-bot, Marauder40, ArthurBot, Salento81, DSisyphBot, Omnipaedista, Haldraper, Fres- coBot, Gerda Arendt, Lotje, Dorshil, Ripchip Bot, EmausBot, Dick Lind, ZéroBot, Rcsprinter123, Helpsome, Patrug, Marvin J. Ward, Jfhutson, LeedsHK16, Mogism, Tamara Dragadze, D.a.drohan, Tentinator, Clelia albano and Anonymous: 27 6.2 Images • File:Cantico_delle_Creature.djvu Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/Cantico_delle_Creature.djvu Li- cense: CC BY-SA 2.0 de Contributors: de:Datei:Sonnengesang01.jpg, de:Datei:Sonnengesang02.jpg, de:Datei:Sonnengesang03.jpg Orig- inal artist: Francesco d'Assisi. Photographic reproduction: Stefan Diller • File:Cigoli,_san_francesco.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Cigoli%2C_san_francesco.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Web Gallery of Art: <a href='http://www.wga.hu/art/c/cigoli/francis1.jpg' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Inkscape.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/20px-Inkscape.svg.png' width='20' height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/30px-Inkscape.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Inkscape.svg/40px-Inkscape.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='60' data-file- height='60' /></a> Image <a href='http://www.wga.hu/html/c/cigoli/francis1.html' data-x-rel='nofollow'><img alt='Information icon.svg' src='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/20px-Information_icon.svg.png' width='20' height='20' srcset='//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/30px-Information_icon.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/35/Information_icon.svg/40px-Information_icon.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='620' data-file-height='620' /></a> Info about artwork Original artist: Cigoli • File:Gen_pulitzer.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Gen_pulitzer.jpg License: Public domain Contrib- utors: http://www.pulitzer.org Original artist: Daniel Chester French (1850-1931) 6.3 Content license • Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0.