Ad Mortem Festinamus

Ad Mortem Festināmus is a monodic song (fol. 26v) from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, one of the oldest extant medieval manuscripts containing music. Its lyrics talk about the inevitability of death and the need to stop sinning. It has been recorded by a variety of artists, including the electronic neo-medieval act Qntal, that gave new music to the lyrics and made it a club hit in 1992.

Lyric

Scribere proposui de contemptu mundano
ut degentes seculi non mulcentur in vano
iam est hora surgere
a sompno mortis pravo
a sompno mortis pravo

Vita brevis breviter in brevi finietur
mors venit velociter quae neminem veretur
omnia mors perimit
et nulli miseretur
et nulli miseretur.

Ad mortem festinamus
peccare desistamus
peccare desistamus.

Ni conversus fueris et sicut puer factus
et vitam mutaveris in meliores actus
intrare non poteris
regnum Dei beatus
regnum Dei beatus.

Tuba cum sonuerit dies erit extrema
et iudex advenerit vocabit sempiterna
electos in patria
prescitos ad inferna
prescitos ad inferna.

Ad mortem festinamus
peccare desistamus
peccare desistamus.

Modern recordings

• The New London Consort directed by Philip Pickett (album Llibre vermell, pilgrim songs & dances, 1992)
• Jordi Savall, Hesperion XXI (album Llibre Vermell de Montserrat - siglo XIV, 1978)
• Ensemble Micrologus (album: In Festa, 1995)
• Companyia Elèctrica Dharma (album: Llibre Vermell, 2002)
• Capilla Musical y Escolanía de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos & Atrium Musicae, directed by Luis Lozano & Gregorio Paniagua (album: Canto Antiguo Español, 1994)
• Ensemble Alla Francesca (album: Llibre Vermell de Montserrat, cantigas de Santa Maria, 1994)
• Qntal (album Qntal I, 1992)
• Gothart (album "Stella Splendens", 1997)
• Studio der Frühen Musik directed by Thomas Binkley (album Secular music c1300, 1998)
• Companyia Elèctrica Dharma: "Festinamus (reprise)" (album: Llibre Vermell, 2002)
• Choeur de Chambre de Namur (album:Llibre Vermell)
• Lamia, (album: La Maquina de Dios, 2006)