- Composer: Gregorian Chant
- Period: Medieval (1-1449)
Review
Water has intense symbolic resonance within the Christian tradition. The Genesis creation story includes the Holy Spirit hovering over water, and the creator God separating the waters from the dry land. Water was the instrument of cleansing the world in Noah's flood. The Israelites twice passed through waters, the Red Sea and the River Jordan, on their journey to the Promised Land. Moses gave them sweet waters from a rock in the desert. David sang of waters in the 42nd Psalm (the very text of Sicut cervus) as the metaphor for his soul's desire for the living God. John baptized Jesus Himself, in the waters of the Jordan river. Jesus walked on water and commanded His disciples to baptize the nations in water in His name. The Gregorian chant Sicut cervus celebrates one moment when water is brought into the high holy days leading to Easter.Sicut cervus, liturgically speaking, is a tract; it is sung in procession to bless the font of holy baptism. From ancient times in the church, candidates for the sacrament of baptism, and for full inclusion in the church thereafter, would undergo instruction and preparation throughout the week leading to Easter. In the predawn hours of the Easter vigil ceremonies would begin with the blessing of the "new fire" (Lumen Christi), would continue with a rich series of readings from the Old Testament prophecies, and then proceed to the font where the water would be blessed for baptizing the new converts. During that much-anticipated procession, the choir sings Sicut cervus, and invokes the entire breadth of aqueous symbolism.
The text of Sicut cervus directly quotes the Psalm text in its imagery: "As the deer thirsts for the waters, so my soul longs for Thee, O God!" The Psalmist's words remain completely pertinent to the Christian adaptation, as a soul cries over its own complete emptiness and parched nature without the nourishment of water. Its very music almost embodies this thirst, as it alternates between passages of more melodically bound stasis (known within the traditions of chanted psalmody) and more passionate melismas that might attempt to represent the soul's desire. Both music and text add a level of richness to an extremely solemn moment, one of two every year when new souls may be brought into the church. Pointedly, one other use that the medieval church made of Sicut cervus was during the Requiem or funeral Mass, when the soul proceeded from earth to its Promised Land. ~ All Music Guide
Albums with Complete Performances of the Work
| Title | Date |
| Anthology: Chants & Polyphony from St. Michael's Abbey | 2009 |
| Gregorian Chant | 2005 |
