In paradisum (antiphon with Psalm 121)
Gregorian chant
Recording
The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz
- Album
- Chant – Music for the Soul
- Year
- 2008
- Length
- Period
- Gregorian chant
- Listen
Painting
Master of the First Prayerbook of Maximillian
Hours of Queen Isabella the Catholic, Queen of Spain: Fol. 219v, Funeral Service, c. 1500
The piece
In paradisum is the antiphon sung as the body is carried out of church after the Requiem Mass, praying that angels lead the soul into paradise and the holy city of Jerusalem. The melody is in mode seven, and here it frames Psalm 121 (122), Laetatus sum, the psalm of going up to Jerusalem.
The recording
The Cistercian monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz, near Vienna, recorded it in their abbey church in 2008. Brian Wilson made the album MusicWeb International's Recording of the Month, writing that the monks' daily familiarity with the music "makes their singing authoritative."
Other recordings
The monks of Solesmes sing the antiphon alone on their Gregorian chant recordings, and Maurice Duruflé built the last movement of his Requiem, Op. 9, on its melody.