Te Deum

The term Te Deum can also refer to a short religious service (of blessing or thanks) that is based upon the hymn.

Hymnologists of the 20th century, especially Ernst Kähler (1958), have shown the association with "Nicetas" to be spurious.

[5] The Te Deum has structural similarities with a eucharistic prayer and it has been proposed that it was originally composed as part of one.

[clarification needed] In the traditional office, the Te Deum is sung at the end of Matins on all days when the Gloria is said at Mass; those days are all Sundays outside Advent, Septuagesima, Lent, and Passiontide; on all feasts (except the Triduum) and on all ferias during Eastertide.

Before the 1961 reforms of Pope John XXIII, neither the Gloria nor the Te Deum were said on the feast of the Holy Innocents, unless it fell on Sunday, as they were martyred before the death of Christ and therefore could not immediately attain the beatific vision.

[7] In the Liturgy of the Hours of Pope Paul VI, the Te Deum is sung at the end of the Office of Readings on all Sundays except those in Lent, on all solemnities, on the octaves of Easter and Christmas, and on all feasts.

[9][10][clarification needed] In the Daily Office of the Catholic Ordinariates the Te Deum is sung at Morning Prayer as the Canticle following the First Lesson.

It is appointed for (1) Sundays except in Pre-Lent and Lent, (2) Feasts and Solemnities, and (3) all days during the Octaves of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.

[12] The hymn also remains in use in the Anglican Communion and some Lutheran Churches in similar settings.

Originally, the hymn Te Deum was written on a Gregorian chant melody.

The hymn follows the outline of the Apostles' Creed, mixing a poetic vision of the heavenly liturgy with its declaration of faith.

Calling on the name of God immediately, the hymn proceeds to name all those who praise and venerate God, from the hierarchy of heavenly creatures to those Christian faithful already in heaven to the Church spread throughout the world.

The hymn then returns to its credal formula, naming Christ and recalling his birth, suffering and death, his resurrection and glorification.

Tu ad liberándum susceptúrus hóminem, non horruísti Vírginis úterum.

Tu, devícto mortis acúleo, aperuísti credéntibus regna cælórum.

[added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] Salvum fac pópulum tuum, Dómine, et bénedic hæreditáti tuæ.

Dignáre, Dómine, die isto sine peccáto nos custodíre.

Fiat misericórdia tua, Dómine, super nos, quemádmodum sperávimus in te.

you overcame the sting of death and opened wide the Kingdom of Heaven to those who put their faith in you.

In the Book of Common Prayer, verse is written in half-lines, at which reading pauses, indicated by colons in the text.

[17] In the Autonomous Region of Madeira, the Bishop of Funchal holds a Te Deum service on December 31 of each year.

[18][19][20] It is also celebrated in some South American countries such as Argentina, Chile, and Peru on their national days.

Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote a setting of Te Deum for the court of Louis XIV of France, and received a fatal injury while conducting it.

Michel Richard de Lalande wrote a setting of the Te Deum, S.32.

The prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's setting (H.146) is well known in Europe on account of its being used as the theme music for Eurovision network broadcasts of the European Broadcasting Union, most notably the Eurovision Song Contest and Jeux Sans Frontières.

Earlier it had been used as the theme music for Bud Greenspan's documentary series, The Olympiad.

Puccini's opera Tosca features a dramatic performance of the initial part of the Te Deum at the end of Act I.

The traditional chant melody was the basis for elaborate Te Deum compositions by notable French composer organists, Louis Marchand, Guillaume Lasceux, Charles Tournemire (1930), Jean Langlais (1934), and Jeanne Demessieux (1958), which are still widely performed today.

Mark Hayes wrote a setting of the text in 2005, with Latin phrases interpolated amid primarily English lyrics.

In 1978, British hymnodist Christopher Idle[21] wrote God We Praise You,[22] a version of the text in 8.7.8.7.D meter, set to the tune Rustington.