Non nobis Domine (Anonymous)
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CPDL #10914:
NOTEWORTHY COMPOSER
- Editor: Brian Russell (added 2006-02-03). Score information: Letter, 3 pages, 36 kbytes Copyright: CPDL
- Edition notes:
CPDL #10739:
- Editor: Philip Legge (added 2006-01-15). Score information: A4, 3 pages, 96 kbytes Copyright: 2006 Philip Legge
- Edition notes: Included in the TUMS Busking Book, arranged for SAB. PDF also contains a setting of the same text by Philip Legge, and Fine knacks for ladies by John Dowland.
CPDL #10618:
- Editor: Paul Cienniwa (added 2006-01-07). Score information: Letter, 1 pages, 22 kbytes Copyright: Personal: to be used freely
- Edition notes: This three-part canon is arranged for SAB.
- CPDL #6783: Scorch Sibelius 2.
- Editor: John D. Smith (added 2004-02-25). Score information: A4, 1 pages, kbytes Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: Scores listed alphabetically by composer, some scores are also available as PDF files.
- CPDL #5935: Scorch Sibelius 2.
- Editor: Bettina Blokland (added 2003-11-06). Score information: A4, 1 pages, kbytes Copyright:
- Edition notes: Scorch plugin required. To view scores and midi files click on letter at bottom of page which matches composer's last name.
- CPDL #3721: Sibelius 2.
- Editor: Stuart McIntosh (added 2002-06-24). Score information: Letter, 3 pages, 84 kbytes Copyright: Personal
- Edition notes: Score reposted July 14, 2004
General Information
Title: Non nobis, Domine
Composer: Anonymous (not William Byrd)
Number of voices: 3vv Voicing: SSA or SAB (see editions)
Genre: Sacred, Canon
Language: Latin
Instruments: none, a cappella
Description: This famous canon at the fifth and unison or octave is now generally accepted by musicologists as not having been written by Byrd:
Recent research has shown that the two related motifs which form the basis of the 'Non nobis Domine' canon were extracted from the motet 'Aspice Domine' (a5) by Philip van Wilder (c. 1500-1554). In the motet both motifs were set to the text-phrase 'Non est qui consoletur' ('there is none to console') which was presumably the text to which the original version of the canon was sung by the Elizabethan recusant community as an expression of nostalgia for the old political and religious order. The 'Non nobis Domine' text to which the canon is sung today is almost certainly derived from the first collect from the thanksgiving service added to the Book of Common Prayer to celebrate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot on 5 November 1605. The earliest source of the canon dates from 1620 to 1625 and is preserved in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in the "Bull" manuscript, MS 782, f.122v, where it is anonymous, unbarred and untexted. It is however clear from the repeated notes and the contour of the melody that this version was aalready designed to fit the 'Non nobis Domine' text, which was evidently sung in a spirit of thanksgiving for deliverance. The canon was published anonymously in three 17th century collections, yet the earliest attribution to a specific composer was made as late as 1715 by Thomas Tudway, who ascribed it to Morley; the woefully inaccurate Dr Pepusch ascribes it to Byrd in his 1731 Treatise on Harmony; and in 1739 the theme is quoted in a concerto by Carlo Ricciotti as Canone di Palestrina! The canon is known to have been admired by Mozart and Beethoven, whomever its composer was. — Philip Legge
Original text and translations
Latin text
Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, sed nomini tuo da gloriam.
(Psalm 113:9, Vulgate)
English translation
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give the glory.
(Psalm 115:1)