Quam pulchri sunt

General information

Motet based on the Song of Solomon 7. It does not seem to have a fixed liturgical text; Palestrina's Motecta festorum totius anni I 4vv assigns one version to the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Settings by composers

• Quam pulchri sunt (Severo Bonino) SSB (Version I)
• Bernardino Morelli SATTB (version I)
• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
  • Quam pulchri sunt (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) in Canticum Canticorum, 1584 SSATB (Version II including italicized parts)
  • II (correctly ascribed to Victoria instead, see below)
  • Quam pulchri sunt III a 4 (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) in Motecta festorum totius anni I, 1564 SATB (Version I)
  • 2nda parte of Sicut lilium inter spinas II (Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina) SATTB setting in 1569, Version I
• Tomás Luis de Victoria SATB (Version I)

Other settings possibly not included in the manual list above

• Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina — Quam pulchri sunt (1584)

Text and translations

Version I

Latin text 1b  Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui filia principis 4  collum tuum sicut turris eburnea oculi tui divini 5  et comae capitis tui sicut purpura regis 6  quam pulchra es et quam decora carissima Alleluia.

English translation 1  …How beautiful are thy steps, O prince's daughter! 4  Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes divine 5  …and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king… 6  How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest… Alleluia.

Version II

Latin text 1  …quam pulchri sunt gressus tui in calciamentis filia principis iunctura feminum tuorum sicut monilia quae fabricata sunt manu artificis 2  umbilicus tuus crater tornatilis numquam indigens poculis venter tuus sicut acervus tritici vallatus liliis

Dutch translation Wat zijn je voeten mooi in je sandalen, koningsdochter. De ronding van je heupen is als een halssnoer, gemaakt door kunstenaarshanden. Je navel is als een ronde beker, waarin wijn nooit ontbreekt. Je buik is als een bergje tarwe, omgeven door lelies. Translation by Anton Hendriks, Ben Terstegge & Hanneke Pot

English translation 1  …How beautiful are thy steps in sandals, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skillful workman. 2  Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.