SALVE FESTA DIES
Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316) composed SALVE FESTA DIES as a setting for Venantius H. Fortunatus’s (PHH 400) famous text “Hail Thee, Festival Day.” The tune, whose title comes from the opening words of that text, was published in The English Hymnal of 1906. Like SINE NOMINE (505), this tune is vigorous and jubilant with a rhythmic energy characteristic of Vaughan Williams’s hymn tunes. Its broad dimensions and use of triplets may appear formidable, but it is a glorious tune that can be sung in unison by congregations who have good choral and organ leadership. Try singing antiphonally with a choir of children or adults singing the stanzas and the entire congregation singing the refrain. Note how Vaughan Williams has neatly steered the stanzas right back into the refrain without a pause. Accompany with a sense of majesty and strength. [Liturgical Use] The opening of regular Sunday worship; baptism; Lord’s Supper; a choral processional at festive church services and worship conferences (in this case choirs may want to learn additional stanzas and add a descant; see other hymnal settings of “Hail Thee, Festival Day”). Ralph Vaughan Williams composed SALVE FESTA DIES as a setting for Venantius H. Fortunatus’s famous text “Hail Thee, Festival Day.” The tune, whose title comes from the opening words of that text, was published in The English Hymnal of 1906. Like SINE NOMINE (505), this tune is vigorous and jubilant with a rhythmic energy characteristic of Vaughan Williams’s hymn tunes. Its broad dimensions and use of triplets may appear formidable, but it is a glorious tune that can be sung in unison by congregations who have good choral and organ leadership. Try singing antiphonally with a choir of children or adults singing the stanzas and the entire congregation singing the refrain. Note how Vaughan Williams has neatly steered the stanzas right back into the refrain without a pause. Accompany with a sense of majesty and strength.
Stanza Arc
The narrative or theological arc traced by this tune's stanzas: Proclamation of Christ's resurrection as cosmic triumph, fulfillment of prophecy, and renewal of all creation