Pablo Casals (1876 - 1973):
NIGRA SUM

Pablo (Pau) Casals was a Spanish cellist and conductor from Catalonia. He is generally regarded as the pre-eminent cellist of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest cellists of all time. He is perhaps best remembered for the recordings of the Bach Cello Suites which he made from 1936 to 1939. Asked why he was still playing cello every day at the age of 90, he replied: because I think I can still improve!

Leo Pepper wrote the following in 2014 on thelatinreadingblog.blogspot.de:
"... I recently heard a version of Nigra sum, sed formosa "I am black but beautiful". This is a choral setting of various lines from the Song of Songs. The texts used by the various composers vary, but the intro is the same. I wondered what first line meant and which context it had. The first chapter of this book makes it clear that she was burnt by the sun as she had to work in the vineyard of her brothers. Probably she is defending herself against scornful remarks of the court ladies, as her dark skin singled her out as a lower class girl. The dating of the Song of Song is notoriously difficult as there are no extra textual references. It was by an allegorical interpretation – bride and bridegroom are Israel and God – that this essentially secular erotic text has found its place in the canon of the Hebrew Bible ..."

Nigra sum, sed formosa filiae Jerusalem; Ideo dilexit me Rex, et introduxit me in cubiculum suum, et dixit mihi; Surge et veni amica mea, surge et veni amica mea, jam hiems transiit, imber abiit et recessit, jam hiems transiit, flores apparu  erunt in terrat nostra, tempus putationis ad venit.
Alleluia.

Text: Biblical (Song of Songs)

I am black, but comely, daughters of Jerusalem; the King hath rejoiced in me, the King hath brought me  into His very own chambers. 
He spake unto me; rise up, my fair one, and come away, my love. Lo, for the winter is past and gone, and the rain is over and gone, flow’rs appear on the earth, and the time of renewal is come. 
Alleluia.

Elektra Women's Choir (Vancouver, Canada)

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