Veni Creator Spiritus

As the church enters the Pentecost season, most of us will probably sing the hymn, Veni Creator Spiritus, usually known in English as “Come, Holy Ghost, Creator Blest” (LSB 499), along with its German version, Komm Gott Schӧpfer (LSB 498):

The authorship of the text of the Veni Creator is uncertain.The historic attributions of the text range from the probable to the comical. It has been attributed through the centuries to such diverse figures as Ambrose of Milan (340-397), Gregory the Great (c. 540-604), Charlemagne (c. 742-814), and Rabanus Maurus (776-856). Ambrose and Gregory are far too early to be considered seriously. Charlemagne is contemporaneous with the flourishing of the Veni Creator (crowned on Christmas Day, A.D. 800), but it is more likely that the chant was simply sung during his reign. More recent scholarship attributes the hymn to Rabanus Maurus, which is feasible. Is it possible that Maurus, influenced by the texts of Ambrose and the chants of St. Gregory, wrote the text during the reign of Charlemagne? In any event, W. G. Polack perhaps put it best: “[The Veni Creator] has taken a deeper hold on Western Christendom that any other medieval hymn except the Te Deum, and yet very little is known definitely about its authorship” (Handbook to The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 174). 

Listen to the plain chant setting of the Veni Creator, sung in the following video by women’s voices. If you have access to a hymnal at home, follow the melody in your hymnal and see if it matches the melody in this rendition. Hear how the music, so simple and yet so beautiful, serves as a fitting vehicle to carry the text to the hearts and minds of the faithful: 

            Come, Holy Ghost, Creator blest, And make our hearts Your place of rest;
            Come with Your grace and heav’nly aid, And fill the hearts which You have made.

            To You, the Counselor, we cry, To You, the gift of God Most High;
            The fount of life, the fire of love, The soul’s anointing from above.

            In You, with graces seven-fold, We God’s almighty hand behold
            While You with tongues of fire proclaim / To all the world His holy name.

            Your light to ev’ry thought impart, And shed Your love in ev’ry heart;
            The weakness of our mortal state / With deathless might invigorate.

            Drive far away our wily foe, And Your abiding peace bestow;
            With You as our protecting guide, No evil can with us abide.

            Teach us to know the Father, Son, And You, from both, as Three in One
            That we Your name may ever bless / And in our lives the truth confess.

            Praise we the Father and the Son, And Holy Spirit, with them One.
            And may the Son on us bestow / The gifts that from the Spirit flow!  Amen.

Those who sang this chant in the High Middle Ages would probably be amazed to know how many composers have been inspired by this simple text and tune through the centuries. John Dunstaple (d. 1453) and Guillaume Du Fay (c. 1397—1474) composed fine settings of all seven stanzas, using both the original chant and early polyphony.  Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) wrote a Mass for six voices based on the Veni Creator. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) composed a lesser-known motet on this text for women’s voices. And Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) used the text of Veni Creator in the first movement of his monumental Symphony VIII, intended for a chorus and orchestra of some 1,000 performers! Perhaps the Veni Creator should receive a Grammy Award for the most diverse journey across music history, from the simplest chant to the most expansive symphony ever written?

The progression from a simple chant to much fuller music is reflected in the following organ work by Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986), Prélude, Adagio & Choral Varié sur 'Veni Creator':

Listen for the melody in the initial chorale, the variations to follow, and the gradual swelling to a triumphant climax as the use of chant proves to be liberating, rather than restricting.

In the Lutheran tradition, the Veni Creator was slightly simplified under Luther’s influence for corporate singing as the German hymn, Komm, Gott Schӧpfer. In the following video, J. S. Bach’s (1685-1750) chorale prelude (BWV 667) on the German hymn has the melody in the uppermost voice (right hand). Listen for the emphasis on the third note of each group of three (most prominent in the lower register), emphasizing the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Trinity:

As I reflect this year on the 25th anniversary of my ordination, I am reminded of an admonition from one of my spiritual fathers, Rev. Dan Gard, to read my ordination vow every day. While I must confess that I have failed to faithfully follow his recommendation, I rejoice that I might be rescued by the regular singing and praying of the Veni Creator, which summarizes the office and tasks of the church and ministry. Indeed, it stands along side the hymn, “Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord” (LSB 497) as a sine qua non for every ordination and installation. The Veni Creator Spiritus gives us voice invoke the presence of the Holy Spirit (st. 1), to cry to the Counselor (Paraclete in st. 2 = "one who stands along side"), and to petition the Spirit for His seven-fold gifts. The following phrase from st. 3 is especially fitting for the preaching office:  Sermone ditas guttural (Sermone ditans guttera in the Liber Usualis), “Give speech [sermon] to the tongue,” i.e., fill the mouths of our preachers with the good news of the Gospel, which invigorates us with life and salvation (st. 4), and serves as our protecting guide to the end of days (st. 5). 

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful people;
And kindle in them the fire of Your love.