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"Reges Tharsis et insulae" ("Kings of
Tarshish Tarshish (; ; ) occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoenicia (now Lebanon) and the Land of Israel. Tarshish was said to have exported v ...
and the islands") is a common Latin
motet In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
and antiphon title. It is the beginning of the Latin Vulgate translation of Psalm 71:10 (Psalm 72 according to the Hebrew numbering). The wording was used in European cathedrals as a responsory for The Feast of Epiphany, "The Day of the
Three Kings In Christianity, the Biblical Magi ( or ; singular: ), also known as the Three Wise Men, Three Kings, and Three Magi, are distinguished foreigners who visit Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh in homage to hi ...
," and with slightly altered text as an antiphon for Epiphany.Music in Early English Religious Drama: Minstrels Playing - Page 270 Richard Rastall - 2001 "8/338+lat Reges Tharsis et Insule munera offerent. Reges Arabum et Saba dona adducent. As the text goes on to say, this is Psalm 71/10 (AV 72): it is precisely quoted. The text occurs in the liturgy as follows: (a) Antiphon for the Epiphany (WA " The oldest surviving musical setting of the text is as
Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, plainchant, a form of monophony, monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek language, Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed main ...
. A very large number of composers set the text over the centuries: Renaissance composers such as
Palestrina Palestrina (ancient ''Praeneste''; , ''Prainestos'') is a modern Italian city and ''comune'' (municipality) with a population of about 22,000, in Lazio, about east of Rome. It is connected to the latter by the Via Prenestina. It is built upon ...
, and
Byrd Byrd commonly refers to: * William Byrd (c. 1540 – 1623), an English composer of the Renaissance * Richard E. Byrd (1888–1957), an American naval officer and explorer Byrd or Byrds may also refer to: Other people *Byrd (surname), including ...
, classical composers such as Joseph Leopold Eybler, up to modern composers such as John Scott Whiteley, Gaston Litaize, and
Perosi Perosi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Carlo Perosi (1868–1930), Italian cardinal *Lorenzo Perosi (1872–1956), Italian classical composer *Marziano Perosi (1875–1959), Italian classical organist, choirmaster a ...
. The most frequently performed, and recorded, setting today is that by John Sheppard (c.1515-c.1559).


References

Christian hymns in Latin {{Latin-vocab-stub