Ut queant laxis

Ut queant laxis. Latin, ca. 800 or earlier. The text was written by ca. 800 (it appears on a flyleaf dating from that time found in Vatican Ottob. 532). It is often attributed to Paul the Deacon*. This dates back to the 12th-century writers, Alberic and Peter the Deacon of Montecassino, as well as to an anecdote by Durandus in Rationale divinorum officiorum (ca. 1286). He writes that Paul the Deacon, having to sing the ‘Exultet’ on Holy Saturday with a sore throat, petitioned for divine aid, as in the restoration of Zacharias’ voice after the birth of his son, John the Baptist (Luke 1: 64). The poem is certainly intellectually compatible with the poetic conventions of the late 8th-century...

If you have a valid subscription to Dictionary of Hymnology, please log in to view this content. If you require a subscription, please click here.

Cite this article