Today we celebrate the memory of Saint Albert, Bishop of Regensburg and Doctor of the Church, nicknamed the Great. Born in Bavaria around 1200, he is one of the most original, erudite and prolific figures in Europe. He is known as the "Universal Doctor" for his studies of Greek, Arabic, alchemy, magic, zoology, astrology, etc., as well as for his in-depth knowledge of the theories of Empedocles, Plato and the Latin authors. He joined the Dominican Order in Padua in 1223 and taught philosophy and theology in Paris, both orally and through his writings, and included Saint Thomas Aquinas among his pupils. 

Albert masterfully combined the wisdom of the saints with natural and human science. He would have liked to devote his whole life to thought and teaching, but having taken orders, out of obedience, he became a Dominican provincial and then bishop of Regensburg. Having had to reluctantly accept the bishopric of Regensburg, which was not well received by the people because of his poverty and lack of pomp in his lifestyle, he resigned his office after a year, preferring the poverty of his order to any honour. He died piously in 1280 (probably at the age of 87) in Cologne, surrounded by his brothers.

In celebration of such a lofty figure in the Church, we at Neumz have chosen the Entrance Antiphon Meditatio cordis mei. The text, taken from Psalm 18, verse 15, is an invitation to humility, not to try to please with our words, thoughts, deeds in the presence of men, as happens with the proud, conceited; rather the opposite, to please God, in secret, where He sees; our glory is to live in full consciousness, always in the presence of the Creator. It is to Him that we give the fruit of our thoughts, of our deeds, those that spring from our heart. It is He who helps us to do those good works (adjutor meus) so that we may dwell in His charity; and is also the redeemer of the bad (redemptor meus), the one who frees us from iniquity. St Albert the Great understood this and was a faithful example of this charity, of detachment, of living always in the presence of God. A great figure of humility in sharing his immense knowledge, not to please men or to delight in his knowledge, but to serve God through his brothers, making them more intellectually and spiritually elevated.

As for the melody of this piece, composed in mode 1, it is an introit of great simplicity. From the beginning, the melodic movement moves in the high register, around the dominant, the A: these are elevated thoughts, set in the heights, towards God, reaching the C, the melodic summit of the piece. A high C that appears for the second and last time in cordis mei: my heart is directed towards the heights; it rises towards heaven. The B flat that appears in mei and conspectu confers a certain tenderness, intimacy with the Lord. Magnificent is the melodic turn of semper: full of strength, certainty; there is no room for doubt, for the first time the fundamental, the D, appears, reinforcing this adverb. The second phrase returns to the high register in adjutor: he who helps me, who elevates my thoughts, my works. After this, the melodic movement settles into the fundamental, briefly, to strengthen the possessive meus (my help) and to underline this link between the Lord and the soul that always works from the heart to radiate good. The piece concludes with a beautiful salicus movement returning to the treble range, an elevation of the melody, but also of the soul which the Lord, its redeemer, helps to get up after it falls on its path.