October 16, 2025
Of the Father's Love Begotten
The Cathedral Singers & Richard Proulx
What is the oldest song you like?
A lovely, ambiguous prompt. What sense of old do we mean here? Recordings only go back so far... but songs go back as far as history and even further.
Of The Father's Love Begotten is translated from a Latin text written by Prudentius, who was born in 348. The plainchant melody we put with the words goes back at least as far as the 10th century.
I don't have a favorite recording of it, but this one is representative enough.