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Eric Whitacre – Lux Aurumque Lyrics 16 years ago
Found some answers:
http://topmostapple.blogspot.com/2009/01/lux-arumque.html

"The poem is a translation to Latin of an Edward Esch poem"

Light,
Warm and heavy as pure gold
And the angels sing softly
To the new-born baby.

The full poem in Latin:

Lux,
Calida gravisque pura velut aurum
Et canunt angeli molliter
Modo natum.

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Eric Whitacre – Lux Aurumque Lyrics 16 years ago
Oh and also ... why is it titled "Lux Aurumque", meaning "Light and Gold", as if the light and the gold are separate things... since in the lyrics, the light IS the thing that is pure "as gold"?

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Eric Whitacre – Lux Aurumque Lyrics 16 years ago
Thanks for the translation.

For others' benefit, let's clarify that the "light" (lux) at the beginning is the bright visible stuff, not the opposite of "heavy" later on.

So we have the words, and the English translation... but as far as *meaning* goes, I'm a little fuzzy on that. Is it a reference to a classic Latin text? Something Biblical? or a new text composed just for this song?

The adjectives 'warm, and heavy, pure (as gold)' are all feminine singular (although gravis could be m or f) and thus seem to modify the noun lux, which is also f. sing.
So the words "warm, heavy, and pure (as gold)" refer to the light, presumably.

And then there's "canunt et canunt et canunt". Someone (plural) is singing.
And singing and singing.

The birth of Jesus -- angel choirs in the skies?

The heavenly reign of Jesus -- worshipers from every tribe and tongue and people and nation?






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