What Is Aeterne Rerum Victor?

St. Ambrose was the inventor of Christian Latin hymnody. St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, composed many beautiful hymns for the church, for example “Aeterne Rerum Conditor” (Maker of all, eternal King). When listening to “Aeterne Rerum Conditor” the chants sound intertwined with one another. I was able to hear the different voices but they can also sound like the same person. The hymns were sung by all men, and in the hymns you can hear all the dominate voices.
The tone and pitch of the hymns sounds high and echoes deeply off the church walls. The rhythm sounds unstressed and flawless with the chants rolling off their tongue making a peaceful tone.
The length of the rhythm seems to be elongated with the dragging out of the lyrics also caring
a rhythmic chant. While listening to the dynamics of the song the loudness increases when the pitch begins to go from one group of men to another. By closing my eyes and imagining the church no matter where the seating, the sound would be very loud comparable to the front row.
The intensity of the sound enables my hearing of one group of men sing one note and another person having a deeper voice than the first group making the notes contrast from one another.
Also in the background the music sounds like there could be smoke coming out of somewhere or one of the singers is gasping or moving things around.
When the hymns or chants were being sung they had no instrument besides their voices. But in parts of “Aeterne Rerum Conditor” it

Marquez 2 almost sounds like a harp is playing in the background. The harp being very delicate and well placed. The melody of the hymn has a range from deep to low from one congregation to another.
As I listen to the movement of the music switch off, from one singing group to another, the flows directly within the audience creating unionization. The harmony was monophonic consisting of a single musical line. The congregation’s voices were beautifully sung making me believe there could be an instrument in the hymn. When the men would sing it was in Latin and during each stanza there is a pause at the end of the second line. St. Ambrose hymns consisted of eight stanzas of four verses. The line consisted of two double iambic feet. Giving emphasis on two and four in the form of his stanzas. There are four sets of pairs but nothing mystical with
the
numbers.
The hymns seem to have a practical foundation. Ambrose hymns were produced for religious purposes.
Analyzing and Interpreting:
In early Christian music there were two methods of singing psalms or chants which were responsorial and antiphonal. Responsorial style music has a single voice which answers another verse or a chorus. Antiphonal style of chanting is a type of music which two or more groups of voices alternate with one another. The antiphonal method was introduced by St. Ambrose,
Bishop of Milan, it was a form of congregational singing. The hymns St. Ambrose produced were monophonic and had simple mathematical basis for both metrical and rhetorical structure
(Cunningham 509). His hymns were referred as Ambrosian but St. Ambrose like to call his chants psalms. Early Christian music was considered harmony of body and mind. During early melody in church, musical instruments were considered “dangerous pleasure” (Fiero 108). The people of the church did not want to distract from God. St. Ambrose had a simple element and no system some of his other hymns were “Veni Redemptor gentium” ("Redeemer of the nations,

Marquez 3 come") and was performed only in mass. According to Michael Williams “Hymns
as
Acclamations”, he proclaimed: “Ambrose's demonstrated and articulated the unity of a diverse population by allowing the constituents to express themselves in a single voice” (Williams 108), his congregation sounded like one but had many voices involved. St. Ambrose had untrained men singing and they still sung parallel to another. St. Ambrose first taught his hymns to keep the frighten people calm from Empress Justina who had an army outside the congregation. Ambrose had an important position as govern of Milan, but when the Bishop died Ambrose took over his position. St. Ambrose was not baptized at the time and at first did not want the position of
Bishop, nonetheless soon later he came around and gave his property away to the poor and went to learn the scripture and theology. According to Muthuraj’s “Religion and State…” vocalizes,
“Ambrose's view, the State and the Church are allied but independent powers” (Muthuraj 354).
St. Ambrose was a biblical critic, and motivator of ideas that provided a model for medieval beginnings of church–state relation. Ambrose always had more concern for the poor rather than the power. Ambrose was considered one of the four original doctors of the Church and an important Latin scholar; he formulated the Christian doctrine and liturgy Ambrose preaching reached out and converted Saint Augustine of Hippo, whom Ambrose baptized and brought into the church.
Connecting:
The influence of St. Ambrose transition from the one type of the Latin tradition can be attributed primarily to first was Christian hymnody and then more generally in the medieval poetic tradition.