My freshman year of college I first encountered the Regina Coeli from Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana , sung after Mass on Easter Sunday in place of the Angelus. The Regina Coeli lasts only a few seconds, however, before a rollicking Easter hymn begins:
Inneggiamo, il Signor non è morto.
Ei fulgente ha dischiuso l’avel.
Inneggiamo al Signore risorto—
oggi asceso alla gloria del Ciel!Let us sing hymns, the Lord is not dead.
Shining, he has unsealed the tomb,
Let us sing hymns to the risen Lord—
ascended today to the glory of Heaven!
This repeats and builds until the final chords, which make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, if not reduce you to tears. There are many versions available online, all filmed clips of the opera. But my favorite is still the (quicker) version performed by the choir of S. Clement’s, Philadelphia .
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