Puer natus est nobis (LU 408)

This simple, yet beautiful piece was actually familiar to me already.  I have been exposed to it in a music history class that I took at Henry Ford Community College.  It is in mode 7, which means that it's final is G and it would make the most sense for it to end on a G, and it does.  All of the versions I have ever heard are sung by a men's choir, and so is this version that I am listening to right now.  The piece seems to be primarily neumatic, though once it reaches the Psalm section it becomes more syllabic.  This is an Introit piece, belonging to the proper, which means it is one of the chants that will be chosen to fit the calendar.  It's translation is: "Unto us a child is born" so, it would probably be used around Christmas time.  Sure enough, in the LU, the title of the page is:  "The Nativity of Our Lord".  It's not "Joy to the World" by any stretch, nor is it the Hallelujah Chorus, but in it's simplicity there is a beauty that has not dimmed throughout the centuries.