The ‘Agnus Dei’ of a church mass, but it’s actually Baby Shark

24 October 2019, 17:28

Introducing... the Baby Shark Mass. (Missa puer Pistris, anyone?)

Have you heard the incredibly catchy song about a family of sharks entitled ‘Baby Shark’? Well, the original video for the song has now racked up 3.7 billion YouTube views. So, it’s probable you have watched it.

The viral song is a hit with arm-snapping children, and an inescapable earworm for parents and everyone else above water.

And here’s one of the many arrangements it has inspired.

Read more: Pianist turns this YouTuber’s laugh into a genius Bach chorale >

Father David Sibley has set it to a movement of the Ordinary of the Mass (that’s the sequence of sung Kyrie, Gloria, Credo etc, that you get in a Catholic Mass setting).

Behold, the reverent and peaceful Agnus Dei (translated as 'Lamb of God'), but as Baby Shark.

Renaissance composers such as Palestrina would often use the melodies from popular songs and madrigals as the foundations for their mass settings. Palestrina’s Missa Nasce la gioia mia is a good example.

So, maybe Missa puer Pistris (‘Baby Shark Mass’), as we will now call it, isn’t so historically ridiculous after all.

And while it’s stuck in your head, why not enjoy this organ arrangement?

In other classical observations, the start of Baby Shark actually mimics the first few bars of the 'Allegro con fuoco' from Dvořák's Symphony No.9, From the New World. Nice that billions are listening to the Czech master as well.