Agnus Dei (music) Agnus Dei (music) Agnus Dei, referring to the Christian theological concept of the Lamb of God and the associated liturgical text from the Roman Catholic Latin Mass, has been set to music by many composers, as it is normally one of the movements or sections in a sung Mass setting. However, sometimes it stands alone, e.g. it provides the lyrics for Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei", the choral arrangement of his "Adagio for Strings". The Agnus Dei is a setting of the "Lamb of God" litany, based on John the Baptist's reference in to Jesus ("Behold the Lamb of God that
Holy Family with Christ as Imperator mundi the Baptist" (Dresden). It may be the earliest in the series and takes a more traditional approach, with the infant Christ and John the Baptist standing on a simple parapet and a black background, rather than the curved parapet and more nuanced background in the London example. John holds a scroll bearing Ecce Agnus Dei and points to Christ, who is shown as 'imperator mundi' or 'emperor of the world', holding a cross and an orb. There are gold highlights on the Virgin's veil, whilst behind her is a female saint, most probably her mother saint Anne or perhaps John's