The Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost, excerpts from The Chants of the Vatican Gradual by Dom Dominic Johner

Along with the Gradual, the Catholic Music Association of America has made Dom Johner's Chants of the Vatican Gradual available as a .pdf file here. This is a commentary, 'a book descriptive and explanatory of the Gregorian Mass chants'. In the Foreword by the translators, Dom Johner is quoted:

The present work is intended chiefly to serve as an aid to the prayerful rendition of the variable chanted parts of the Mass. At the same time it aims to be a guide for the worthy and artistic rendition of those chants which have been handed down to us from an age of strong faith and noble taste.

The Introit, Gradual, Alleluia-verse, Tract, Sequence, Offertory, and Communion 'are studied in their historical and liturgical setting, and their sentiments of joy and sorrow, hope and fear, gratitude and penance, are pointed out and developed. In this sense also the intimate relationship existing between these various texts is indicated; all are integrated into a unified whole and referred to the life of Christ and His Church. Following this short meditation, the author analyses the musical score accompanying the text, and attempts to show how Gregorian Chant interprets these various sentiments and gives adequate expression to them— in short, how Gregorian Chant is the perfect yet simple medium of translating religious emotion into the language of music.' (Quoting the translators.)

And Dom Johner says this about his work:

Choral music, or chant, is here considered not as a mere historic relic of the past, nor is worthy rendition to be understood in the sense of an elaborate concert interpretation of these monodic church compositions of the Middle Ages. Chant is more than this. It is an integral part of the liturgy, as much alive and inspiring today as ever. It is the praise of the living God by his people in union with Christ. Anyone, therefore, wishing to render chant properly must participate in the Christ-life of the Church, must seek spiritual nourishment at the heart of the liturgy, which is the Eucharistic Sacrifice. He must desire, as Christ did, to honor the Father with due reverence. These few thoughts have formed the guiding principles of the present work.

I continue below the break with his commentary on today's chanted propers. It is edifying to use these meditations in listening to the chants which are available on the 'net in mp3 format audio files for listening, at Dominica XXIII. post Pentecosten.

INTROIT (Jer. 29: 11, 12, 14)
1. Dicit Dominus: Ego cogito cogitationes pacis, et non afflictionis: 2. invocabitis me, et ego exaudiam vos: 3. et reducam captivitatem vestram de cunctis locis. Ps. Benedixisti Domine terram tuam: * avertisti captivitatem Jacob.	1. The Lord saith: I think thoughts of peace, and not of affliction: 2. You shall call upon me, and I will hear you: 3. and I will bring back your captivity from all places. Ps * Lord, thou hast blessed thy land: * thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob.

The words of today's Introit are an excerpt from the letter which the Prophet Jeremias wrote at God's behest to the captive Jews at Babylon. They must have been a soothing balm for those tired and wounded hearts. God had experienced untold infidelities and offenses at the hands of His chosen people, and yet He thinks thoughts of peace and not of affliction. He still promises to hear their prayers, still promises to bring them back from their captivity into the Promised Land.

We are not yet in the Promised Land. The deathlike picture of all nature in this bleak November vividly brings the fact home to us. We know it also from the affliction of heart which frequently weighs more heavily upon us than captivity: we are exiles, living in that state of flux called time. Suddenly a word strikes our ear, enters our heart; a word not spoken by man, for men are powerless: it is the Lord, and He speaks of peace. He pronounced this word when He sent His beloved Son upon earth; He published it by the mouth of an angel on Christmas night. And how often Christ the Saviour uttered His Pax vobis! He is still uttering it today, and suiting the action to the word.

Majesty marks the opening of the melody; the theme is blessed peace. Over cogitatio-(nes) the motive of the beginning is repeated, followed by the bright major chord; then its tones sink again, sweetly, blissfully, like rays of sunshine into our heart. God thinks thoughts of peace. Would that we, too, might always think them! But how often we fail to recognize what serves unto our peace, and thus force the Lord to discipline us (afflictionis), until, made homesick once more by our desolation of soul or by some external affliction, we transfer our affection and longing to Him who alone can be our peace, our happiness. The cadence over afflictionis is the same as that which is repeated twice in the Introit Requiem. It places before him who is conversant with plainsong the thought of those still awaiting the full peace of the Lord in purgatory. All the melodic pauses and incisions in this first phrase fall on the note f. The melody loses somewhat in variety thereby, but it preserves the quiet feeling which is proper to this phrase. This phrase, moreover, towers far above the other two: its text is longer, its range is more extended, its neums are more ornate. The usual thing in chant, however, is to have the phrases more nearly in climactic order.

The second phrase is restricted to a fifth. A contrast is formed by the b in the first phrase and b-flat in the second. There is a certain unrest in invocabitis ("you shall call upon me") which soon is eased by the dominant-like fivefold b-flat which seems to say: Be comforted, the Lord will grant your prayer; you have, it is true, often forgotten Him, have despised and deserted Him, but He thinks only of your peace. In the third phrase, with its range of an octave, the tonic f plays a prominent part. Perhaps this is to indicate the oppression of captivity, just as is done with the same word in the Offertory for the third Sunday of Advent by lingering on the dominant. In the second half of the phrase, however, de cunctis rises with such firm assurance that neither men nor circumstances can weaken it. Even to those who have gone farthest astray, the road to their fatherland, to reconciliation, to peace, will not be closed. Indeed, the Lord Himself proffers His guiding and protecting hand (reducam); He Himself wishes to lead them home (cf. Reck, II 378). Happy he who grasps this hand!

First the Lord says: "I will hear; I will bring back." With the abandon of faith the congregation immediately responds with words which assume that the promise is already fulfilled: "Lord, Thou hast blessed the land: Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob." The church into which we are now filing is already heaven for the community; the processional entrance itself becomes in a certain sense an anticipation of the procession of the just, when, after the Last Day, they will follow Christ into full glory. The house of God, into which we enter now for the celebration of the sacred Mysteries, is heaven upon earth. We are coming closer to the Parousia: though it is still sacramentally veiled, it is already pre-realized in the Eucharist (Jahrbuch fuer Liturgiewissenschaft, IV, 148 f.).

This is the Lord's promise: "I will hear; I will bring back." And in the regions of bliss—for it is November, the month of All Saints—thousands of the blessed make joyous melody, because He has led them to eternal peace, to freedom, and to the glory of the children of God.

GRADUAL (Ps. 43:8,9)
1. Liberasti nos, Domine, ex affligentibus nos: 2. et eos qui nos oderunt, confudisti. V. 1. In Deo audabimur tota die, 2. et nomini tuo confitebimur in saecula.	1. Thou hast delivered us, O Lord, from them that afflict us: 2. and hast put them to shame that hate us. f. l1. In God we will glory all the day, 2. and in thy name we will give praise for ever.

In the Epistle we heard the words: "But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory." With unhesitating faith, as if this were already effected, Holy Church sings in the Gradual a spirited song of freedom and thanksgiving. All those who opposed and hated her have fallen. Even our bodies, which were the source of untold miseries, may now, in recompense for renunciation and suffering and mortification, expectantly look forward to the transfiguration of Christ. If we read in the same Epistle of the enemies of Christ, that their glory is in their shame, then God is the pride and glory of His children; Him will they praise for all eternity.

The two phrases of the corpus of the Gradual place the activity of God at the beginning and at the close: Liberdsti—confudisti. Those who afflict and hate are in the center. In both phrases the psalmodic construction of the melody with intonation, recitation on c, a sort of middle cadence with its close on the dominant d or the mediant b respectively, and final cadence on the tonic, is still recognizable. The formula over the first nos recurs in the verse over (tu)-o, while the neums over confu-(disti) remind us of those over (Domi)-ne. The ending over (confu)-disti employs a motive frequently heard in Graduals of the fifth mode. Compare the passage terra in the Gradual for the third Mass for Christmas. Here the motive sets in on g, but has instead of the half tone c b (in the fifth mode) the full tone d c.

The verse has the same florid melisma over Deo as the Gradual-verse for the third Sunday of Advent (q.v.). Rightly does laudabimur iota die mark the climax of the piece. The second part of the verse is comparatively simple and quiet, the chant being almost syllabic. The motive over confitebimur is repeated over in saecula. We find the same closing melisma on the Sunday within the octave of Epiphany.

ALLELUIA VERSE (Ps. 129: 1, 2)
1. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: Domine exaudi vocem meam.	1. From the depths I have cried to thee, O Lord, Lord, hear my voice,

The words Alleluia and De profundis and Domine of the verse have the intonation of the ornate Introit-psalmody as their model. Consequently there is hardly any justification for speaking of tone-painting with the words De profundis in spite of the upward movement. Its form a b b b1 c c1 resembles that of the Alleluia for the Sunday after Christ's ascension. In b1, however, the pressus does not occur on e, but on c. The melody of the verse has two independent members, of which each has an intonation, a sort of middle cadence, and a closing cadence. Exaudi is an enhanced form of the supplicating clamari. It was sung in the same spirit on the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost; the Alleluia verse for the eleventh Sunday likewise bears considerable resemblance to our present one.

If we say that today's Gradual is sung by the choir of the blessed, by the Church triumphant, then the Alleluia with its verse is sung by the Church militant and the Church suffering. We have not yet reached the goal of perfect liberty. Many things handicap us. And a great many children of the Church have drawn far away from God. But no abyss is so deep that God's merciful love cannot reach down to its very bottom. God will stretch forth His helping hand to everyone who proves that he has at least some good will. For He heals those who have been afflicted for many years, as the Gospel says; even the dead He brings back to life.

There is nothing oppressive about the melody; in fact, there is a certain throb and swing in it. As to the text, we must think not so much of the Office of the Dead as rather of one of the songs which the Jews sang on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And for our dear departed we have but one wish: that they may complete their pilgrimage to the heavenly Jerusalem as soon as possible.

OFFERTORY (Ps. 129: 1, 2)
1. De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine: 2. Domine exaudi orationem meam: 3. de profundis clamavi ad te, Domine.	1. From the depths I have cried out to thee, O Lord: 2. Lord, hear my prayer: 3. from the depths I have cried to thee, 0 Lord.

The Offertory has almost the same text as the Alleluia-verse; here, however, we have the word orationem instead of vocem. A much more earnest tone pervades the melody. Out of the depths the melodic line comes forth, almost as in the Offertory for the first Sunday of Advent. As in the former melody, so here, too, it strives upward. But repeatedly it sinks back to the tonic, on which all the pauses are made, and even below it. There is something almost painful in te with its b, which is generally avoided in Offertories of the second mode. In the ancient annotated manuscripts each note over clamavi, with the exception of the quilisma, carries a broad marking. It is a cry coming from a heart burdened with grief. In the second phrase the melody twice begins with the dominant and rises above it. As in the Alleluia so here, too, the climax occurs on the word exaudi. In both pieces clamavi has a similar melody. (Ex)-audi repeats the form of Domine; the florid meam is characteristic of Offertories. To the ascending motive over De profundis the descending f d c a at the end of meant comes as an answer; it then bends upward to c c d to prepare for the low beginning of the third phrase, which is an exact repetition of the first. Formerly the two following verses of Psalm 129 (Fiant aures tuae and Si iniquitates) were also sung with this Offertory; between each pair were interpolated the words De profundis clamdvi at te, Domine, which also brought the whole to a close. These verses only tended to increase the earnestness of the composition.

With the Gospel as a background (the healing of the woman troubled with an issue of blood and the awakening of the daughter of Jairus) our cry ascends to the Lord. In a life filled with sickness, disease, lamentation for the dead, our yearning for perfect redemption and absolute freedom from all species of misery is most intense. This longing comes to the fore in spite of all the self-denial and willing submission we may have. It will accompany our every good deed. I am still wandering in the depths; my life is spent in a desert where tears and sorrows are my lot. But some day I shall be quiet and happy, and like the healed woman and the child of Capharnaum brought back to life, I shall thank the Saviour, and I shall live on with all the others who have arisen.

COMMUNION (Mark 11: 24)
1. Amen dico vobis: quidquid orantes petitis, credite quia accipietis, et fiet vobis.	1. Amen I say to you: Whatsoever you ask when you pray, be lieve that you shall receive, and it shall be done to you.

In the two half-phrases which constitute this song, the first part in both instances extends above the range of the second part. Each inception, if we disregard the introductory formula, is on the dominant: quidquid, credite, et; this gives the piece an added feeling of assurance. The endings show a descending line: vobis = a, petitis = g, accipietis=f vobis=ed. It is to be noted that the accented syllables are always higher than the succeeding syllables, and generally carry several notes. Amen is a striking exception. The form d a b-flat, over its second syllable, is in all other cases on the accented syllable, for example, Suscepimus, Gaudedmus, Praeceptor. The same might easily have been done here. Perhaps the Greek pronunciation of Amen, which accents the second syllable, influenced the present arrangement. But more important than this detail is the bold continuation the melody makes with its leap of a fourth.

August majesty marks the beginning of this chant. Here He speaks who rules over all things, who has in His hand life and death, time and eternity, who needs but will and things are made, who can grant all that is asked of Him. Here is the answer He makes to our petitions in the Alleluia-verse and in the Offertory. Here He renews the promise given in the Introit: "You shall call upon me, and I will hear you." But we must pray, pray with confidence, with full certainty of being heard. Now at the end of the liturgical year, when the Apostle admonishes us in the Epistle to "stand fast in the Lord," a great need makes itself felt: the prayer for perseverance, the prayer for life eternal, the prayer that our names also may be inscribed in the Book of Life (Epistle). He has again heard the petition of the Lord's Prayer: "Give us this day our daily bread." We have received Him (accipietis), the Bread of Life. He has come into our hearts in Holy Communion. That is our guarantee that sometime we may also enter upon eternal life.

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