Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

102 Sexagesima Sunday
finem: 2. quare faciem tuam avertis, the end: 2. why turnest thou thy
oblivisceris tribulationem nostrami face away, and forgettest our
Adhaesit in terra venter noster: 3. troublel Our belly hath cleaved to
esxurge, Domine, adjuva nos, et the earth: 3. arise, O Lord, help us
liber a nos. Ps. Deus, auribus nos- and deliver us. Ps. 0 God, we have
tris audivimus: * patres nostri an- heard with our ears: * our fathers
nuntiaverunt nobis. have declared to us.
The Migration of Nations with its dismal consequences may have
been the occasion for these laments. But they are also the prayer of unredeemed
mankind, of mankind degenerated, a prey to the lower appetites.
These words may well have been the agonized cries of those who
watched the waters of the Deluge rising ever higher, for the Breviary
this week tells the story of that great flood. Thus may St. Paul have
prayed, whose church is the station for today, when his disgust with
life well-nigh vanquished him, or when the sting of the flesh caused him
such great torture. These words are the cry of the Apostles, almost word
for word, when their little boat was so wildly tossed by the waves one
stormy night, and the Lord was asleep. So have we also, from sheer
necessity perhaps, often prayed for relief from pain or from the shackles
of evil desires which threatened to drag us downward. Our Introit is
therefore a suppliant prayer from the valley ot this death, a plea for
resurrection, a preparatory song for Easter, for the day of the Rising
(exsiirge) of the Lord.
Choral music is often extolled for its calm unimpassioned spirit, for
its sedate dignity, for the lucidity which seems to elevate it above all
that is earthly and makes it a veritable echo of the songs of heaven. And
rightly so. Our present melody is set within the compass of liturgical
song, avoids dissonances and startling contrasts, and deprecates unrestrained
subjectivism. And yet it shows how deeply and sincerely a
chant melody can probe, how intimate the relation is between text and
music, and how warm and true its expression.
In the first phrase the first half is ascent (arsis), the second half
descent (thesis) „ Beginning each half is an exsiirge, the first one animated,
the second impetuous, and both followed by a more quiet recitation on/.
In the ascent the melody reaches the dominant, and in the descent it
goes down to the tonic. The cadence occurring here is much favored by
the first and second modes. We may recall having heard it in the Alleluia
of the third Christmas Mass (adordte Dominum). The next phrase shows
by its very first word (quare) that it will extend the range of the preceding.
A number of fourths occur here, and also the climax of the piece:
oblivisceris. Though the group of notes for this word is nothing more