Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

136 Third Sunday in Lent
COMMUNION (Ps. 83: 4, 5)
1. Passer invenit sibi domum, et 1. The sparrow hath found herturtur
nidum, ubi reponat pullos self a house, and the turtle a nest,
suos: 2. altaria tua Domine vir- where she may lay her young ones:
tutum, Rex meus, et Deus meus: 3. 2. thine altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my
beati qui habitant in domo tua, in King, and my God: 3. blessed are
saeculum saeculi laudabant te. they that dwell in thy house, they
shall praise thee for ever and ever.
The Communion offers modal peculiarities. First it closes on a,
showing that it is transposed. But now the question might arise whether
it is a transposition of a fifth or a fourth—actually it is a transposition
of a fifth. Over the closing note is a full step and a minor third. A fourth
lower, this would result in e /# g e e, impossible to plainsong notation.
A fifth lower, however, it becomes d e f d d—the closing formula of the
first mode. The reason for the transposition lies with pullos. A fifth
lower it would demand an e\>: f e\> g f f g d d. The ancient plainsong notation
however, found it impossible to write e\>, but could quite easily
transpose a fifth higher to 6b.
Futhermore, the third and first modes are fused here. The intonation
of passer and the melody over virtutum point to the third mode.
The closing cadence of the third mode, ccc a c b a, corresponds to c b a
over (vir)-tutum. From Deus meus on the piece moves in the first mode.
Rex meus contracts its interval over (De)-us meus. Here follows a modulation
to the full tone below the tonic, much affected by the first mode.
The antiphonal chants for the third Sunday of Lent exhibit various
forms of modulation. The Introit in the seventh mode modulated to the
full tone below the finale after the / over miserere mei; we find the same
in the Tract of the eighth mode after the / over nostrum. The Communion
of the first mode also modulates to the full tone below the finale over
Deus meus, and the Offertory, really in the sixth mode, modulates to
the fourth below the finale over favum. Each time the modulation agrees
with a break in the text, therefore in the thought.
In the three phrases of this piece there is mention of a threefold
kingdom. The first speaks of the realm of Nature, of the birds and the
nests in which they harbor their young. We are struck by the numerous
podatus forms, which may, in the composer's mind, indicate the fluttering
of birds. That which is expressed pictorially in the first phrase, in
the second becomes a reality, even though mysteriously, in the realm of
mystery, in the kingdom of grace. From the altar and its Mystery flow
the strength by which the Lord of hosts—the melody stresses this word
—becomes our King, our God. There the soul has found her earthly