Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

144 Passion Sunday
and rounded out. There is some resemblance between the first half of
the first two phrases and the second half of the third phrase. The seconds
and the minor third in the first phrase begin apathetically. But already
causam meam betrays inner agitation. The sorrow, thus far concealed
with difficulty, comes to the surface in the second phrase with
gathering force. "From the unjust and deceitful man deliver me!" With
a, 6 b, b, c, the melody works up to d. This results quite naturally in a
forceful crescendo. In the annotated manuscript of the tenth and eleventh
centuries the third phrase is introduced with great delicacy of feeling
with broad notes, over which is placed "t" (tenere, to hold,). Thus impressiveness
is added to the subsequent assertion: "for Thou art my God
and my strength." Similarly, on the final syllable of fortitudo, "Thou
art my strength," the same manuscripts have almost all the neums
marked broadly.
GRADUAL (Ps. 142: 9, 10)
1. Eripe me, Domine, de inimicis 1. Deliver me from mine enemies,
meis: 2. doce me facere voluntatem O Lord: 2. teach me to do thy will,
tuam. %. 1. Liberator meus, Do- 111. 1. Thou art my deliverer, O Lord,
mine, de gentibus iracundis: 2. ab from the angry nations: 2. thou wilt
insurgentibus in me exaltabis me: lift me up above them that rise up
3. a viro iniquo eripies me. against me: 3. from the unjust man
thou wilt deliver me.
The Gradual continues the principal petitions of the Introit. Both
cry out: eripe me; both speak of the unjust man (homine iniquo, viro
iniquo). Whereas the Introit had prayed: "Send forth Thy light," the
Gradual implores the Lord thus: "Teach me to do Thy will." Both are
filled with an unshakable confidence. Deus meus, et fortitudo mea of the
Introit corresponds to liberator meus in the Gradual. In the corpus we
find more supplication: eripe me, while the verse is more expressive of
confidence: "Thou wilt lift up; Thou wilt deliver me." Melodically,
also, the verse represents an increase, as is the case in most Graduals.
The melody belongs to the third mode, which is employed in nine
different Graduals in the period from Septuagesima Sunday to the
Tuesday in Holy Week, while during the entire remaining part of the
liturgical year it occurs only nine times in all. It is composed of varying
formulas, which are adapted in various groupings over different texts.
We have, therefore, to do here with a typical melody, and hence are not
so much concerned with interpretation of the text as with its embellishment.
Upon closer inspection, however, several peculiarities may be
noted, among them the plaintive closing motive b a g a f f e, which oc-