Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Whitsunday 221
Et hoc in the second phrase is a slavish translation of the Greek, in
which language Pneuma (Spirit) is a neuter noun. We should naturally
•expect et hie here, taking the masculine Spiritus into consideration. After
et hoc a very short pause for breathing is to be recommended. Then
quod continet omnia is to be sung straight on; and even after the last
word the pause should be very slight. In this manner the gradation
•g a c l (6mnia), be 1 d^fscienti-), a d l (-am habet) is brought out more clearly.
The cadence after vocis requires a resolution and receives it in the
following alleluia. For this reason the three alleluia may not be considered
as an independent third phrase, although their length might
tempt one to do so; they must be taken as a necessary conclusion and
coda-like extension of the second phrase. There is some resemblance
between the two phrases. Taking the principal notes into consideration,
one might sketch them thus:
First phrase: dfaf fac d^e l c gc af fag;
Second phrase: fgc d^e l c a af fag.
With the exception of one note, the final alleluia is the same as the
one at the end of the first phrase. With its limited range and fourfold
stressing of a it harmonizes with the alleluia after vocis and is the expression
of quiet joy, while the penultimate alleluia with its bright ring and
the accentuation of the tenor c harks back to the jubilant festal spirit
of the entire antiphon.
Since the Holy Ghost sustains and rules all things, nothing can be
hidden from Him. He hears everything, all verbal and all silent longing,
and every sigh for glorification which goes through creation as a whole
and through each individual soul. He hears our singing and praying, too,
all of it, and accepts it graciously.
Perhaps there was still another thought in the mind of the composer
today. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit of knowledge; He has the most
perfect possible knowledge of Himself. But He has also the power and the
means to manifest His being. As God once revealed Himself on Sinai
amid thunder and lightning, so He makes Himself known today in the
fiery tongues, in the roar of the mighty wind, in the impressive sermon
of the prince of the Apostles, and in the miracle of tongues wrought
upon the Apostles.
Psalm 67, of which only the intonation here appears, portrays the
history of Israel from the time of its liberation from Egypt to the establishment
of God's kingdom on Sion, as a triumphal procession which
God Himself leads through the desert to the consternation of His enemies