Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

292 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
fourth phrases have the same range, both descend to c and have the
same extended finale.
The first phrase has the same beginning as today's Gradual. Over
lua and substdntia the first / ought to be prolonged. You are not to offer
any kind of gift, but the noblest, the best, the first fruits. This gradation
of thought is paralleled by that of the melody in the second phrase,
while the warm-toned cadence over primitiis, which also exerts some influence
on that which follows, speaks with the tender, cordial voice of
love. The ending of tudrum corresponds with that of the first and fourth
phrases. In the third phrase the melody becomes even more luminous
than in the second. We are struck by the sudden beginning of horrea
with an interval of a fourth, as if it were a cry of wonder at the immensity
of God's goodness! Vino in the fourth phrase closes on a pes
and the following word begins a fifth lower, a frequent occurrence in
pieces of the first and eighth mode (cf. the Introit Gaudete, p. 27, and
the Introit Dum medium silentium, p. 69.). The Revue Gregorienne calls
this musical turn a "smiling interrogation mark." Torculdria, reminding
us of impledntur, brings the joyous answer. Here again the secondary
as well as the principal accent receive very curt treatment.
Clearness and joy characterize the melody, rather than solemnity.
Holy Communion is the life-giving bread, the never-failing wine which
gives strength to the soul.
Would that we choir directors ever derived new energy from the
celebration of the sacred Mysteries, in order to glorify the Lord with
all our strength (substdntia) and to offer Him the noblest and the best!
Revue, 24, 174 ff.; Analyses, 5, 7 ff.
TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
INTROIT (Ps. 69:2, 3)
1. Deus, in adjutorium meum 1. Incline unto mine aid, 0 God:
intende: 2. Domine, ad adjuvandum 2. OLord, make haste to help me: 3.
me festina: 3. confundantur et let mine enemies be confounded and
revereantur inimici mei, qui quaer- ashamed, who seek my soul. Ps.
unt animam meam. Ps. Avertantur Let them be turned backward, and
retrorsum, et erubescant: * qui co- blush for shame, * who devise evils
gitant mihi mala. against me.
All the canonical hours of the daily Office open with the first two
phrases of the Introit and are generally sung in a rather simple style.