Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

336 Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost
sorum tu es. Ps. Beati immaculati in Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the
via: * qui ambulant in lege Domini. way: * who walk in the law of the
Lord.
A fleeting glance at the melody shows that it attains to no great
heights. The piece moves below the dominant of the fourth mode, below
a, almost throughout. Not until the verse does the dominant play an
important role. But this, in turn, necessitates a lower pitch for the antiphon.
An unmistakable gravity pervades the whole. A glance at nature
out in the open, no doubt, will awaken the same feeling. Late autumn
brings great changes: a multitude of beings vibrant with life must perish;
violent gusts of wind sweep the withered leaves from the trees; many a
flower has been vanquished by the frost and droops its head as if tired
of life. Everywhere the picture of change, of death. One alone remains
immutable, immortal, eternal: the God of peace. All things are in His
hand; by His will are they directed and governed.
Thoughts such as these help to give us some inkling of the meaning
of the melody. This chant wished to sing of nothing but repose, reminding
us of the sea which, although it can rage and foam and toss,
today is calm and placid, hardly disturbed by a ripple.
The first phrase really has / for its dominant, like the Introits for
the second Sunday of Lent, for Easter, and for the second Sunday after
Easter. The first phrase confines itself to a third. Very slowly the melody
begins to increase. The range of the first phrase is c-g, of the second
d-a, of the third and fourth c-a; there is, therefore, some development
in the melody. The accented syllables with few exceptions carry a pes
or an expansion of the pes. But there are various degrees of accentuation,
according as the first note of the pes is of the same pitch as the preceding
one (voluntdti in the second phrase,), a second lower (voluntdte tua in the
first phrase,), a second higher (the first universa), or a third higher (the
second universa). Here, as in possit, the pes encompasses a third. Non
is still more strongly accented. No one can long resist the divine will.
Many indeed now shout out their "I will not serve"; they wish to disregard
the admonition of the Apostle in today's Lesson: "Take unto
you the armor of God, that you may be able to resist (resistere) in the
evil day, and to stand in all things perfect." Against many such St.
Stephen's complaint might well be directed: "You always resist the Holy-
Ghost." But when the Lord will come at the last day for the universe
judgment, then this non will receive an absolute value; no longer WJJI
anyone dare to offer any resistance. Such thoughts are suggested by tng
liturgical year which is now rapidly coming to its close.
The ascending fourth d-g over non is balanced by the descending
u-e over possit. Variation in the melody is secured by this e; any other