Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost 337
interval would tire. The second phrase begins on the low d and is joined
with the preceding by means of the ascending e f.
The third phrase gives the reason why God can demand perfect
obedience. Everything that the heavens and the earth contain owes its
existence to His almighty will alone. Omnia and dmbitu have a similar
ring; caelum et terra and universa are practically identical, for they express
related thoughts. In the rendition these passages must follow rapidly
one upon another with a strong, though not exaggerated, emphasis
on the word-accent. The formula at the end of continentur always stands
over the final syllable of a word (compare omnibus in the Introit for the
second Sunday in Lent; and Israel, mihi, sibi in the Tract for Passion
Sunday, where the formula is still more developed).
Special solemnity should characterize the final phrase with its reverent
close: Dominus universorum tu es. Care must be taken that the tempo
be not too slow. Strangely enough, the climacus repeats the same notes,
g f e, while similar passages, for example, the ending of the Introit for
the second Sunday of Lent, have the much more pleasing formula a g f
gfee.
In the psalm-verse the good fortune of those is praised who dispose
their entire lives according to the holy will of God. Thus was rewarded
the fidelity of Mardochai, whose prayer is used as the antiphon of today's
Introit. God averted from him and from his people the evil which
Aman contemplated, and made them to see days of gladness.
GRADUAL (Ps. 89: 1. 2)
1. Dpmine, refugium factus es 1. Lord, thou hast been our refuge,
nobis, 2. a generatione et progenie. 2. from generation to generation.
H r . 1. Priusquam montes 2. fierent, f. 1. Before the mountains 2. were
aut formaretur terra et orbis; 3. a made or the earth and the world was
saeculo, 4. et in saeculum tu es formed; 3. from eternity 4. and to
Deus. eternity thou art God.
Perhpas someone is tempted to see tone-painting in the florid melody
over montes—the rising mountains, the depressed valleys, and finally
the highest peaks. In Graduals, however, one must be extremely careful
about making pronouncements of this kind, and more especially here,
for our present chant is entirely typical; a melody frequently used and
here adopted note for note. It was explained on the first Sunday of Lent.
The Gradual-verse belongs to that small number of pieces in which
the phrasing is not entirely satisfactory, since the divisions of the text
and the melody do not correspond. The words Priusquam montes fierent
belong together, but the melody makes an extended cadence over montes