Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

St. James the Elder, Apostle 413
ST. JAMES THE ELDER, APOSTLE
(July 25)
The INTROIT is the same as that on the feast of St. Andrew,
while the GRADUAL is that of the feast of SS. Peter and Paul (q.v.).
ALLELUIA VERSE (John 15: 16)
1. Ego vos elegi de mundo, ut 1. I have chosen you out of the
eatis et fructum afferatis, 2. et world, that you should go, and
jructus vester maneat. should bring forth fruit, 2. and
your fruit should remain.
The text of the Alleluia is taken from the words of our Lord at the
Last Supper. Christ there reminds His Apostles of that morning when,
after having spent the entire preceding night in prayer, He chose them
as His disciples. By His teaching He freed them from the spirit of the
world and instilled into them a burning love for immortal souls. He
commissioned them to go out into the world and sow there the seed of
the word of God that should bring forth fruit in due season. They responded
and in their own time showed themselves to be a fruit wellripened
by much prayer and many sufferings. The world was not only
to hear their words, but also to see realized that which the Gospel had
worked and brought to maturity in their own persons; and precisely for
this reason have their preaching and labors and sufferings been of lasting
worth. There is every reason then to sing this Alleluia with a grateful
heart.
In the oldest available manuscripts today's melody is written with
the text Justi epulentur. It is there found among the melodies per circulum
anni, from which the chanter might choose at pleasure. In the
modern Graduale it finds its place in the Mass Sapientiam (Common of
many Martyrs). The melody was also adapted to the text Ego dilecto
for the feast of the Most Pure Heart of Mary.
Alleluia with its jubilus has the form a and b, a 1 , a 2 , c, d. The final
member, however, with its /// gag ef eed is rhythmically in close relation
to the preceding member c. There is also great similarity between Ego
and member a. The present text is well adapted to the original melody.
Elegi is duly emphasized; mundo, which modulates to a full step below
the tonic, combines the two half-phrases. A similar melody, but devoid
of the concluding pressus, recurs over fructum. The double command,
expressed by the words eatis and afferatis, has melodies much akin to
one another. The melody over fructus is like an admiring look upward