Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

The Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary 439
ALLELUIA VERSE
1. Stabat sancta Maria, caeli 1. Holy Mary, the queen of
Regina, et mundi Domina, 2. juxta heaven, and mistress of the world, 2.
crucem Domini nostri Jesu Christi stood by the cross of our Lord Jesus
dolorosa. Christ, full of sadness.
The melody dates from the eleventh century and was originally
sung to the text Stabunt justi. Here again the identical initial syllable of
Stabunt and Stabat may have influenced the selection of the melody.
With the climacus of the jubilus, the first three notes should be taken
together, the fourth should receive a slight secondary accent; the same
holds true of the notes of the climacus in the verse, made striking both
by their prolongation and their melody. Compare, also, the delicate
structure of a similar formula in the second Alleluia of Pentecost over
amoris. First Stabat sancta is simplified, then expanded over caeli Regina.
In contrast to the high bb, the second phrase has a low a.
Who would believe that this weeping woman—together with her
Son an object of ridicule—is the queen of heaven and the mistress of
the world? And yet the world has seen nothing more noble than this
woman—how she bears her pain and stands beneath the cross. Gradual,
Alleluia, and Sequence stress this point: stans and stabat. Truly, she deserved
to become the queen of heaven and mistress of the world.
Revue, 6, 160.
SEQUENCE
Jacopone da Todi (^c. 1306) was long credited with the authorship
of this sequence. Cogent reasons, however, point to St. Bonaventure
(*M274). The melody owes its origin to the Benedictine, Dom
Jausions (4-1868). It strikes a note of heartfelt sympathy without becoming
sentimental. It possesses a beauty all its own, but does not attain
the artistic height of the text, the communicative warmth of its
feelings, the delicate swelling and contraction of its mood, and the
pleasantness of its rhythm. The melody, no doubt, would have been
enhanced had it followed the text more faithfully. The strophes show
too little individualism, even though they avoid lengthy repetitions.
Every choirmaster will experience that, although sung frequently, the
Sequence never attains its full possibilities.
The text has two major divisions and a short conclusion. These,
however, have had no influence on the formation of the melody. The
first part comprises the first four double strophes and considers the
Mother of sorrows beneath the cross of her Son. Melodically, it surpasses
the second part.