Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

484 The Dedication of a Church
laid hold of the mind of the Middle Ages, anticipating the impending
destruction of the world. It is an impetuous appeal to the universal
Judge. Judicdre dominates the entire piece, sounding almost like a shrill
piercing cry. Only over this word does the melody ascend to high c.
This phrase has indeed the greatest range, the largest intervals (fifth
and fourths), and the richest, well-prepared development. The first
three words have the range c—/, the subsequent three, d—g. In the second
half of the first phrase, with the range c—g, the words die ilia are
accentuated by means of a higher pitch and also by means of the pressus,
which had already served to strengthen aeterna. The second phrase
points to the catastrophe that will shake both heaven and earth. The
third phrase begins immediately a fifth higher than the closing note of
the preceding; similarly judicdre. Rarely in plainsong are the accents
which dominate members and phrases given such plastic prominence as
here: me, morte, die ilia, movendi, judicdre, and rarely do we see such a
carefully planned gradation. All this must be brought out in the rendition.
In a certain sense, the quiet, reserved character of the verses forms
a contrast to the agitated corpus. They are almost syllabic and avoid
large intervals, never going beyond a. Both in text and melody, the second
verse without doubt formed the nucleus for the later Sequence Dies
Irae; there also judicdre finds an echo in tuba mirum spargens. Originally
the Dies irae served as a trope to Libera; then it became a Sequence.
Cf. C. O., 49, 55 ff.
After the first verse the second phrase is repeated, after the second
verse the third phrase, after the third verse, which exhibits special
warmth with D&mine and gives impressiveness to the word lux, the entire
Libera up to ignem is sung again. The form here reminds us of the
rondo. The melody in the Vatican Gradual can be traced back to the
end of the tenth century.
These same chants are employed at the burial, on the third, seventh,
and thirtieth day after death, and on the anniversary.
THE DEDICATION OF A CHURCH
In the most ancient manuscripts the chants of this Mass are found
before the feast of Christ's Ascension. For at Rome the dedication of
the Pantheon as a Christian Church (Sancta Maria ad Martyres), in the
year 607, that is, three years after the death of St. Gregory the Great,
was celebrated on May 13.
The Mass formulary was considered the crown of the church's dedication,
and in it each year we re-experience that which was consum-