Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

Christmas Day—Midnight Mass 47
GRADUAL (Ps. 109:3, 1)
1. Tecum principium in die vir- 1. With thee is the principality
tutis tuae: 2. in splendoribus sane- in the day of thy strength; in the
torum, ex utero 3. ante luciferum brightness of the saints, from the
4. genui te. $ 7 . 1. Dixit Dominus womb 3. before the day star 4. / be-
Domino meo: 2. Sede a dextris meis: got thee. t. 1. The Lord said to my
3. donee ponam inimicos tuos, 4. Lord: 2. Sit thou at my right hand,
scabellum 5. pedum tuorum. 3. until I make thine enemies 4.
a resting place 5. for thy feet.
All the songs for today participate in the splendor radiating from
the Introit of the Midnight Mass. It is not so much the poor manger at
Bethlehem, but rather the eternal procession from the Father that is the
central point from which all the movements of spirit and heart draw their
impulse and life. The Gradual continues the thought of the Introit.
From all eternity the Father has begotten the Word, before the daystar
was made, before any creature had been called into being. From the
very beginning the Word was, and the Word was God, and all things that
have been made were made by the Word. The Word shines in a sea of
infinitely holy light; of this light the day-star is but a tiny spark. "The
newborn Child is 'God' from His very birth. From the very beginning
He was therefore charged with the fulfilment of His two-fold mission:
the destruction of the enemies of God and our salvation. His birthday is
the day of His strength and of His victory" (B.K., p. 290).
With the words of this verse the Word of God, now become man,
will later give testimony before His enemies of the divine dignity and
majesty that is His. These words far transcend the present temporal
order. Even today, at the beginning of Jesus' earthly life, they envisage
His transfiguration on the day of the Ascension; and the Father will one
day force every hostile power to pay homage, to bow down, and adore
as the true Son of God the Child who now lies here in the manger.
It is, therefore, the eternal, the sublime, that determines the artistic
form of these chants. Hence we ought not to be surprised to note
that basically the Gradual employs a quite common, and therefore
typical, melody of the second mode (cf. the first Sunday of Lent). The
beginning with the solemn fourth a-e, which occurs only once in the
piece, up to the passage over virtu-(tis) is proper to this Gradual. It
also has a few passages in common with the melody for the vigil of
Christmas, not found in the typical melody; and over tuos occurs a cadence
of the fifth mode, which, to quote but one example, is sung in the
Gradual for the feast of the Assumption over aurem tuam.