Chants of the Vatican Graduale - MusicaSacra

St. Stephen, First Martyr 57
sung as two groups of two; the measured rhythm will thus restrain the
almost too animated exultation. Rhythmically, a g e f f corresponds to
g f a g e over (ter)-rae and f df e c over De-(i).
God is generosity itself; His giving is always on a grand scale. He
is the salvation of the entire world. Would that we equalled His magnanimity,
and would give our hearts entirely to Him who has become
our salvation, our joy, and our delight!
ST. STEPHEN, THE FIRST MARTYR
(December 26)
INTROIT (Ps. 118: 23, 86, 23)
1. Etenim sederunt principes, et 1. Princes sat and spoke against
adversum me loquebaniur: et iniqui me: and the wicked persecuted me:
persecute sunt me: 2. adjuva me, 2. help me, O Lord my God, for thy
Domine Deus meus, quia servus servant is exercised in thy justificatuus
exercebatur in tuis justifica- tions. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled
tionibus. Ps. Beati immaculati in in the way: * that walk in the law
via: * qui ambulant in lege Domini. of the Lord.
When we come to Mass on this second Christmas feast we hear,
immediately at the Introit, the saint of today describing that which
passed in his soul when he stood before the high council. Dispensing with
introductory phrases, he speaks to us directly, graphically, impressively.
Around him he sees the high priests and scribes (principes); from their
faces, from their words, he knows that they are his bitterest opponents.
He must hear how truth is distorted by the testimony of false (iniqui)
witnesses; and by this assembly he hears the sentence of death passed
against him.
That is the first phrase of this Introit. Its melody consists of three
members. The first member, with its series of agitated porrectus, each of
which sets in on a higher pitch, leads up to the dominant; the second
leads back to the tonic: arsis and thesis. The second phrase repeats
practically the same formula over et adver- and me loquebdn-. The subsequent
double bistropha suggests a mysterious muffled whispering;
similarly its recurrence in the Gradual. An agitated up-and-down movement
runs through the third member, like the motions of some noble
animal at bay: there is indignation at the injustice displayed. It is well
to stress the torculus, and the syllable following it must also be given its