Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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RESPONSE RESPONSE 71
following the Lord's Prayer in the Litany ; (4)
and the Responses of the first portion of the
Litany, which, however, are of a special musical
form which will be fully explained hereafter.
Versioles and Responses are either an ancient
'
formula of prayer or praise, as, Lord, have
mercy upon us,' etc., 'Glory be to the Father,'
etc., or a quotation from Holy Scripture, as,
^ O Loid, open Thou our lips.
B; And our mouth shall shew forth Thy praise.
which is verse 15 of Psalm li. ; or a quotation
from a church hymn, as,
/^ O Lord, save Thy people.
^ And bless Thine inheritance.
which is from the Te Dev/m ; or an adaptation of
a prayer to the special purpose, as,
^ Favourably with mercy hear our prayers.
I^ O Son of David, have mercy upon us.
The musical treatment of such Versicles and
Responses offers a wide and interesting field of
study. (There can be little doubt that all the
inflections or cadences to which they are set
have been the gradual development of an
original monotonal treatment, which in time
was foimd to be uninteresting and tedious
(whence our term of contempt monotonous ' '),
or was designedly varied for use on special
occasions and duiing holy seasons. [See Inflexion.]
The word ' Alleluia ' is found as a Response
in the Prayer-Book of 1549, for use between
Easter and Trinity, immediately before the
Psalms ; during the remainder of the year the
translation of the word was « ^ ^
.
used. Here is Marbeck's * n ' f-
mUSioforit (1550)
Praye 7° the Lotde.
When this was in later editions converted
into a Versicle and Response, as in our present
Prayer-Book, the music was, according to some
uses, divided between the Versicle and Response,
thus
* PiBise ye the Lord. 1% The Lord's name be praised.
But as a matter of fact these ' Preces' in our
Prayer-Book which precede the daily Psalms
have never been strictly bound by the laws of
'ecclesiastical chant,' hence, not only are great
varieties of plain-song settings to be met with,
gathered from Roman and other uses, but
also actual settings in service-form (that is,
like a motet), containing contrapuntal devices
in four or more parts. Nearly all the best
cathedral libraries contain old examples of this
elaborate treatment of the Preces, and several
have been printed by Dr. Jebb in his Choral
'
Responses.
As then the Preces are somewhat exceptional,
we will pass to the more regular Versicles and
Responses, such as those after the Apostles'
Creed and the Lord's Prayer. And here we at
once meet the final ' fall of a minor third,' which
is an ancient form of inflec- —ft — —
tion known as the Accentus ^—°~~
^^^~~J
This is one of the most characteristic progressions
in plain-song versicles, responses, confessions,
etc. It must have already struck the
reader that this is nothing more or less than
the ' note ' of the cuckoo. This fact was probably
in Shakespeare's mind when he wrote,
The finch, the sparrow, and the lark,
The ptai/n-song cuckoo gray.
This medial accent is only used in Versicles
and Responses when the last word is a polysyllable
: thus
Medial Atxent.
$ SE ^ And grant us Thy salya-tion.
When the last word is a monosyllable or is
accented on its
Moderate Accent,
last syllable,
there is an ad- :
ditional note,
^ As we do put OUT trust in Thee.
thus
This may be said to be the only law of the
Accentus Ikdetiastieiis which the tradition of our
Reformed Church enforces. It is strictly observed
in most of our cathedrals, and considering its
remarkable simplicity, should never be broken.
The word 'prayers' was formerly pronounced
as a dissyllable ; it
therefore took the _
medial accent thus •^ Favourably .... OUT pi-ay-era.
but as a monosyllable it should of course
be treated thus— -9 Jz
Favourably .... our prayers.
In comparing our Versicles and Responses
with the Latin from which they were translated,
it is important to bear this rule as to the
' final word ' in mind. Because the Latin and
English of the same Versicle or Response will
frequently take difiiBrent ' accents ' in the two
languages. For example, the following Versicle
takes in the Latin the medial accent ; but in
the translation will require the moderate accent.
Latin farm.
Ab inimtcis nostrls defends nos Chris - te.
Englisti form.
From our enemies defend us,
Christ.
It has been just stated that the early part of
the Litany does not come under the above laws
of ' accent.' The pi^incipal melodic progression
is, however, closely allied to the above, it
having merely an additional
note, thus