Masterpieces of Gregorian Chant / The introit of Easter
It is the opening chant of the Sunday of the Resurrection. Here in a brand-new performance presented to us by the "Cantori Gregoriani" and their Maestro
by Fulvio Rampi
TRANSLATION
I am risen and am again with you, alleluia.
You have laid your hand on me, alleluia.
Wonderful is your knowledge, alleluia, alleluia.
Lord, you search me and you know me,
you know when I lower myself and when I rise up.
I am risen...
(Psalm 139:5,6,1-2)
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The capital "R" that takes up ample space in the miniatures of the ancient parchments and liturgical books is a symbol of Easter. After the capital "A" of the introit "Ad te levavi" that on the first Sunday of Advent inaugurated the liturgical year, now comes the "Resurrexi" that indicates its heart.
A few verses of Psalm 139, in the "Christological" version of the Vulgate of Jerome, become the text of the most important introit of the Gregorian repertoire.
After the stirring Vigil of the previous night, the Mass of Easter day opens with this new proclamation of resurrection. A proclamation that, nonetheless, we have a hard time not calling disappointing on account of the musical garment that clothes it. The melody is spare and proceeds consistently in the deuterus modality that, from a low Mi that is insistent and only lightly adorned with a few nearby sounds, rarely reaches the high La that barely justifies its classification in the plagal fourth mode.
We ask ourselves why such iconographical solemnity is not accompanied by exuberant melody. We ask ourselves the reason for an ostentatious distance between the centrality of the liturgical event and the hesitancy of the acoustical event. We ask ourselves, in short, what sense it makes to proclaim the Pascha of the Resurrection in this fourth mode.
The exegesis of the text resounds in a modality that we perceive as insufficient, not suited to communicating such overwhelming news. The "Resurrexi" is entirely in that fourth mode which evokes contexts apparently far from the mystery that is being celebrated.
Without giving in to exaggerated categorizations, it must be recalled that to each of the eight Gregorian modes - a system called "octoechos" - a specific "ethos"was attributed by the medieval theoreticians of subsequent ages. Medieval art itself wanted to give a visual representation to the aesthetic and conceptual qualities of the Gregorian modes. There are famous depictions of the modes on the capitals of Cluny and Autun. In our case, on the capital of Cluny relative to the fourth mode there appears an eloquent inscription that explains it by assigning it a funereal character, accompanied by a veil of sadness.
The introit of Easter therefore marks a point of maximum distance between our expectations and the real presentation of Gregorian chant. But this distance is measured by our inability to enter into profound harmony with the allusive component of this repertoire, the true keystone of its liturgical-musical design.
It must be reiterated that neither is it correct to give in to an exaggerated categorization with regard to the fascinating theory of the modal ethos. In practical terms this means that not all the pieces in the fourth mode are connected to mourning or to sadness. The question, obviously, is much more complex. Having said this, it nonetheless emerges as fundamental that the different modalities, like every other constitutive element of Gregorian chant, should be considered under different aspects, seeking for example the formulary references and concordances.
The allusive component proper to the formulary logic, already found repeatedly in the chants of Lent, is in fact extended to the modal logic. Just as what is needed is an intelligent reading of the formula - not limited to a few evident references to parallel cases - so also an open perspective is necessary for the use of the same modal structures.
It is not enough to look at each Gregorian piece from the inside. A logic of great breadth must be sought, as much on the formulary side as - like in this case - on the modal side. The delicate theory of the ethos of the modes can reveal itself, in reality, as a valuable aid for discovering a sort of "tendential modality" that, beginning from the individual piece, embraces an entire liturgical journey, building relationships of meaning and making itself an instrument of memory and for memory.
The introit "Resurrexi" is a sign, expression, and fulfillment of a liturgical journey, that of the Paschal Triduum, during which the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord are celebrated without any break in continuity. The attention is to be focused deliberately on the conjunction "and," which seals the absolute continuity of the three events and juxtaposes them beneath a single vision according to the article of faith proclaimed in the Credo: "passus, et sepultus est, et resurrexit."
It is certainly no accident that the deuterus is the modality of the introit "Nos autem," which in the "Missa in Coena Domini" of Holy Thursday opens the sacred Triduum. In the famous Pauline text (Galatians 6:14) we find a summary of the Paschal event: "Nos autem gloriari oportet in cruce Domini nostri Iesu Christi: in quo est salus, vita et resurrectio nostra: per quem salvati et liberati sumus" (But we should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection; through whom we have been saved and set free). Here cross and resurrection are already juxtaposed, interwoven, and at the same time the prospect of salvation is proclaimed in a single modality of deuterus.
For the sake of completeness it must also be recalled that the introit "Nos autem" of Holy Thursday is itself preceded by an itinerary in deuterus traced by the introits of the first days of Holy Week.
Therefore the "tendential modality" that accompanies this journey cannot help but involve Easter as well. Gregorian chant pronounces a "Resurrexi" that is charged with memory and therefore cannot be separated from the days of the Passion in deuterus.
For this reason, therefore, the isolated execution of this introit in our liturgies seems to us quite inopportune and out of place. Perhaps it really is, but not because of a disappointment for which Gregorian chant might be responsible, but rather because of our lack of memory.
The Mass of Easter day, nonetheless, does not have only the dark color of the deuterus. If the "Resurrexi" presents itself - as already remarked - as the fulfillment of a precise journey, it is likewise true that the other chants of the proper of this Mass touch all the fundamental modal categories of the octoechos system.
The gradual "Haec dies" is in protus, the standard melody of the graduals in the second mode, while the offertory "Terra tremuit" again presents the deuterus for a psalmic text (Psalm 75: 9-10) of dramatic intensity: "Terra tremuit et quievit dum resurgeret in iudicio Deus" (The earth trembled and fell still when God arose to do justice).
The true rejoicing cannot help but be entrusted to the alleluia "Pascha nostrum" and to its boisterous modality of tetrardus authenticus, the seventh mode, full of youthful vigor. Finally the Pauline text itself, enriched with a further verse (1 Corinthians 5:7-8) is made to resound in the tritus plagalis, the sixth mode, in the antiphon for communion. Where the joy of Easter reaches a harbor of serenity and devotion and becomes a joy that is complete and contented, prayerful and profound.
The Easter proclamation, punctuated by fresh "alleluias" in each piece and commented upon by the wonderful and familiar sequence "Victimae paschali laudes," is in short completed to its full extent. And over the span of the whole Mass it resounds in all the possible modal tongues that Gregorian chant knows.
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The pieces of Gregorian chant presented and offered for listening here are part of a cycle of performances recorded for www.chiesa by the "Cantori Gregoriani" directed by Fulvio Rampi.
It is a cycle of seven installments, one per week, with the proper chants of the five Sundays of Lent, Palm Sunday, and Easter Sunday.
A previous cycle of installments covered the liturgical period from the first Sunday of Advent to Epiphany.
All of the pieces of Gregorian chant performed for www.chiesa by Maestro Fulvio Rampi and his choir can be listened to again at any time and are found on this webpage:
> Masterpieces of Gregorian Chant__________
MAESTRO RAMPI AND HIS CHOIRFulvio Rampi is a Gregorianist of international fame. He was born and lives in Cremona. He teaches Gregorian chant at the musical conservatory "G. Verdi" in Turin. In 1986 he founded the choir "Cantori Gregoriani," a professional ensemble of male voices, of which he is the permanent conductor. He has performed concerts with these groups in various countries, has recorded for important music publishers, and has done many recordings for radio and television. In 2010 he created the Coro Sicardo, with a vast repertoire of classic and contemporary polyphony. Noteworthy among his publications is "Del canto gregoriano," Rugginenti Editore, Milan, 2006.
On the discography of the Cantori Gregoriani:
> Cantori GregorianiAnd to listen to some of their recordings:
> Cantori Gregoriani / DownloadsA summary of Rampi's vision of what Gregorian chant is and what it can again be in the life of the Church is found in these two conferences of 2012:
> I - Il canto gregoriano: un estraneo in casa sua> II - Il canto dell’assemblea liturgica fra risorsa ed equivoco
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The musical score reproduced above is taken from the "Graduale Novum", ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft, Regensburg, 2011, p. 165.
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English translation by
Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
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For more news and commentary, see the blog that Sandro Magister maintains, available only in Italian:
> SETTIMO CIELO
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19.4.2014
