Gradual

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the general concept, see Gradualism.

John I Albert of Poland in the Wawel Cathedral's Sacristy

The gradual (

responsorial psalm. Although the Gradual remains an option in the Mass of Paul VI, its use is extremely rare[citation needed] outside monasteries. The gradual is part of the proper
of the Mass.

A gradual can also refer to a book collecting all the musical items of the Mass. The official such book for the Roman Rite is the Roman Gradual (Graduale Romanum). Other such books include the Dominican Gradual.

History

Excerpt from the manuscript of the gradual of the abbey of St.-Baafs in Ghent. Made in 1469.[2]

The Gradual, like the Alleluia and Tract, is one of the

psalm. They were sung in the form of a psalmus responsorius, i.e. the whole text was chanted by a reader appointed for this purpose. For some time before Pope Gregory I, to sing these psalms was a privilege of deacons at Rome, a privilege he suppressed in 595. The people answered each clause or verse with an acclamation. This apparently dates back to the synagogue tradition, and can even be seen in the structure of some Psalms (such as 136|135). Originally, there was a psalm sung between each reading, of which in the fifth century there were three (Prophets, Epistle, and Gospel). When the Old Testament reading was later dropped, the other two psalms became the Gradual and Alleluia, ordinarily sung one after another, until the 1970 Missal restored the three readings on Sundays and Solemnities
.

The modern Gradual always consists of two psalm verses, generally (but not always) taken from the same psalm. There are a few Graduals that use a book of scripture other than the Psalms (for example, the verse for the Feast of the

Requiem Mass
).

The Gradual is believed to have been so named because it was sung on the step (

Latin: gradus) of the altar, or perhaps because the deacon was mounting the steps of the ambo for the reading or singing of the Gospel.[1] However, early sources use the form gradale ("graded" or "distinguished"), and the Alia Musica (c. 900) uses the term antiphona gradalis for the Introit.[2]

Liturgical use

The Gradual is to be sung after the reading of the

Responsorial Psalm
normally takes the place of the Gradual, and is sung after the first reading, but it may be replaced by the Gradual.

In the

Sequence immediately after he has read the Epistle, and at the same place, even if the choir sings it too. There is no rule for the distribution of its parts within the choir. All may be sung straight through by the whole choir, but it is more common to divide the texts so that some parts are sung by one or two cantors. A common arrangement is that the cantors sing the first words of the Gradual (to the asterisk in the choir-books), the choir continues, and the cantors sing the verse. Normally it is all sung to plainsong
.

In other churches and rites, there are fragments of the psalms once sung between the lessons that correspond to the Roman Gradual. Their placement and structure depend strongly on how many readings there are. In the

Nestorians use three verses of psalms each followed by three Alleluias (this group is called Zumara) after the Epistle. The present Ambrosian Rite sometimes has a Prophecy before the Epistle, in which case there follows the Psalmellus, two or three verses from a psalm, which corresponds to the Gradual. The Mozarabic Rite has three lessons, with a psalm (Psallendo) sung between the first two. Among Protestant churches, Lutherans sing a Gradual either between the Old Testament and the Epistle or the Epistle and the Gospel readings during the Divine Service
.

Musical form and style

Sanctissimus namque Gregorius, from the Vatican edition of the Graduale Romanum.

The usual form of the Gradual is a single respond with a solo verse, although a final repetition of the respond was found up to the Renaissance and is still permitted by the

Liber usualis
.

Graduals are among the most florid and melismatic of all Gregorian chants; Clamaverunt iusti, for example, has melismas with up to 66 notes.[3] Graduals as a group are also notable for melismas that stress one or two pitches, both through repeated notes and repercussive neumes. Both the verse and the respond tend to be similar in style, excepting a tendency for the verse to have a higher tessitura.[4]

Like Tracts, most Graduals show clear signs of

Iustus ut palma group after one representative chant.[5] The Graduals of the Old Roman chant
fall similarly into centonization families, including a family corresponding to the Iustus ut palma group.

Polyphonic settings

Graduals were among the parts of the Mass most frequently composed as

St. Stephen's Day and Viderunt omnes for Christmas.[6]

Book

Main article: Roman Gradual

The term "Gradual" (or Graduale) also refers to certain books compiling the musical items of the Mass. A Gradual is generally distinguished from the

responsorial
chants.

Originally the book was called an antiphonale missarum ("

Antiphonal of the Mass"). Graduals, like the later Cantatory, may have originally included only the responsorial items, the Gradual, Alleluia and Tract.[7]

Footnotes

  1. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gradual". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 311.
  2. ^ Apel, Willi, ed (1972). Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd edition. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Page 350.
  3. ISBN 2-85274-094-X
    .
  4. ISBN 0-253-20601-4
    .
  5. ISBN 0-393-09090-6
    .
  6. ISBN 0-19-816572-2
    .
  7. ^ Apel, Willi, ed (1972). Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2nd edition. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Page 350.

References

  1. ^ "Traditional Latin Mass Q&A – Gradual, Alleluia and Sequence". Musings of Todd. September 17, 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  2. ^ "Graduale van de St.-Baafsabdij te Gent[manuscript]". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved August 26, 2020.

External links

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