Sequence (musical form)
A sequence (
The sequence had always been sung directly before the Gospel, after the Alleluia.[1] The 2002 edition of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, however, reversed the order and places the sequence before the Alleluia.[2]
The form of this chant inspired a genre of
The Latin sequence in literature and liturgy
The Latin sequence has its beginnings, as an artistic form, in early Christian
The name sequentia, on the other hand, came to be bestowed upon these hymns as a result of the works of
Notker's texts were meant to be sung. In the Latin Mass of the Middle Ages, it became customary to prolong the last syllable of the Alleluia, while the deacon was ascending from the altar to the ambo, to sing or chant the Gospel. This prolonged melisma was called the jubilus, jubilatio, or laudes, because of its jubilant tone. It was also called sequentia, "sequence," because it followed (Latin: sequi) the Alleluia. Notker set words to this melisma in rhythmic prose for chanting as a trope. The name sequence thus came to be applied to these texts; and by extension, to hymns containing rhyme and accentual metre. A collection of sequences was called the Sequentiale.
One well-known sequence, falsely attributed to Notker during the Middle Ages, is the prose text
Many sequences abolished
In the
The sequence as a musical genre
Sequences are distinguished by a structure dominated by couplets, in forms of AA'BB'CC'... and ABB'CC'DD'...Z. Although it is commonly understood that sequences fall into early, middle, and late periods, the history of developments in the genre is better thought of as unfolding in layers that overlap. In the early period, sequences such as Notker's often included single lines that were not part of a couplet. These single lines most often appeared at the beginning or end of the sequence, but could also appear in the middle. Sequences from the middle period, starting around the 11th century, such as the sequence for the Mass of Easter Day, Victimae paschali laudes, are less likely to have single lines outside of couplets, and their couplets are more likely to rhyme. By the 12th century, later sequences, such as the sequence for Pentecost, Veni Sancte Spiritus, showed increasing regularity of structure, with rhyming couplets throughout.
Medieval sequences are usually
The composition of sequences became less frequent when
Νotes
- ^ To be precise, the sequence came between the second and third sections of the "alleluia." See Rubricæ Generales Missalis Romani (1960) n.470, Retrieved 14 June 2006.
- ISBN 9780814662137. Retrieved 26 April 2011. See Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani Archived 2007-03-12 at the Wayback Machine(2002) n.64, Retrieved 14 June 2006.
- ^ "Olim sudor Herculis". Cambridge Digital Library. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- ^ The Later Cambridge Songs: An English Song Collection of the Twelfth Century, edited by John E. Stevens, see p. 107
- ^ "Stabat Mater", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917), Retrieved 14 June 2006.
- ^ Liturgia Horarum IV, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), p.489.
References
- Hoppin, Richard (1978). Medieval Music. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-09090-1.
- Crocker, Richard (1977). The Early Medieval Sequence. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-02847-0.
External links
- Schaff, Philip, History of the Christian Church (1910)
- Catholic Encyclopedia, Blessed Notker Balbulus (Stammerer)
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- Hildegard of Bingen and Medieval Music: A Conversation with Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia, Interview (2018)