This is the second part of a guest article by Mr Thomas Neal on the chants of the ongoing feast of All Saints; the first part was published on Friday. Mr Neal is a teacher, musicologist, and church musician based in Oxford (UK), where inter alia he serves as the Director of Music at New College School. Our thanks to him once again for sharing with us the interesting results of his research.
Alleluia
Allelúia, allelúia. Veníte ad me, omnes, qui laborátis et oneráti estis: et ego refíciam vos. Allelúia. (Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.)The Alleluia verse is a quotation from the Gospel of St. Matthew 11, verse 28. More research is required to determine the sources of this melody. In my (admittedly brief) searches, the earliest chant manuscript I could find with this text is the 11th-century Cantatorium of the Use of St. Martial de Limoges; among the later sources are a 15th-century Graduale from Maastricht; but both transmit other melodies that are markedly different from that in the Liber usualis.
This text was set by composers such as Palestrina, Andrea Gabrieli, Jacobus de Kerle, Orlando di Lasso, and Jacob Regnart. But it is perhaps Felice Anerio’s glorious setting for double choir (Selectae cantiones octonis vocibus concinendae, 1614) that is best known today:I would also commend the slightly later setting by Heinrich Schütz, which was published in the first volume of his groundbreaking collection Symphoniae sacrae (1629):
However, Venite ad me is not the only text associated with the Alleluia for the feast of All Saints. Many chant manuscripts from the 10th through to the 14th centuries have the verse Vox exsultationis [4], while one 10th-century tropaire has the verse as O quam gloriosum, adapted from the Book of the Apocalypse (7, verse 9). [5] This text is still to be found as the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers of All Saints, and was set to polyphony by numerous sixteenth-century composers, most famously by Tomás Luis de Victoria (Motecta, 1572):
Offertory
Justórum ánimæ in manu Dei sunt, et non tanget illos torméntum malítiae: visi sunt óculis insipiéntium mori: illi autem sunt in pace, allelúia. (The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead: but they are in peace. Alleluia.)
Several early liturgical manuscripts (such as the twelfth-century Gradual of Bellay Abbey) give Mirabilis Deus as the Offertory for the Mass of All Saints, while manuscripts of Old Roman chant specify the widely used chant Laetamini. [6] It is unclear when it was changed to Justorum animae, although this must have occurred at a comparatively early stage. The text comprises the first three verses of the third chapter of the Book of Wisdom, a passage that had already had a long association with the feast of All Saints, appearing in various forms in the texts of the Office.
The melody for the new Offertory text was adapted from the Offertory chant for the feast of St. Michael, Stetit angelus, the earliest source for which appears to be the Graduel de Laon. (Bibliothèque municipale Ms 0239, f.73v.) This famous manuscript was copied for use at the cathedral of Laon in the final quarter of the ninth century, making it one of the very oldest surviving examples of Western musical notation. Perhaps the earliest copy of the chant adapted to the Justorum animae text is that found in the Graduale Narbonese, a manuscript copied at the cathedral of Arles in the tenth century, using so-called ‘Aquitaine’ notation. [7]
Justorum animae has been set many times by composers. The versions by Palestrina (Offertoria, 1593) and Byrd (Gradualia, 1605) are among the most well-known, but this one by Orlando di Lasso (Sacrae cantiones, 1582) remains my personal favourite:
With a nod to Anglican patrimony, the setting by Charles Villiers Stanford is also extremely attractive and deserves to be better known:
Communion
Beáti mundo corde, quóniam ipsi Deum vidébunt; beáti pacífici, quóniam filii Dei vocabúntur: beáti, qui persecutiónem patiúntur propter iustítiam, quóniam ipsórum est regnum caelórum. (Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they who suffer persecution for justice’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.)
The text is taken from the Gospel of the feast, the Beatitudes in the Gospel of St. Matthew, chapter 5, verses 8-10. The earliest surviving source for this chant appears to be the Laon Graduale (f.71r), where it appears as a proper Communion for the feast of Ss. Felix and Adauctus (30 August).
Among the few polyphonic settings of this text is Byrd’s, from the Gradualia (1605):
Exitus
A vast amount of music has been composed for this important feast. However, one composition frequently omitted from music programmes is Palestrina’s six-voice Missa Ecce ego Johannes. Even among that composer’s incomparable corpus of Masses, this exquisite setting surely ranks near the top. The model for this Mass has yet to be identified, but the title suggests a motet setting the Chapter at First and Second Vespers of All Saints. It survives in only one source: a choirbook copied for use by the Cappella Sistina around the time of the composer’s death in 1594:
NOTES:
[6] Roberto J. Snow, ‘The Old-Roman Chant,’ Gregorian Chant, ed. Willi Apel (London: Burns & Oates, 1958), pp.484-505: at 468.
[7] If I am correct, then Dom. Johner’s statement that the chant was adapted to the new text during the twelfth century, is inaccurate. See: Dom. Johner, The Chants of the Vatican Gradual, p.470.
