The traditional sequence for Easter, Victimae Paschali laudes, is rightly regarded as one of the greatest gems of medieval liturgical poetry, such that it was even accepted by the Missal of the Roman Curia, which had only four sequences, a tradition which passed into the Missal of St Pius V. But of course, sequences as a liturgical genre were extremely popular elsewhere, and many, many more were composed for the most important feast of the year. And thus, for example, we find that in the Sarum Missal, there is a different sequence for each day of the Easter octave, and Victimae Paschali was sung only on Friday.
One of the most common Easter sequences, Laudes Salvatori voce modulemur, was written at the beginning of the tenth century by a monk of the abbey of St Gallen in Switzerland, known as Notker Balbus (or ‘Balbulus’, i.e., the Stammerer), to whom the Victimae Paschali has also been attributed. At Sarum it was sung on Low Sunday, but in other places on Easter itself.The sequence is a genre that lends itself to prolixity and repetition, and to be honest, I didn’t find the recording above all that interesting. Like many hymns used in the modern Mass in Germany, it wanders around rather aimlessly, and in my opinion, is nowhere near as stirring as the Victimae Paschali. However, I decided to make an article of it because of this splendid setting in alternating Gregorian chant and polyphony by the Netherlandish composer Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450 – 1517). It was written as part of his magnum opus, the Choralis Constantinus, a collection of nearly 400 polyphonic settings of the Mass propers for the entire year. The alternation of chant and polyphony extends the performance time to over 13 minutes. offering a nice break at the sedilia to the celebrant after the taxing ceremonies of the Triduum, but not so much to the choir. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
The Mass of Easter in a Missal according to the Use of Constance, Germany, printed in 1505, the use according to which Isaac composed the pieces in the Choralis. The sequence begins in the lower part of the left column.
