The Pentecost Sequence - Veni Sancte Spiritus
I greatly appreciated the opportunity to chant the sequence Sunday morning for the Solemnity of Pentecost. Last year my little schola had chanted the sequence in Latin as well. This year it was sort of a revisiting of that, as the only choir members who knew the sequence were singers who had been with me in the "interim schola." It was four of us ladies, and I think it worked out pretty well. I videotaped and we pulled the audio off the video, then my DH added some reverb to the recording so we can pretend that we have an echo in our church. You can listen to the Pentecost Sequence here.
I made copies of the sequence from St. Cecilia Schola's collection of chants. I didn't make enough though... so I followed the music from my Gregorian Missal. One thing I had noticed and was confused about was the ordering of the Liturgy of the Word in the GM as compared to the missalette. The Gregorian Missal listed the events in this order:
1) 1st Reading
2) Gradual
3) 2nd Reading
4) Alleluia
5) Sequence
6) Gospel
The missalette had number 4 and 5 in the opposite order, the sequence coming before the Alleluia, which is of course the way I remember it having been done for years. I watched for it on TV when EWTN televised the Mass from Rome too, and they also did the sequence prior to the Alleluia. But why is it different in the Gregorian Missal?
I learn that the 2002 General Instruction of the Roman Missal #64 indicates that the sequence should precede the Alleluia. The Gregorian Missal was published in 1973, hence the different ordering of things.
By the way, the GIRM also indicates that sequences are optional except for Easter and Pentecost. However, if you have the opportunity to use a sequence, why wouldn't you? They are beautiful chants, very melodic and easy to sing because of their repetitive melody and rhythm. What are the other sequences? you might wonder if you are like me when I first embarked on this adventure of sacred music. Well, apparently there used to be lots more sequences, but these are the ones that remain in use:
1) Victimae Paschali Laudes (Easter Sunday)
2) Veni Sancte Spiritus (Pentecost)
3) Lauda Sion (Corpus Christi) - shorter version starts with Ecce Panis Angelorum
4) Stabat Mater (Sorrowful Mother, also sung at Stations of the Cross)
5) Dies Irae (Requiem Mass as for funerals, All Souls, or other Mass for the Dead)
They are so wonderful. I encourage you to give them a try if you have not yet.
Next: A Living Gregorian Chant - thoughts on the article by Laszlo Dobszay
Comments
The ordering of Alleluia verse and Sequence is different in the Gregorian Missal because that's the way it was done before the 1970 reform of the Roman Rite.
The pre-1970 order (which the Gregorian Missal reflects and which is still used in the Extraordinary Form) is:
Alleluia, Alleluia
[Verse]
[Sequence + Amen, Alleluia]
Post-1970 it is:
[Sequence w/o Amen, Alleluia]
Alleluia, Alleluia
[Verse]
Alleluia
Lots of people have written about the placement of the Sequence, mostly in favor of the traditional ordering, if I recall correctly. I can't give you any links off the top of my head, though.
Posted by: Aristotle A. Esguerra | May 12, 2008 01:01 PM
Thanks for that. So normally now-a-days the Amen, Alleluia at the end of the sequence would not be sung? (I noticed in Rome they did not.) Well, we still did it. Actually in the GM "Amen Alleluia" was not printed at the end of the sequence. It was on the sheets printed from the St. Cecilia site, which I am guessing is from the Graduale Romanum, also published pre-2002 GIRM.
The Alleluia typically used post-1970 is so different from the one in the Graduale as to be an entirely different genre. Maybe if there were a restoration of the proper Alleluia, the order would be restored to the traditional way as well. I don't have any deep feelings about the order, though I would like to hear the melismatic proper Alleluia done at our church. And it would feel weird to sing the sequence for Easter, Pentecost, or Corpus Christi without Amen Alleluia.
Posted by: Darcy | May 12, 2008 02:37 PM
Finally made it over to this blog. Greetings, Darcy, from St. Augustine, Florida. I have a women's schola as well. And I love it when people say, "I didn't know women could sing that." The organist at our cathedral says they have never done the Corpus Christi sequence in her time there. Well, this year at least they're getting the "short form" from By Flowing Waters, compliments of my schola. Since it will be in English at least they can't complain, as someone did, that "they're singing in a weird language."
Posted by: Mary Jane | May 13, 2008 02:44 PM
Hi Mary Jane, thanks for stopping by! Too bad we're not in FL or we could all get together for a barbeque! Our "schola" (or the church choir) really includes men too, it's just that some of us ladies can sing chant and so far just one or two guys are comfortable with it, and probably not without a larger group. All the best with the BFW Ecce Panis. I'll be interested to hear how it goes. We'll be doing the Latin short-form Deo volente.
Posted by: Darcy | May 13, 2008 03:09 PM