N THE HUNDREDTH anniversary of the publication of the Editio Vaticana GRADUAL, Jeffrey Tucker asked me if he could scan my personal copy, which I had purchased from Germany. In 2008, I published an article in the SACRED MUSIC MAGAZINE—which begins on page 21—explaining the melismatic moræ vocis. In my article, you’ll find the following sentence, which Jeffrey Tucker wrote:
“The Vatican Edition of the Graduale Romanum is now online. I’m happy to report that it is my personal copy that now resides on the CMAA server and is bringing this beautiful book—all 940 pages of it—to the world for the first time, and on its hundredth anniversary.”
Mr. Tucker insisted that I include his words, even though I felt they made me sound arrogant. In any event, if you look in that 1908 Graduale, you will notice how Abbot Pothier included a section called “De Ritibus Servandis In Cantu Missae.” I published an English translation of this document in January of 2017 (cf. Nine Rubrics for Mass in the Extraordinary Form). Here’s what Abbot Pothier says about singing the ALLELUIA:
Translated into English, that means: “If two Alleluias with a verse are to be sung, the first Alleluia is chanted by one or two voices up to the asterisk: the choir then repeats the Alleluia and adds the neume (or “jubilus”), drawing out the syllable “A.” The Cantors sing the Verse, which is completed in full chorus from the asterisk, as before. The Verse done, the Cantor or Cantors repeat the Alleluia, and the chorus adds the neume only.”
However, we never follow that. We always have the entire choir repeat the final Alleluia, from beginning to end. If you ask me why I don’t do it correctly, I don’t really have a good answer; we just don’t.
Here is how it’s supposed to be done:
On the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we did it correctly for the first time ever!
