ESTERDAY AFTERNOON, I attempted to sing (and accompany) the ancient INTROIT for Easter Sunday. You can listen to my attempt below. I opted for the Church’s official rhythm, choosing the pipe organ accompaniment by the LEMMENSINSTITUUT. It’s utterly miraculous how we can trace CARMEN GREGORIANUM (Gregorian Chant) going back 1,300 years. For example, here’s how this same INTROIT—“Resurréxi Et Adhuc Tecum Sum”—appeared in a manuscript created sometime during the 1300s:
* PDF Download • “Resurréxi” (Ancient Manuscript)
—Easter Sunday’s INTROIT in a manuscript created circa 1393AD.
Ancient Music • The Easter Sunday Propria Missae constitute some of the most ancient music we possess. The official edition (“EDITIO VATICANA”) took into consideration the entire Gregorian tradition—not just a handful of manuscripts—and from that tradition created a CENTO. If I live to be 100 years old, I’ll never understand why some singers select a particular manuscript (such as 121einsie|961) and try to apply that manuscript’s groupings or rhythm to the official edition, which is a CENTO. That would be similar to taking pedal markings from a piece by Franz Liszt and applying them (!) to a piece by Johannes Brahms. In other words, the EDITIO VATICANA by its very nature will be similar but not identical to any single manuscript.
Here’s how the Introit from Easter Sunday looked in Yrieix|1040, written (perhaps) circa 1040AD:
I Reject This! (1 of 2) • There are some who claim that all manuscripts after 980AD are worthless from a rhythmic point of view. Even a priceless and magnificent manuscript such as Yrieix|1040 (in their view) is essentially garbage, because it doesn’t correspond to a handful of manuscripts for which they have a predilection. I don’t wish to begin that argument all over again. I would simply say that I reject the notion that we should “toss out” or “consider worthless” “treat as garbage” 98% of ancient manuscripts from the ‘Golden Age’ of CARMEN GREGORIANUM just because certain people feel a strong predilection for 2-3 manuscripts. I don’t think that makes any sense.
I Reject This! (2 of 2) • I’m absolutely convinced that if a dramatic change in rhythm took place around the year 1,000AD we would have evidence of such a change. Moreover, there was no Internet in those days. Nor did telephones exist. Nor did automobiles exist. Nor did airplanes exist. Therefore, even if somebody woke up one morning and decided to dramatically modify (!) the rhythm of Gregorian Chant, it would not have been possible to notify all the other monasteries (in all the other countries). Furthermore, I believe many monasteries would have forcefully rejected such a proposal, choosing to continue singing plainsong the same way—broadly speaking—they always had. Indeed, with each passing day more manuscripts are added (thanks to the Internet) and each one is a like a slow and uncompromising death knell for anyone arguing a dramatic and universal (!) rhythmic change somehow took place circa 1,000AD.
Moslem Music? • When it comes to ancient music that we can know with certainty CARMEN GREGORIANUM (“Gregorian Chant”) is far and away the oldest. If somebody tells you Jewish music is more ancient than Gregorian chant, they’ve been deceived. If somebody tells you that Muslim music is more ancient than Gregorian chant, they’re not telling you the truth. The reason for this seeming contradiction is simple: Roman Catholics figured out how to write down music long before anybody else. We know the ancient Greeks had music, but we have no reliable understanding of it (because Catholics were the first to figure out how to accurately notate music). We know the ancient Jews had music, but we have no credible notation for it (because Catholics were the first to figure out how to accurately notate music). We know that ancient Moslems sang, but we have no contemporaneous documentation for it (because Catholics were the first to figure out how to accurately notate music). On the Internet, you can find gullible singers who try to make Gregorian Chant sound “more authentic” by imitating the way Muslims or Jews—in the year 2024—sing. This is the equivalent of musicological malpractice. Make no mistake about it: Gregorian Chant is the earliest music we can know with certainty.
Here’s the text from Easter Sunday’s INTROIT in Latin:
Resurréxi, et adhuc tecum sum, allelúia: posuísti super me manum tuam, allelúia: mirábilis facta est sciéntia tua, allelúia, allelúia. Vs. Dómine, probásti me et cognovísti me: tu cognovísti sessiónem meam et resurrectiónem meam. Vs. Glória Patri, et Fílio, et Spirítui Sancto. Sicut erat in princípio, et nunc, et semper, et in sǽcula sæculórum. Amen. Resurréxi, et adhuc tecum sum, allelúia: posuísti super me manum tuam, allelúia: mirábilis facta est sciéntia tua, allelúia, allelúia.
Here’s the text from Easter Sunday’s INTROIT in English:
I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia; Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia; Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia. Vs. Lord, Thou hast searched Me and known Me; Thou knowest my sitting down and My rising up. Vs. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. I arose, and am still with Thee, alleluia; Thou hast laid Thy hand upon me, alleluia; Thy knowledge is become wonderful, alleluia, alleluia.
