![Gradual of King John Albert](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Gradual_of_King_John_Albert.jpg)
The gradual ( la, graduale or ) is a
chant or
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...
in the
Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
, the
liturgical
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...
celebration of the
Eucharist
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
in the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, and among some other Christians. It gets its name from the Latin (meaning "step") because it was once chanted on the step of the
ambo or
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
.
In the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...
, it is sung after the reading or chanting of the
epistle and before the
Alleluia
Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...
, or, during penitential seasons, before the
tract
Tract may refer to:
Geography and real estate
* Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots
* Land lot or tract, a section of land
* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census
...
. In the
Mass of Paul VI
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 19 ...
, the gradual is usually replaced with the
responsorial psalm
Responsorial psalmody primarily refers to the placement and use of the Psalm within the readings at a Christian service of the Eucharist. The Psalm chosen in such a context is often called the responsorial psalm. Although often associated with ...
. Although the Gradual remains an option in the Mass of Paul VI, its use is extremely rare outside monasteries. The gradual is part of the
proper
Proper may refer to:
Mathematics
* Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact
* Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...
of the Mass.
A gradual can also refer to a book collecting all the musical items of the Mass. The official such book for the
Roman Rite is the
Roman Gradual
The ''Roman Gradual'' (Latin: ''Graduale Romanum'') is an official liturgical book of the Roman Rite of the Roman Catholic Church containing chants, including the proper and many more, for use in Mass.
The latest edition of 1974 takes account ...
(). Other such books include the Dominican Gradual.
History
The Gradual, like the Alleluia and Tract, is one of the
responsorial chants of the Mass. Responsorial chants derive from early Christian traditions of singing choral refrains called ''responds'' between
psalm
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
verses. According to the
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
, it (and the associated Alleluia or Tract) is the oldest of the chants of the
Proper
Proper may refer to:
Mathematics
* Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact
* Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...
of the Mass, and, in contrast to the
Introit
The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...
,
Offertory, and
Communion, the only one that was not sung to accompany some other liturgical action, historically a procession. Until about the fifth century, it included singing a whole
psalm
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived f ...
. They were sung in the form of a ''psalmus responsorius'', i.e. the whole text was chanted by a reader appointed for this purpose. For some time before
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregor ...
, to sing these psalms was a privilege of
deacon
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
s at Rome, a privilege he suppressed in 595. The people answered each clause or verse with an acclamation. This apparently dates back to the
synagogue tradition, and can even be seen in the structure of some Psalms (such as 136, 135). Originally, there was a psalm sung between each reading, of which in the fifth century there were three (
Prophets
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
,
Epistle, and
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
). When the Old Testament reading was later dropped, the other two psalms became the Gradual and
Alleluia
Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...
, ordinarily sung one after another, until the 1970
Missal restored the three readings on Sundays and
Solemnities
In the liturgical calendar of the Roman Rite, a solemnity is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Mary, his earthly father Joseph, or another important sain ...
.
The modern Gradual always consists of two psalm verses, generally (but not always) taken from the same psalm. There are a few Graduals that use a book of scripture other than the Psalms (for example, the verse for the Feast of the
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception.
It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a divinely revealed truth w ...
is from the
Book of Judith), or even non-scriptural verses (for example, the first verse in the
Requiem Mass
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
).
The Gradual is believed to have been so named because it was sung on the step (
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''gradus'') of the altar, or perhaps because the deacon was mounting the steps of the
ambo for the reading or singing of the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...
. However, early sources use the form ''gradale'' ("graded" or "distinguished"), and the ''Alia Musica'' (c. 900) uses the term ''antiphona gradalis'' for the
Introit
The Introit (from Latin: ''introitus'', "entrance") is part of the opening of the liturgy, liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, Psalms, psalm verse and ' ...
.
Liturgical use
The Gradual is to be sung after the reading of the
Epistle. It is ordinarily followed by the
Alleluia
Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...
or
Tract
Tract may refer to:
Geography and real estate
* Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots
* Land lot or tract, a section of land
* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census
...
, but in Masses that have more readings than normal, such as during
Lent
Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...
, these may be separated by another reading, or, if there are more than three readings, there is more than one Gradual, and finally the Tract, to separate each reading. In
Eastertide
Eastertide (also known as Eastertime or the Easter season) or Paschaltide (also known as Paschaltime or the Paschal season) is a festal season in the liturgical year of Christianity that focuses on celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. ...
, the Gradual is normally omitted, and a second Alleluia is sung in its place, except within the
Octave of
Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
. In what is now the
ordinary form
The Mass of Paul VI, also known as the Ordinary Form or Novus Ordo, is the most commonly used liturgy in the Catholic Church. It is a form of the Latin Church's Roman Rite and was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1969, published by him in the 1970 ...
of the Roman Rite, the
Responsorial Psalm
Responsorial psalmody primarily refers to the placement and use of the Psalm within the readings at a Christian service of the Eucharist. The Psalm chosen in such a context is often called the responsorial psalm. Although often associated with ...
normally takes the place of the Gradual, and is sung after the first reading, but it may be replaced by the Gradual.
In the
Tridentine Mass
The Tridentine Mass, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass or Traditional Rite, is the liturgy of Mass in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church that appears in typical editions of the Roman Missal published from 1570 to 1962. Celebrated almo ...
, the celebrant himself reads the Gradual with the Alleluia, Tract, or
Sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is calle ...
immediately after he has read the Epistle, and at the same place, even if the choir sings it too. There is no rule for the distribution of its parts within the choir. All may be sung straight through by the whole choir, but it is more common to divide the texts so that some parts are sung by one or two cantors. A common arrangement is that the cantors sing the first words of the Gradual (to the asterisk in the choir-books), the choir continues, and the cantors sing the verse. Normally it is all sung to
plainsong
Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ''plain-chant''; la, cantus planus) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text ...
.
In other churches and rites, there are fragments of the psalms once sung between the lessons that correspond to the Roman Gradual. Their placement and structure depend strongly on how many readings there are. In the
Byzantine Rite the reader of the epistle first chants "the Psalm of David" and then the "
Prokeimenon of the Apostle", both short fragments of psalms. The
Armenian Rite
The Armenian Rite () is an independent liturgy used by both the Armenian Apostolic and Armenian Catholic Churches.
Liturgy
The liturgy is patterned after the directives of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, first official head and patron sain ...
, which has kept the older arrangement of three lessons, includes between each a fragment called the ''Saghmos Jashu'' (Psalm of dinnertime) and the ''Mesedi'' (
mesodion), again a verse or two from a psalm. The
Nestorians
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian N ...
use three verses of psalms each followed by three Alleluias (this group is called ''Zumara'') after the Epistle. The present
Ambrosian Rite
The Ambrosian Rite is a Catholic Western liturgical rite, named after Saint Ambrose, a bishop of Milan in the fourth century, which differs from the Roman Rite. It is used by some five million Catholics in the greater part of the Archdiocese ...
sometimes has a Prophecy before the Epistle, in which case there follows the ''Psalmellus'', two or three verses from a psalm, which corresponds to the Gradual. The
Mozarabic Rite has three lessons, with a psalm (''Psallendo'') sung between the first two. Among Protestant churches,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
s sing a Gradual either between the Old Testament and the Epistle or the Epistle and the Gospel readings during the
Divine Service.
Musical form and style
The usual form of the Gradual is a single respond with a solo verse, although a final repetition of the respond was found up to the Renaissance and is still permitted by the ''
Liber usualis
The ''Liber Usualis'' is a book of commonly used Gregorian chants in the Catholic tradition, compiled by the monks of the Abbey of Solesmes in France. According to Willi Apel, the chants in the ''Liber Usualis'' originated in the 11th century.Ap ...
''.
Graduals are among the most florid and
melisma
Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...
tic of all Gregorian chants; ''Clamaverunt iusti'', for example, has melismas with up to 66 notes. Graduals as a group are also notable for melismas that stress one or two pitches, both through repeated notes and repercussive
neume
A neume (; sometimes spelled neum) is the basic element of Western and Eastern systems of musical notation prior to the invention of five-line staff notation.
The earliest neumes were inflective marks that indicated the general shape but not nec ...
s. Both the verse and the respond tend to be similar in style, excepting a tendency for the verse to have a higher
tessitura
In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or characte ...
.
Like Tracts, most Graduals show clear signs of
centonization
In music centonization (from Latin ''cento'' or patchwork) is a theory about the composition of a melody, melodies, or piece based on pre-existing melodic figures and formulas. A piece created using centonization is known as a "centonate".
The c ...
, a process of composition in which an extended vocabulary of stock musical phrases are woven together. Some phrases are only used for
incipits, some only for
cadence
In Western musical theory, a cadence (Latin ''cadentia'', "a falling") is the end of a phrase in which the melody or harmony creates a sense of full or partial resolution, especially in music of the 16th century onwards.Don Michael Randel (199 ...
s, and some only in the middle of a musical line. The Gregorian Graduals can be organized into musical families that share common musical phrases. Although nearly half of the Gregorian Graduals belong to a family of related chants in the fifth
mode
Mode ( la, modus meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* '' MO''D''E (magazine)'', a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine
* ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is ...
, the most famous family of Graduals are those of the second mode, commonly called the ''
Iustus ut palma'' group after one representative chant. The Graduals of the
Old Roman chant
Old Roman chant is the liturgical plainchant repertory of the Roman rite of the early Christian Church. It was formerly performed in Rome, and, although it is closely related to Gregorian chant, the two are distinct. Gregorian Chant gradually suppl ...
fall similarly into centonization families, including a family corresponding to the ''Iustus ut palma'' group.
Polyphonic settings
Graduals were among the parts of the Mass most frequently composed as
organa
Organa (Alpo-Morgan) was Kubrat's maternal uncle of the Ermi clan. According to John of Nikiu, he was regent (kavkhan) over the tribe of the Onogur Bulgars from 617 to 630 in place of his nephew, Kubrat, for the time Kubrat was growing up as a ...
, including both the
St. Martial School and the
Notre Dame School
The Notre-Dame school or the Notre-Dame school of polyphony refers to the group of composers working at or near the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris from about 1160 to 1250, along with the music they produced.
The only composers whose names hav ...
. Ordinarily the parts that were sung by the soloist (the beginning of the respond and the verse) are the only parts so set, while the choral parts continued to be performed in plainsong. In 1198,
Odo de Sully,
Bishop of Paris, authorized
polyphonic performances of Graduals, including
Pérotin
Pérotin () was a composer associated with the Notre Dame school of polyphony in Paris and the broader musical style of high medieval music. He is credited with developing the polyphonic practices of his predecessor Léonin, with the intro ...
's famous four-part
organa
Organa (Alpo-Morgan) was Kubrat's maternal uncle of the Ermi clan. According to John of Nikiu, he was regent (kavkhan) over the tribe of the Onogur Bulgars from 617 to 630 in place of his nephew, Kubrat, for the time Kubrat was growing up as a ...
, ''
Sederunt principes'' for
St. Stephen's Day and ''
Viderunt omnes'' for
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
.
Book
The term "Gradual" (or ''Graduale'') also refers to certain books compiling the musical items of the Mass. A Gradual is generally distinguished from the
Missal by omitting the spoken items, and including the music for the sung parts. It includes both the
Ordinary and
Proper
Proper may refer to:
Mathematics
* Proper map, in topology, a property of continuous function between topological spaces, if inverse images of compact subsets are compact
* Proper morphism, in algebraic geometry, an analogue of a proper map for ...
, as opposed to the
Kyrial, which includes only the Ordinary, and the
Cantatory, which includes only the
responsorial chants.
Originally the book was called an ''antiphonale missarum'' ("
Antiphonal
An antiphonary or antiphonal is one of the liturgical books intended for use (i.e. in the liturgical choir), and originally characterized, as its name implies, by the assignment to it principally of the antiphons used in various parts of the ...
of the Mass"). Graduals, like the later Cantatory, may have originally included only the responsorial items, the Gradual,
Alleluia
Alleluia (derived from the Hebrew ''Hallelujah'', meaning "Praise Yahweh") is a Latin phrase in Christianity used to give praise to God. In Christian worship, Alleluia is used as a liturgical chant in which that word is combined with verses of ...
and
Tract
Tract may refer to:
Geography and real estate
* Housing tract, an area of land that is subdivided into smaller individual lots
* Land lot or tract, a section of land
* Census tract, a geographic region defined for the purpose of taking a census
...
.
Footnotes
#
# Apel, Willi, ed (1972). ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', 2nd edition. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Page 350.
#
#
#
#
# Apel, Willi, ed (1972). ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', 2nd edition. Cambridge, Harvard University Press. Page 350.
References
External links
Summaryof the 1974 edition of the ''Graduale Romanum'' in tabular form.
Full Text of the entire Graduale 1961*
Digitized circa 15th Century Gradual at University of the Pacific.
{{Authority control
Order of Mass
Music illuminated manuscripts
Types of illuminated manuscript