Sequence (church music)

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In church music and literature of the Middle Ages, a sequence (Latin sequentia ) is a text ( trope ) of the Gregorian Hallelujah ( classical sequence ) or a lyrical, hymn-like song resulting from it . A sequence is part of the ordinarium of Holy Mass in the Roman rite of individual solemn festivals . The term sequence comes from the Latin word sequi (in German "to follow") because the chant in the liturgy of Holy Mass originally immediately followed the Hallelujah as a jubilee - a richly crafted, wordless melody over the ending -a of the Hallelujah. Another name is longissima melodia .

history

The history of the sequence begins around 850 with the texting of the alleluia closing melisms ( classic sequence ). According to the Isonic rule handed down by Notker Balbulus , this had to be done syllabically . Up to the 12th century, the rhyme sequence independent of the Hallelujah developed with rhymed and rhythmically aligned verses. It leads to the large-scale verse sequences of the 13th century (important authors Thomas von Celano and Thomas von Aquin ). Rhyme sequences have the structure of polyphonic, metrically ordered and rhymed hymns .

Sequences became very popular in the late Middle Ages. About 5000 rhyming sequences are known. In the 14th century the custom emerged to combine the sequences on festive days with German stanzas. This is how the Christmas carol Praised be you, Jesus Christ was created in connection with the sequence of the Christmas midnight mass Grates nunc omnes , and Christ has risen was sung for the Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes .

Pentecost sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus

The Council of Trent (1545 to 1563) only allowed four sequences in the Roman rite:

The stabat mater (on the memory of Mary's pain , ad libitum) was added as the fifth sequence in 1727.

Liturgical practice

According to the basic order of the Roman Missal (No. 64), the sequence is sung today between the second reading and the Gospel before the Alleluia . It is compulsory on Easter Sunday (Victimae paschali laudes) and Pentecost Sunday (Veni Sancte Spiritus) , the remaining sequences (Lauda Sion Salvatorem , Stabat mater ) are optional components of the Holy Mass on the respective feast day.

The dies irae is no longer used in the liturgy of the ordinary form of the Roman rite according to the new missal due to the image of an angry god ("day of wrath ...") that conveys the sequence, but is permitted in the great requiem for All Souls' Day , so that the treasure of church music can be cultivated. It is also sung in the Requiem of the extraordinary form of the Roman rite and (ad libitum) in the Divine Office of All Souls Day and the last week of the year.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Karl Praßl: Sequence . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2000, Sp. 476 .
  2. ^ Arnold Feil: Metzler Musik Chronik . JB Metzler, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-476-02109-0 , doi : 10.1007 / 978-3-476-00145-0 ( springer.com [accessed April 7, 2020]).
  3. ^ Basic order of the Roman Missal - advance publication of the German Bishops' Conference, 2007 (PDF; 545 kB, no. 64).