Victimae paschali laudes

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Victimae paschali laudes
General
Use: sequence
Liturgical calendar : Dominica Resurrectionis
Text origin: Wipo
Mode : First note
Choral book : Graduale Romanum , p. 242

The Easter sequence Victimae paschali laudes is a Latin poem that has been handed down under the name of the poet and historian Wipo († after 1046). On the occasion of Easter , the resurrection of Jesus is celebrated as the victory of life over death.

Victimae paschali laudes is one of the few sequences that were retained after the reform of the Tridentine Council (1545–1563). It was sung in the Roman rite in Holy Masses in Easter week, since the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council only on Easter (during the mass on the day before the call to the Gospel) . The chanting of the sequence is mandatory.

Emergence

Wipo named as the author was probably born around 995 in the Alemannic part of Burgundy or near Solothurn. This city belonged to the diocese of Lausanne and the archbishopric of Besançon . Thanks to his high education, Wipo had friendly relationships with some of the greats of his time. As a friend of the Emperor Konrad II , he took part in his coronation in Rome in 1027, later he worked as a tutor to the young Heinrich III. Towards the end of his life he retired as a hermit to the Bavarian- Bohemian border area, where he died around 1050. His presence in this region probably explains the early dissemination of the Easter song Christ has risen there .

In the wake of the Council of Trent , the sixth stanza with the disparaging reference to the Jews was eliminated. In addition, in the fifth stanza suos ("his own") was changed to vos ("you"), which was reversed in 1908, as well as a final "Alleluia. Amen "added.

text

Latin text

1. Victimae paschali laudes immolent Christiani.

2. Agnus redemit oves;
Christ innocens Patri
Reconciliavit peccatores

3. Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando;
Dux vitae mortuus
Regnat vivus.

4. Dic nobis, Maria: Quid vidisti in via?
Sepulchrum Christi viventis
Et gloriam vidi resurgentis,

5. Angelicos testes, sudarium et vestes.
Surrexit Christ spes mea;
Praecedet suos in Galilaeam.

[ 6. Credendum est magis soli Mariae veraci
Quam Judaeorum turbae fallaci.]

7. Scimus Christum surrexisse a mortuis vere.
Tu nobis, victor rex, miserere! (Amen. Alleluia.)

translation

1. The Christians should consecrate hymns of praise to the Easter animal for slaughter.

2. The Lamb redeemed the sheep.
Christ, the innocent,
reconciled sinners to the Father.

3. Death and life wrestled in a miraculous duel.
The prince of life who died
rules alive [now].

4. Tell us, Maria, what did you see on the way?
I have seen the tomb of Christ who lives
and his glory when he was risen,

5. and angelic witnesses, the handkerchief and the linen towels.
Christ is risen, my hope.
He will precede his own to Galilee.

[ 6. More faith is to be given to Mary alone, the true,
than the deceptive crowd of Jews.]

7. We know that Christ was truly risen from the dead.
You victorious king, have mercy on us!

analysis

In contrast to other sequences, the Easter sequence still has an original form: without a uniform meter, only counting syllables and without a consistent rhyme structure.

The melodic flow of the poem, executed in punches , provides a clear structure:

  • The first double stanza (verses 2 + 3: drama of the event of redemption) uses the upper registers of the Doric church mode ,
  • the second double stanza (verses 4 + 5) - the dialogue with Maria Magdala , similar to an Easter play - moves in the lower register (plagal Doric).
  • The framework (verses 1 + 7) is formed by the introductory call for Easter praise (Christians are to consecrate hymns of praise to the Easter Lamb) and a concluding Easter confession: "We know that Christ is truly risen."
  • This confession corresponds to the Easter greeting, which is still common in Greece today Χριστὸς ἀνέστη - Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη Christos anésti - Alithós anésti! "Christ is risen - he is truly risen!"

The sequence is preserved in numerous manuscripts from the 11th and 12th centuries. The earliest manuscripts with the Neumen notation include the codices Rheinau 132 from the 11th century and Einsiedeln 366 from the 12th century, from Benedictine monasteries .

melody

Gregorian melody of the sequence (listen? / I)

Further settings

The text plays an important role in church music and in the musical design of the liturgy during Easter. Polyphonic settings come from, among others

In his Easter song Christ was in death bands , Martin Luther also took up a motif from the third stanza of the Easter sequence.

The Catholic praise of God from 1975 contained the Latin and German text of the Easter sequence as a counterfacture with the Gregorian melody of the 11th century (numbers 215 and 216) as well as a further transmission with a rhythmic melody version by Heinrich Rohr (number 217). The current praise of God only has the Latin version (number 320) in the main part, a German version of the chorale melody can be found in some regional parts, and in an improved form in the second part of the Old Catholic hymn book under No. 717 and 835.

Recordings

Web links

Commons : Victimae paschali laudes  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Wikibooks: Songbook / Victimae paschali laudes  - Notes for the song

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Adolf Adam (Ed.): Te Deum laudamus. Great prayers of the Latin-German Church . Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1987. New edition 2001, ISBN 3-451-27359-4 , p. 222.
  2. ↑ a b This stanza has not been part of the liturgically used text of the sequence since the Missale Romanum of 1570, see: Albert Gerhards: Theologische und socio-cultural conflicts with Judaism. Examples from the Catholic liturgy and its history of impact. In: Albert Gerhards, Stephan Wahle (ed.): Continuity and interruption. Worship and Prayer in Judaism and Christianity . Schöningh, Paderborn 2005, ISBN 3-506-71338-8 , pp. 269–286, here p. 278 ( limited preview in the Google book search).
  3. ↑ Markus Bautsch: On Contrafactures of Gregorian Repertoires - Victimae pascali laudes , accessed on December 8, 2014
  4. ^ Regional part of East Germany, number 758.
  5. ↑ Prayer and hymn book of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland . II. Holy week: Palm Sunday to Easter . Edited by the Bishop and Synodal Council of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland. Allschwil 2008, ISBN 3-9522331-9-6 , pp. 130 f., 164 f.