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The fourth-century origin of the gradual*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2008

James W. McKinnon
James W. McKinnon
Affiliation:
State University of New York at Buffalo
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Extract

The conventional view on the origin of the gradual was stated succinctly by Peter Wagner: ‘The Responsorial solo in the mass is of apostolic origin…in imitation of the Jewish liturgy a solo from the psalmist was inserted between the readings.’ The precise form this view has taken more recently in the works of both musical and liturgical historians can be summarised as follows. The early Mass or Eucharist consisted of two major parts. The essential part, the Eucharist proper, had its origins in the Last Supper, a Jewish ceremonial meal, possibly the Passover Seder. This was preceded by a ‘service of the Word’, made up of four elements: scripture reading, discourse on the reading, congregational prayer and psalms sung in response to the readings. This pre-eucharistic service was plainly and simply an adoption en bloc of the ancient synagogue service.

Type
Research Article
Information
Early Music History , Volume 7 , October 1987 , pp. 91 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1987

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References

1 Introduction to the Gregorian Melodies, trans. by Orme, A. and Wyatt, E. (London, 1907), p. 72.Google Scholar

2 For references see McKinnon, J., ‘On the Question of Psalmody in the Ancient Synagogue’, Early Music History, 6 (1986), pp. 181–2CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Smith, J. A., ‘The Ancient Synagogue, the Early Church and Singing’, Music and Letters, 65 (1984), p. 17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 What follows is a brief summary of the two studies cited in the previous note.

4 See the general index of McKinnon, J., Music in Early Christian Literature, Cambridge Readings in the Literature of Music (Cambridge, 1987).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 For a recently revised chronology of Tertullian's works, see Barnes, T., Tertullian: A Historical and Literary Study (Oxford, 1971), pp. 30–56.Google Scholar

6 Apologeticum xxxix, 16–18 (Corpus Christianorum, Series Latina 1, pp. 152–3; this series, initiated at Turnhout, 1953, is hereafter abbreviated CCL). The reader will find all patristic passages quoted or cited here, newly translated with complete bibliographic information, in McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature.

7 Paedagogus ii, iv (Migne, J. P., ed., Patrologia graeca, cursus completus, viii, col. 444Google Scholar; this series, published at Paris, 1857–66, is hereafter abbreviated PG; the companion Latin series, published at Paris, 1844–64, will be abbreviated PL).

8 Apostolic Tradition 25 (Botte, B., ed., La Tradition apostolique de Saint-Hippolyte, Liturgiewis-senschaftliche Quellen und Forschungen 39 [Münster in Westphalia, 1963], pp. 64–6).Google Scholar

9 Ad Donatum xvi (Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 3/i, p. 16; this series, initiated at Vienna, 1866, is hereafter abbreviated CSEL).

10 Apology i, 67 (PG vi, col. 429).

11 Apologeticum xxxix, 1–4 (CCL 1, p. 150).

12 De anima ix, 4 (CCL 2, p. 792).

13 For recent exegesis on the passage see Meeks, W., The First Urban Christians (New Haven, 1983), pp. 144–8.Google Scholar

14 Aduersus Marcionem v, viii, 112 (CCL 1, p 688).

15 For sources see Foley, E., ‘The Cantor in Historical Perspective’, Worship, 56 (1982), pp. 194–213.Google Scholar

16 Homilia in psalmum i, 1–2 (PG xxix, cols. 209–13).

17 In psalmum xli, 1–2 (PG lv, cols. 156–8).

18 Explanatio psalmi i, 1–9 (CSEL 64, pp. 5–8).

19 Turner, C., ed., ‘Niceta of Remesiana II, Introduction and Text of De Psalmodiae bono’, Journal of Theological Studies, 24 (1922–1923), pp. 225–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

20 Epistle ccvii, 3 (PG xxxii, col. 764).

21 Itinerarium Egeriae xxiv, 8 (CCL 175, p. 69).

22 Confessiones ix, vii, 15 (CCL 27, pp. 141–2).

23 Basil, Epistle ccvii, 3; Augustine, Epistle lv, 34–5 (CSEL 34, pp. 208–9) and Niceta of Remesiana, , De utilitate hymnorum 2.Google Scholar

24 Confessiones x, xxxiii, 49–50 (CCL 27, pp. 181–2).

25 It is my view that it can be traced to the psalmody of desert monasticism, but to demonstrate this would require an additional study.

26 Homiliae in psalmos (PG xxxix).

27 Homiliae in psalmos (PG lv).

28 Tractatus siue homiliae in psalmos (CCL 88).

29 Ennarationes in psalmos (CCL 38–40). For additional references and further discussion on the subject, see Jeffery, P., ‘The Introduction of Psalmody into the Roman Mass by Pope Celestine I (422–432)’, Archiv fur Liturgiewissenschaft, 26 (1984), pp. 159–61.Google Scholar

30 In psalmum cxvii, 1 (PG lv, col. 328).

31 Tractatus de psalmo vii (CCL 78, p. 19).

32 See also Tractatus de psalmo xiv.

33 In psalmum cxxxviii, 1 (CCL 40, p 1990).

34 In psalmum xxix, ii, 1 (CCL 38, p. 174) and Jerome, , Tractatus de psalmo cxliii (CCL 78, p. 313).Google Scholar

35 Sermo XXIXA, de uerso 1, psalmi cxvii, 1 (CCL 41, p. 378); I am indebted to Peter Jeffery for this reference.

36 Renoux, A, ‘Un manuscrit du lectionnaire Arménien de Jérusalem’, Museon, 74 (1961), pp. 361–85.Google Scholar

37 For a magisterial study of the early Alleluia, see Martimort, A., ‘Origine et signification de l'alleluia de la messe romaine’, Kynakon Festschrift Johannes Quasten, ed. Granfield, P. and Jungmann, J. (Munster in Westphalia, 1970), ii, pp. 811–34Google Scholar. For sources prior to a.d. 450 and commentary, see McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature.

38 Sound as this supposition might be, Peter Jeffery has taken the matter a step further. In his response to the paper on which the present article is based, he cited several medieval graduals retaining the same texts as gradual psalms from the patristic period.

39 Sermo clxv, de uerbis Apostoli, Eph. III, 13–18, 1 (PL xxxviii, col. 902).

40 Homilia noua in Mattheum ix, 37 (PG lxiii, col. 519). See also Augustine, , Sermo clxxvi, 1Google Scholar (PL XXXVIII, col. 950).

41 See note 23 above.

42 Liber retractationem ii, 27 (CSEL 36, p. 144).

43 See especially Pseudo Cyril of Jerusalem, Mystagogical Catecheses v, 20 (Sources Chrétiennes 126, pp. 168–70; the evidence points towards Cyril's successor, John of Jerusalem, as author of the Mystagogical Catecheses, thus dating them some time after John's consecration in 387; see this edition, pp. 18–40). See also Apostolic Constitutions viii, xiii, 16 (Funk, F. X., ed., Didascalia et Constitutiones Apostolorum [Paderborn, 1905], I, p. 518).Google Scholar

44 Liber Pontificalis XLV, Caelestinus (Duchesne, L., ed., Le Liber Pontificalis, 2 vols. [Paris, 1886–1892], I, p. 89).Google Scholar

45 For a full discussion of the passage, including the anachronistic phrase ‘antephanatim ex omnibus’, see Jeffery, ‘The Introduction of Psalmody’.

45 See, for example, note 32 for a passage which uses ‘read’ and ‘sing’ interchangeably.

46 To a lector: see, for example, the passage cited in note 32; to a singer: see, for example, Chrysostom, John, In I Corinthios, Homilia xxxvi, 6Google Scholar (PG lxi, col. 315).

47 For example, Ambrose, In psalmum i, 9 and Augustine, Epistle xxix, 10 (CSEL 39, pp. 121–2)

48 Confessiones x, xxxiii, 50 (CCL 27, p. 182).

49 See Krautheimer, R., Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture, The Pelican History of Art (2nd edn, Harmondsworth, 1975), pp. 2–3Google Scholar

50 The first Western appearance of the ambo is in sixth-century North African churches built after the Byzantine re-conquest: see Perkins, J B. Ward and Goodchild, R. G., ‘The Christian Antiquities of Tripolitania’, Archaeologia, 95 (1953), p. 66.Google Scholar

51 Gennadius, , De uiris illustribus 79 (PL lviii, cols. 1103–4).Google Scholar