Gaudete Sunday: "Qui sedes," the Gradual

For those of you who really want to cut your teeth on serious Gregorian melody, this coming Sunday's Gradual, Qui sedes, offers plenty to work on.

Qui sedes, Domine, super Cherubim, excita potentiam tuam et veni. V. Qui regis Israel, intende: qui deducis velut ovem Joseph.

(Thou, O Lord, that sittest upon the Cherubim, stir up thy might, and come. V. Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep.)

The normally cheerful and effusive Dom Johner begins:

Gradual-responsories in general present many difficulties, and this is especially true of today's. It does not at all develop the way we should expect.

And yet therein lies all its glory. How can you not love a melody that takes up the idea of "sitting on" something and then makes the melody itself get up and sit on itself! That's what the first few words ("Qui sedes, Domine") do, musically speaking. "Domine" seems to have a different, higher, tonic than "Qui sedes," and it is altogether rendered on a higher plane than "Cherubim," which gets the lower note. Clever and beautiful at the same time.

One might be tempted to be put off by the staggering, ensuing melismas, which range across different parts of the mode, up and down, in seemingly every melodic corner, in and out of the shade of major and minor, like alternating cloud and breaking sunshine. But my goodness, why be put off when there is so much to discover!

The melismas of this chant express the infinity of God and His divine power. The extended run on "regis" for example seems to pervade every tetrachord.

And everywhere, the sense of supplication is so strong.

I'm amazed by this chant. What incredible singers the chant composers were!