Responsories of Advent

From the season of Advent, which marks the new liturgical year, through at least the end of Epiphany, the theme of our blog articles has shifted to music as experienced in the Episcopal-Anglican tradition.  The intent behind this series is to heighten awareness of why music is crucial and necessary in our practice of faith and how it enriches our lives in worship. Articles will examine structures of music, composers, histories and more.  During the season of Advent we will explore the contemplative nature of our traditions as they are manifested in music including responsories, canticles and psalmody, and antiphons.

The season of Advent follows, very generally, the pattern of a day of worship as practiced in the Anglican tradition.  During the middle ages, a day of worship began at 2am with Matins. The day progressed with offices of worship every three or four hours: Lauds at 5am, Prime at 6am, Terce at 9am, Sexts at noon, Nones at 3pm, Vespers before dark, Compline right before retiring.  The Anglican tradition combines the morning offices of Matins, Lauds, Prime and Terce into a single Morning Prayer read at dawn. Often, Noonday Prayer is read when the sun is at its zenith. Evening Prayer replaces Vespers and is read at dusk or twilight, and Compline ends the day with a short office of prayers.  But it’s the structure and types of prayers that are said during each of these offices that sets the pattern for Advent. The first Sunday of Advent is represented with Morning Prayer and expresses the hope and expectation of the coming of Christ, not only at Christmas, but his coming again. The second Sunday is reflected by Noonday Prayer and the admonition to prepare and to work God’s labor.  The third Sunday of Advent strays from this pattern but only slightly, for this is Mary’s Sunday. Evening Prayer includes the Magnificat as part of the general thanksgiving for the day. The fourth Sunday of Advent is signified by Compline at which time all work and preparation is done and whatever has been left undone shall either wait or be forgiven.

This first week of Advent reflects the sentiments of Morning Prayer.  Morning Prayer acknowledges the beginning of the day. Emerging light expresses the hope and expectation of what may come during the course of the day.  One element of the office of Morning Prayer is the responsory format where the Officiant opens with a sentence followed by a response from the people and Psalms might be read by alternating verses between the leader and people. A responsory, musically speaking, has two parts—the respond or refrain and the verse (a verse being a single line of poetry, not to be confused with a stanza that may include more than one sentence). This theme is picked up in the music of the first Sunday of Advent.  One of the oldest Christian rites in the Anglican Church is the “Sarum Rite” which originated in Salisbury Cathedral in the 11^th century.  Little remains of this highly ornamented and ceremonial order of service today, although our Book of Common Prayer builds much of its foundation on the Sarum Rite.  Remnants of the Sarum Rite can be found in the propers of Advent as they vary quite dramatically from the Roman Catholic rite.  The only other evidence of the Sarum Rite that remains traditional in our worship today is the responsory Aspiciebam which is taken from the Book of Isaiah and is sung on the first Sunday of Advent.

Perhaps the most famous arrangement of the Aspiciebam is G.P. Palestrina’s Matin Responsory. (You can listen to a beautiful rendition of the Matin Responsory as arranged by David Willcocks and performed by the St. Paul’s Cathedral Choir of London when you click on the highlighted link.) Responsories are chanted, generally using the Gregorian chant format where verses are sung intoned, that is, on a single note tone or a repetition of one tone, while the responses or refrains are freestyle compositions. As you listen to the Matin Responsory, you will notice this device although the arrangement you’ll hear is not a “true” responsory that alternates between a cantor and the people.

Qui bene cantat, bis orat.

An example of a modern setting of a responsory is one that can be heard this Sunday (Dec. 2) at Trinity Church.  The choir and congregation will sing the refrain of My Soul in Stillness Waits while a tenor cantor will sing the verses. The Kyrie also be sung as a responsory, as is usual. The significance of this style of music is twofold. The variation between freestyle composition and intonation creates a meditative atmosphere that alternates between the solemnity and reverence of piety and penitention and the laudatory joy of praise and thanksgiving. Further, the structure of the responsory itself is prayerful within the context of music. The musical language speaks spiritually when words are inadequate. As the saying goes, “He prays twice who sings.”