Sequence (poetry)
This article is about Latin poems and songs. For the early music group, see Sequentia (music group). For other uses, see
sequence (disambiguation).
A
sequence (
Latin:
sequentia) is a
chant sung or recited during the
Roman Catholic Mass, before the proclamation of the
Gospel. By the time of the
Council of Trent (1543-1563) there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year.
Until 1970, the sequence was always sung or recited immediately before the Gospel.
[To be precise, the final "alleluia" was sung or recited immediately after the sequence, see Rubricæ Generales Missalis Romani (1960) n.470, Retrieved 14 June 2006.] Since the promulgation of the
Missal of Paul VI (1970) it has been brought forward to before the
Alleluia and its psalm verse.
[Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani (2002) n.64, Retrieved 14 June 2006.]The form of this chant inspired a genre of
Latin poetry written in a non-
classical metre, often on a sacred
Christian subject, which is also called a sequence.
The Latin sequence has its beginnings, as an artistic form, in early Christian
hymns such as the
Vexilla Regis of
Venantius Fortunatus. Venantius modified the classical metres based on syllable quantity to an accentual metre more easily suitable to be chanted to music in Christian worship. In the
ninth century,
Hrabanus Maurus also moved away from classical metres to produce Christian hymns such as
Veni Creator Spiritus.
The name
sequentia, on the other hand, came to be bestowed upon these hymns as a result of the works of
Notker Balbulus, who during the tenth century popularized the genre by publishing a collection of
sequentiae in his
Liber hymnorum. Since early sequences were written in rhythmical prose, they were also called
proses (Latin:
prosae).
Notker's texts were meant to be sung. In the Latin
Mass of the
Middle Ages, it became customary to prolong the last syllable of the
Alleluia, while the
deacon was ascending from the altar to the
ambo, to sing or chant the Gospel. This prolonged
melisma was called the
jubilus, jubilatio, or
laudes, because of its jubilant tone. It was also called
sequentia, "sequence," because it followed (Latin:
sequere) the Alleluia. Notker set words to this melisma in rhythmic prose for chanting as a
trope. The name
sequence thus came to be applied to these texts; and by extension, to hymns containing
rhyme and accentual metre. A collection of sequences was called the
Sequentiale.
One well-known sequence, falsely attributed to Notker during the Middle Ages, is the prose text
Media vita in morte sumus ("In the midst of life we are in death"), which was translated by
Cranmer and became a part of the
burial service in the
funeral rites of the
Anglican Book of Common Prayer. Other well-known sequences include
Tommaso da Celano's
Dies Irae, St.
Thomas Aquinas'
Pange lingua in praise of the
Eucharist, the anonymous medieval hymn
Ave maris stella ("Hail, star of the sea!"), and the
Marian sequence
Stabat Mater by
Jacopone da Todi. During the Middle Ages, secular or semi-secular sequences, such as
Peter of Blois'
Olim sudor Herculis ("The labours of Hercules") were written; the
Goliards, a group of Latin poets who wrote mostly
satirical verse, used the form extensively. The
Carmina Burana is a collection of these sequences.
In the
Missal of Pius V (1570) the number of sequences for the entire
Roman Rite was reduced to four:
Victimae paschali laudes (11th century) for
Easter,
Veni Sancte Spiritus for
Pentecost(12th century),
Lauda Sion Salvatorem (c.1264) for
Corpus Christi, and
Dies Irae (13th century)for
All Souls and in
Masses for the Dead. In 1727, the 13th century
Stabat Mater for
Our Lady of Sorrows was added to this list.
["Stabat Mater", The Catholic Encyclopedia (1917), Retrieved 14 June 2006.] In 1970 the
Dies Irae was removed from the Requiem Mass of the
revised, new Roman Missal and was transferred to the
Liturgy of the Hours to be sung
ad libitum in the week before the beginning of
Advent.
[Liturgia Horarum IV, (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), p.489.]Sequences are distinguished by a structure dominated by
couplets. Musically, sequences fall into early, middle, and late periods. In the early period, sequences such as Notker's often included single lines that were not part of a couplet. These single lines most often appeared at the beginning or end of the sequence, but could also appear in the middle. Sequences from the middle period, starting around the 11th century, such as the sequence for the Mass of
Easter Day,
Victimae paschali laudes, are less likely to have single lines outside of couplets, and their couplets are more likely to rhyme. By the 12th century, later sequences, such as the sequence for
Pentecost,
Veni Sancte Spiritus, showed increasing regularity of structure, with rhyming couplets throughout.
Medieval sequences are usually
modal melodies. While primarily syllabic, sequences can contain
melismas. The two verses of each couplet are sung to the same musical line, usually ending on a tonally stabilizing pitch, with variety being created by couplets of different lengths and with different musical arches. Although sequences are vocal and
monophonic, certain sequence texts suggest possible vocal harmonization in
organum or instrumental accompaniment.
The composition of sequences became less frequent when
Humanist Latin replaced
medieval Latin as the preferred
literary style in Latin. New sequences continued to be written in Latin; one of the best known later sequences is the
Christmas carol Adeste Fideles, known in English as "O Come, All Ye Faithful".
* Schaff, Philip,
History of the Christian Church (1910)
* Catholic Encyclopedia,
Blessed Notker Balbulus (Stammerer)*
