Luogo e data di registrazione		Abbaye Notre-Dame de Fontgombault (Francia) - 17/19 ottobre 1977
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Production		Dr. Andreas Holschneider
	Recording supervision		Heinz Wildhagen
	Recording Engineer		Heinz Wildhagen
	Prima Edizione LP		ARCHIV - 2533 359 - (1 LP - durata 45' 03") - (p) 1978 - Analogico
	Prima Edizione CD		ARCHIV - 435 032-2 - (4 CD's - durata 78' 14"; 73' 13"; 71' 18" & 73' 54" - [CD3 1-17]) - (c) 1993 - ADD
	Cover		Codex Albi (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, lat. 776; geschrieben vor 1079), fol. 9r Dedicatio ecclesiae: Introitus-Antiphon Terribilis est locus iste (Aquitanische Notation)
	Note		-

 

The Tradition of the Gregorian Chant (VI) Notre-Dame de Fontgombault - Dedicatio ecclesiae The Dedication of a Church is the name given to the liturgical rite by which a new building designed for public worship is withdrawn from secular use and consecrated to God and His service. Each succeeding year a special feast-day is set aside to perpetuate the memory of this solemn consecration. Before 1961, when for pastoral reasons this rite was much simplified and abbreviated, the ancient Ordo for the dedication of a church was marked by an extraordinary wealth of symbolism, arising from a felicitious blending of the original Roman and Gallican rites, a synthesis which dates from the tenth century. The most ancient document in our possession concerning the Roman rite comes from the sixth century (Letter of Pope Vigilius to Bishop Profuturus of Braga in Portugal, written in 538). The first generations of Christians built no churches. Since the early Church was not recognised by the Roman state and was, at least sporadically, liable to active persecution, Christian worship had to be carried out in outlying villas and houses lent for the purpose by memhers of the Roman governing class who were also members of the Christian congregation. The precariousness of such arrangements for worship made it impossible to consecrate any building to the exclusive service of God by a formal rite. But this circumstance was not the only reason. Christians were profoundly convinced the worship of God had a spiritual significance that transcended all considerations of place. Thus about the year 57 St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Are you not aware that you yourselves are God’s temple in which His spirit dwells?... The temple of God is holy, and you are that temple.” Reinforcing this conviction among Christians was a profound horror of the religious materialism prevalent in the surrounding pagan world, of their temples and their idols; and it was this which earned the Christians of the second century the reputation of atheists. On the other hand a custom arose in very early times of offering the Holy Sacrifice i. e. celebrating Mass, on the tombstone of the newly dead pro dormitione (for the repose of the dead person’s soul). The Liber Pontificalis attributes to Pope Felix I (274) the custom of celebrating Mass on the martyrs’ tombstones. This fact explains the traces of liturgical worship to be found in cemeteries (funerary Chapels, rooms in which the agape could be celebrated). In spite of this we know from the historian Eusebius that as early as the fourth century there were numerous and magnificent dedications of church buildings. These were of course made possible owing to the decree of the Emperor Constantine (313) which inaugurated a period of peace for the Christian Church. In the earliest times the Roman rite was simple. It took two different forms, depending upon whether the church to be consecrated possessed relics of the martyrs or not. If there were no relics, the celebration of a single Mass was deemed sufficient to consecrate the building: from that moment the altar was considered consecrated and the church itself dedicated to Almighty God. If the new church was to be the repository of relics, Mass was preceded by the ceremony of their reception and deposition, though the Mass itself remained the essential part of the rite of dedication. In the seventh century a third element was added to this rite, namely a purification of both altar and church building by aspersion, or sprinkling, with previously blessed water. In the Gallican rite the terse and functional Roman liturgy was extended by a large number of complementary rituals. Probably the description of the earliest Galliean order for the Dedication of a Church is to be found in the eighth century Gelasian Sacramentary from Angouléme. In addition to the Mass and the deposition of relics we find here preparatory rites of purification and consecration of the church building and especially of the altar, the sanctification of which was considered as an essential part of the Gallican ordo. All these rites took their direct inspiration from the Old Testament and have much in common with the rites accompanying the reception of converts, or catechumens, into the Christian Church (exorcisms, aspersions, anointings with holy oil). Still further elements, whose origins are obscure, were later added: the bishop knocking at the door before taking possession of the church, the tracing on the floor of the Greek and Latin alphabets. The spiritual significance of these various ritual gestures is explained and emphasised by a wealth of psalms and antiphons. Thus Christ Himself is the corner-stone supporting the “living stones” representing the faithful who form the Church, represented as the Bride and Body of Christ, the Holy Temple of the Lord. Churches of wood and stone are presented as no more than earthly foreshadowings of the Heavenly Jerusalem. According to the Liber Pontificalis the Mass Terribilis and the pieces forming the office for the Dedication of a Church wewe composed about the year 608 for the dedication by Pope Boniface IV (608-615) of the ancient Pantheon as a church, under the title of “Saint Mary of the Martyrs”, 'the Pope having had a large number of bones transported from the catacombs, as relics. In the Little Roman Martyrology this event is commemorated on May 13, a feast which also figures under the same date in later martyrologies. It appears in all copies of the Antiphonale Missarum, and the office of this feast has in fact become the ‘Common for the Dedication of a Church’. Although the date of composition is early, the sources of the text are various and not simply the psalter, as in the case of earlier pieces. The sequence of these different texts forms in fact a long and magnificent poem, a profound and rarely equalled evocation of all the mystical aspects of the feast - Jacob pouring oil over the memorial pillar at Bethel, first dedication; the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem by King Solomon, the dedication of the Christian soul at baptism, and lastly that of the heavenly temple blessed by the Lord Himself - that ultimate reality of which all earthly dedications are no more than “sacraments”, outward and visible signs. Just as it was Christ’s blood that opened and consecrated the sanctuary of eternity for mankind (Hebrews IX, 23), so it is in this same Precious Blood that Christians are dipped and purified to enter the Church. The deposition of the martyrs’ relics within the altar-stone is a realistic reminder of blood shed on God’s behalf and proof of total commitment to Him. In this way the feast of the Dedication of a Church brings together into a single liturgy the saints in heaven and the faithful on earth, as they journey towards the Heavenly City. On the first side of this disc we find the Proper of the Mass for the Dedication of a Church with the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) which bears the number XII in the Vatican edition of the Graduale Romanum. The earliest copy of this Ordinary comes from Metz and belongs to the eleventh century. The style of all the constituent pieces is simple and homogeneous, and it must have been fairly widespread during the middle ages, since it appears in numerous manuscripts of the twelfth century. According to missals of that time it was used only for major feasts. The entrance antiphon, Terribilis est (Awesome is this place), is taken from Genesis XXVIII, 17 and describes the reverent awe and sense of adoration felt by Jacob on waking from his dream at Bethel; and a deep sense of wonder and religious recollection are precisely what this music communicates. The three components of the melody are virtually symmetrical and unfold according to a severely balanced line, deliberately restricted to the lower part of the modal scale. This creates a solemn and meditative atmosphere preserved from heaviness by the fact that the note-values are all small. In complete contrast the psalm is an enthusiastic and light-hearted celebration of the soul’s joy in God’s presence. In the series of gradual responses there is one, Locus iste (This place), which stands apart from the rest. It consists of a single versicle, and whereas the other gradual responses are taken for the most part from the Psalter, this is the composition of a churchman. The most recent liturgical studies suggest that the author was a Roman cleric who drew his inspiration from an antiphon in the Mozarabic liturgy drawn from the apocryphal fourth book of Esdras. The basic idea expressed is that the Church is no more than the sacramentum (“type”, or foreshadowing) of the Heavenly Temple which is God’s throne. The music of the Response suggests a deep sense of reverence, but in the versicle it rises and expands in one of the finest “centonised” formulas (1) of mode V. The Alleluia versicle Adorabo is taken from Psalm 137, and it is hard to imagine a melodic line better suited to such a text. The expression of adoration (long descending notes) and then of praise (the long melisma on “confitebor”) is perfectly conveyed by the music. The Offertory antiphon Domine Deus is taken from the First Book of Chronicles XXIX, 17-18. It is part of David’s beautiful prayer after learning that his son Solomon would achieve the work which he himself had desired and prepared with such devotion: the building of the temple. “I know, O God, that Thou soundest men’s hearts and lovest righteousness. As for me, it is with a righteous heart that I have given everything, and it is with joy that I see Thy people assembled to make offerings. Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our forefathers preserve for ever this willingness in the heart of Thy people ...”. Mode VI, serenely tranquil, is particularly well suited to convey the feelings of the giver: simplicity and joy, all the greater for the fact of the totality of the gift (“obtuli universa... cum ingenti gaudio” - I have offered everything with unbounded joy). The Communion antiphon, Domus mea (My house), consists of several gospel texts (Matthew XXI, 3; Luke XI, 10). It is a vigorous statement of what God’s house should be: a place of prayer, where God is pleased to grant the requests of his faithful people. Like a processional chant, the antiphon alternates with a number of verses from Psalm 83. Side 2 contains a large number of extracts from the Office for the Dedication of a Church. It begins with the hymn for First Vespers, Urbs Jerusulem beata (Jerusalem heavenly city), an admirably poetic celebration of “the dwelling of God among men” in a blessed eternity, the heavenly Jerusalem described in the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelations. It was composed about the eighth century, and the unknown author made use of many quotations from Saint Gregory the Great, whose own scriptural sources can be found in the books of Tobias, Isaiah, Daniel and the Revelations. The hymn is in eight verses, the first four of which are assigned to Vespers of this feast, the other four to Lauds. Each of these groups ends with the same ‘doxology’, i. e. a final verse ascribing honour to the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. The earliest manuscript of this hymn belongs to the ninth century. The Magnificat antiphon for First Vespers, Sanctificavit, is a not particularly original First Mode melody, calm and serene in character. The canonical hour of Matins (a night office that used in early days to be called vigil or “watching”) opens every day with a short versicle followed by Psalm 94, which is an invitation to celebrate God’s praises (“Venite exsultemus Domino ... adoremus et procidamus ante Deum” - O come, let us sing unto the Lord ... let us worship and bow down before Him). A short antiphon, sung first by a single voice and then by the whole choir, precedes the psalm itself and establishes the liturgical character of each day. This antiphon is repeated, wholly or in part, like a refrain, between each verse of the psalm. The music of the Invitatory, always circling round the tenor, is very varied in expression and forms one of the most beautiful recitatives in the whole Office. The formula of mode VII, which is used here, is moulded on the corresponding tone of the Matins response. The main body of Matins consists of psalms and readings, divided into three groups known as “nocturns”. Each reading, or “lesson”, is sung by a soloist and followed by a response sung by the choir. This piece maintains the typical structure of the response - a b a, in which a represents the body of the response and b the versicle. The Gloria Patri follows the last response of each nocturn. Like most of the Matins responses, it is “centonised”. The text is taken from Isaiah II, 2-3, while the versicle comes from Psalm 125. The five antiphons which follow belong to the Office of Lauds, where they are sung before the psalms, and all of them except the fourth belong also to one of the so-called “little” Hours (Prime, Terce, Sext and None). They are short pieces in the “syllabic” style i. e. with no more than one note to each syllable. Then comes the second part of the hymn Urbs Jerusalem beata (vv. 5-8). It has been thought by some that vv. 7 and 8 are a later addition, since v. 6 resembles a doxology (“Trinum Deum unicumque...”). Finally the two following antiphons, more important and ornate than those of Lauds, belong to canticles of Second Vespers (Magnificat) and Lauds (Benedictus). The most noteworthy is that of Lauds, Zachaee, a real musical miniature of the scene described in the gospel of the day (Luke XIX, 5-6,9). Observe the delicacy with which the composer has emphasised the key words of the text; the outburst of joy on “hodie”, the moment of tenderness on the podatus of “tua” (marked by a tenete, or as we should say tenuto, in the manuscripts) and the great strength and solidity of the final phrase “Hodie huic domui salus a Deo facta est” (This day salvation has come to this house), a succession of long notes in the manuscripts. Interpretation The abbey of Fontgombault was founded in Berry, on the banks of the Creuse, by Pierre de l’Etoile in 1091. Much damaged during the religious wars of the sixteenth century, it was magnificently restored during the seventeenth, only to fall largely into ruin during the eighteenth. Restored by a churchman of great faith during the nineteenth century it was used by Trappists until 1904, when it became a seminary. It was only in 1948 that Benedictines of the French Congregation restored the abbey to its original use. The group of monks which in that year came from Solesmes naturally brought with them the style and method of interpretation elaborated by the then choirmaster of Solesmes, Dom Gajard. These had been tested for many years and they remain today the principles governing the interpretation of Gregorian chant at Fontgombault. Their chief object is to emphasise the flexibility and purely musical character of the melodic line and the freedom of rhythm. These are the essential qualities in the development of sung prayer, which is the primary object of Gregorian chant. The Mass texts used are those of the Vatican version in use at the abbey (Graduale sacrosanctae Romanae Ecclesiae, 1908 edition); the Office texts are taken from the Antiphonale monasticum (1935 edition), the Liber Responsorialis juxta ritum monasticum (1895 edition) and the Processionale monasticum (1893 edition). The recording was made in the abbey church at Fontgombault and the singers are the members of the community. Dom G. Duchêne Translator: Martin Cooper (1) Centonised - this was a recognised practise, consisting of devising a passage out of disparate fragments of Gregorian melody, and the art lay in forming a convincing unity from a mosaic of melodic phrases each of which was removed from its normal context.