(from Lat. gradale, graduale, liber gradualis).
Liturgical book of the Western Church containing the chants for the Proper of the Mass and, secondarily, in more recent times, those of the Ordinary (i.e. those of the kyriale).
2. Origins of the Gregorian gradual.
3. Evolution of the Gregorian gradual.
4. The principal groups of graduals.
MICHEL HUGLO/DAVID HILEY
The majority of graduals have no title; some ancient graduals, however, bear the title Incipit antefonarius ordinatus a Sancto Gregorio (B-Br 10127–44, 8th century; see Hesbert, 1935, p.2; see also Antiphoner, §1). The term ‘antiphonale’ is here (and in some other instances) applied to a book containing only chants for the Mass, but at this early date it could refer equally well to the antiphons of the Divine Office. In the ‘antiphonaries’ of the non-Roman liturgies (Milan and Spain) and in the Lucca fragments (I-Lc 490, 8th century) the chants for the Mass alternate Sunday by Sunday or feast by feast with those of the Office. According to Amalarius of Metz (see edn. with commentary by Hucke, ‘Graduale’, 1955), the term ‘gradale’ applied to the ‘day office’ as opposed to the ‘night office’ (see G. Becker: Catalogi bibliothecarum antiqui, Bonn, 1885/R, p.22, no.24: ‘cantus gradalis et nocturnalis’) which is itself subdivided into responsorial chants contained in the Responsoriale and antiphonal chants contained in the (Liber) antiphonarius or Antiphonarium. No sources contemporary with Amalarius, however, have survived which confirm his exegesis. The term ‘gradale’ or ‘graduale’ – meaning ‘the book containing the chants for the Mass’ – appears for the first time only in the ancient catalogue of Passau, dating from 903 (see Becker, op.cit., p.61, nos.7–8).
According to the verse prologue ‘Gregorius praesul’ which appears in the oldest graduals (see AH, xlix, 1906, pp.19–24; Hesbert, p.xxxiv and no.100; Stäblein, 1968), the composition of the gradual containing the chants of the Mass was the work of St Gregory, inspired by the Holy Spirit. This attribution, over which there has been much argument (e.g. the dispute between Hucke and Burda, Mf, xvii, 1964, pp.388–93; xviii, 1965, pp.390–93; see also Gregory the Great), is the source of the legend current throughout the Middle Ages that attributed the sacramentary and chants of the Mass to Pope Gregory the Great (pontificate 590–604). Certainly, much of Gregory's work affected the liturgy and he reformed the performance of chant (the Council of Rome in 595) or of particular chants (letter to John of Syracuse on the alleluia: see E. Wellesz: ‘Gregory the Great's Letter on the Alleluia’, AnnM, ii, 1954, pp.7–26); but to attribute to him the composition of the whole antiphoner is to create a large gap that historical criticism cannot bridge.
In fact, the attribution of the gradual to St Gregory can be explained perfectly well in the context of the policy of the Carolingians, whose reforms of liturgy and canon law depended on reference to older authority and to documents of proven authenticity. Thus the canonical collection known as the Dionysio-Hadriana, conveyed to the Frankish king Pippin the Short in 774, was copied ‘de illo authentico quem domnus Adrianus apostolicus dedit’ (‘from the very same authentic book that the apostolic lord Hadrian gave’). Similarly, the ‘False Decretals’ which came to light in northern France in the first third of the 9th century claimed the patronage of Isidore of Seville; the lectionary of the Mass invoked the support of St Jerome (moreover, by virtue of Jerome's authority in scriptural matters, his Psalterium gallicanum gradually replaced not only the ancient Latin versions of the Psalter, which were translated in the 3rd and 4th centuries in Gaul, but even the Psalterium romanum); finally, the sacramentary of the Mass bears the name of St Gregory in its title.
The gradual, unlike the lectionary or certain sacramentaries, was not usually an isolated book, bound separately in a single volume for the use of one or more singers. More often it was bound in the same book as the sacramentary, usually immediately before it (see Missal, §2). It is not improbable that this was done from the beginning, since, at the time the Gregorian liturgy was imposed in Francia, the calendar and arrangement of the three books needed for the Mass (sacramentary, lectionary and gradual) had to be brought into line. In short, the prologue ‘Gregorius praesul’, which must have been composed in about 800 at the time of Alcuin, was intended to underline a relationship that found concrete expression in the documents themselves.
The gradual, which thus originally (i.e. in the last quarter of the 8th century) rubbed shoulders with the sacramentary, must have contained about 560 pieces (70 antiphons for the introit, 118 gradual responsories, 100 alleluia verses, 18 tracts, 107 offertories and 150 communion antiphons). These pieces were ‘composed’ without the aid of musical notation and were passed on in each church by oral tradition. Research continues into the development of the repertory and the selection of items for the individual feast days of the church year which were eventually codified for the first time, so it would seem, in the late 8th century. McKinnon (1995) has argued that the institutional framework necessary for the transmission of a stable repertory was first present after the organization of the Roman Schola Cantorum in the late 7th and early 8th centuries, and he has shown that groups of texts can be dated no earlier than the 8th century (see McKinnon, 1987, on the gradual; 1996, on the alleluia; and 1992, on the communion).
Most musicologists agree that the melodies of the gradual were not ‘composed’ in the usual sense of the term but were the result of being recast from an older repertory of melodies which survives in three Roman graduals, the so called Old Roman graduals CH-CObodmer C.74 (11th century), I-Rvat Vat.lat.5319 (12th century) and S Pietro F.22 (13th century). Although much of the ornate surface detail in their melodies may be the result of later stylization, they are generally recognized as more archaic in both repertory and melodic design and much less highly ‘tailored’ from the modal point of view than the Gregorian ones (see Stäblein, introduction to Landwehr-Melnicki, 1970; and ‘Die Entstehung des gregorianischen Chorals’, Mf, xxvii, 1974, pp.5–17). Stäblein held that this aesthetic recasting was completed in the time of Pope Vitalian (657–73) in Rome itself, and was spread from there through the Carolingian Empire on the authority of Pippin (751–68) and especially of Charlemagne (768–814); and he opposed the view that the gradual could have been composed in Francia (see ‘Kann der gregorianische Choral im Frankenreich enstanden sein?’, AMw, xxiv, 1967, pp.153–69; ‘Nochmals zur angeblichen Entstehung des gregorianischen Chorals im Frankenreich’, AMw, xxvii, 1970, pp.110–21). There are several objections to these ideas. First, the gradual contains variants taken from the Psalterium gallicanum, not in the psalmody of the introit, which can be adapted to any version of the Psalter, but in the very fibre of its chants. Secondly, the calendar of the Gregorian gradual is indeed that of Rome, but with slight modifications that presuppose that the book was intended for Frankish churches: thus, on 20 January, the two Masses of ancient Rome for St Fabian (honoured in Rome itself in the popes' cemetery at St Callixtus) and for St Sebastian (honoured on the same day ad catacumbas on the Via Appia, to the south of the city) have been reduced for the books in use in Francia to one single mass ‘Scorum Fabiani et Sebastiani’ (Hesbert, 1935, no.24). Thirdly, it is hard to explain the presence in the gradual, on 9 September, of a mass for St Gorgonius (Hesbert, 1935, no.148), a Roman martyr whose body was brought to Metz by Bishop Chrodegang in the reign of Pippin the Short, whereas there is no Roman book that provides a liturgical formulary for this martyr. Finally, the series of Sundays after Pentecost, which in the ancient Roman repertory and in the sacramentary was divided into small blocks spread through the Proper of the Saints (see Chavasse, 1952), was regrouped in the Gregorian gradual into a single series with continuous numbering from I to XXIII (XXV), like Hadrian’s Gregorian sacramentary as supplemented in Francia by Benedict of Aniane (d 821). (For further discussion see Old Roman chant.)
The series of alleluia verses, which was originally very small (about 60 melodies for 100 texts – almost all psalm verses and arranged in the numerical order of the psalms from which they are taken), would appear to have been put back to the end of the gradual: the rubric ‘Quale volueris’ indicated that the precentor selected the verse from this list to suit himself and in the order he chose. In the same way, the choice of the five graduals for the Saturdays of the Ember Days was not laid down originally, and the determination of the choice was hallowed by repeated use over several years of the same pieces borrowed from the dominical series.
The Gregorian version of the gradual is thus deeply rooted in the Roman liturgy, but the present manuscript tradition is the result of a liturgical and musical recension undertaken in the Frankish kingdom in about 780.
The gradual evolved in all ages and in all regions along two distinct lines of development: by the fixing of elements that were originally flexible; and by expansion in the number of texts, but not in the number of melodies (except for the alleluia).
The movable pieces left to the free choice of the precentors were gradually fixed and rooted in an unalterable order proper to each church; this order remained unchanged through the centuries but differed slightly from that of neighbouring churches. The repetition each year of the same alleluia verse, selected by the same precentor throughout his career for a certain Sunday, led finally to the establishment in each church of a series in almost invariable order that lasted until the age of printing; but the order of this series always differed in certain points from that of the neighbouring churches' series.
The same is true of the graduals for the Ember Days or for other pieces, where individual choice was not abolished until a relatively late date. For the feasts of patron saints in each diocese, pieces for the feast of another saint in the same class (martyr, confessor etc.) were borrowed; these pieces were grouped later (11th–12th centuries) in the Common of the Saints.
Variations in the ordering of the feasts of the Proper of the Saints in relation to the Proper of the Time, and the absolute distinctness of these two parts from the 12th century onwards, represents an evolutionary process that is really liturgical in character and not peculiar to the gradual (see Missal, §3). Evidence of strictly musical evolution may be discerned elsewhere, namely in the composition of new pieces and the progressive reintegration of Gallican pieces omitted at the time of the Carolingian reform.
Only one category of piece among the five found in the gradual greatly increased in number – the alleluia verses. Between a 9th-century gradual without notation and a noted 12th-century gradual the number of verses doubles, but the increase bears more on the texts than on the melodies. Very often, the pre-existing melody of an older verse was simply adapted to new texts. Thus, for example, the melody of the Christmas Alleluia, Dominus dixit ad me (Hesbert, 1935, no.9) was adapted to 39 other texts; that of Dies sanctificatus (no.11) to 44 different texts; and that of Justus ut palma, for 27 December (no.1), to 36 texts.
With regard to the Gospel antiphons of communion, that is, the communion antiphons whose text is taken from the gospels and not from the psalms, various branches of tradition present different melodies, the formation of which is difficult to explain: Mirabantur (Hesbert, 1935, no.26), three melodies (see M. Huglo: Les tonaires: inventaire, analyse, comparaison, Paris, 1971, p.217); Oportet te (no.52), nine melodies; Qui biberit(no.58), six melodies; Nemo (no.59), five melodies; Lutum (no.63), seven melodies; Videns Dominus (no.65), four melodies; Spiritus qui a Patre (no.108), four melodies; Vos qui secuti (no.63), seven melodies; Beati mundo corde, three different melodies all in the 1st mode (see Huglo, op. cit., p.161).
For the other categories of chant in the gradual, only a very small number of additions can be adduced. Most noteworthy are those made for the Sundays that were originally aliturgical – that is, ‘without Mass’ – which followed the Saturday of Ember Days (Quatember): the fourth Sunday in Advent (Hesbert, 1935, no.7bis) and the second Sunday in Lent (no.46bis). For the last-named Sunday the Mass ‘Sperent in te’ was created in western France and the Mass ‘Domine dilexi decorem’ in the south-west (see Huglo, op. cit., p.160, no.3).
It was particularly in honour of the local patron – in cathedrals and collegiate or monastic churches – that an effort was frequently made to compose Proper Masses or pieces, rather than to take from the previous Masses those pieces that were later to form the Common of the Saints; for example, for St Julian of Le Mans (27 January), the patron of the Plantagenet royal family, the tract Ave Juliane; for St Benedict (21 March, 11 July) the Mass ‘Vir Dei benedictus’ (different melodies in Aquitaine and southern Italy); for St Donatus of Arezzo the graduals of central Italy offer the Mass ‘Domine Jesu Christe’ (Huglo, op. cit, p.223); for St Bartholomew (24 August) Beneventan manuscripts give the Mass ‘Gaudeamus’ (PalMus, 1st ser., xiv, 1931–6/R, p.450); for the Beheading of St John the Baptist (29 August) the Mass ‘Herodes autem’ occurs frequently; for the feasts of the Cross (14 September and 3 May) the Mass ‘Dum esset gens congregata’, the text of which is drawn from the narrative of Pseudo-Cyriacus, and several Proper pieces, including the offertory Protege Domine (an ancient prayer transformed into a chant) and various communion antiphons; last, for St Martin (11 November) various Proper Masses depending on the region (see G.M. Oury: ‘Formulaires anciens pour la messe de Saint Martin’, EG, vii, 1967, pp.21–40).
It is also evident from certain manuscripts from the beginning of the 11th century that a small number of pieces deriving from the Gallican repertory that had been set aside at the time of the Carolingian reform were taken up again and ousted the corresponding Roman pieces: thus, for example, the offertory In virtute for St Stephen, 26 December (Hesbert, 1935, no.12), is replaced in the noted missal F-T 552 and in several Aquitanian graduals by the offertory Elegerunt which, on the evidence of various textual and melodic characteristics, belonged to the Gallican rite (see Gallican chant, §4). In the same way, the great antiphon Venite populi, probably a chant for the Fraction in the Gallican Mass, is restored to use for the communion of the churches of south-western France and in Lyons. Finally, the antiphon with verse Collegerunt, which in the Roman Missal was used in the Mass of the Catechumens for the Blessing of the Palms, is probably a sonus or offertory of the Gallican rite; it is also found in Paris graduals as an offertory on the Saturday before Palm Sunday, a day that was aliturgical in primitive times (Hesbert, 1935, no.72bis).
The chants of the Ordinary were the last important additions to the gradual. In primitive times the gradual contained only the chants of the Proper (Proper of the Time and Proper of the Saints), but it was completed very early on by those of the Ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria in excelsis, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus), the ‘Mass’ as known to musicians of later ages (see Mass, §I, 2(ii); see also Ordinary chants). These five invariable pieces are not found in the oldest 9th- and 10th-century manuscripts (ed. in Hesbert, 1935): they originally involved only one or two very simple melodies, as in the Ambrosian rite, and were known by heart. When they were troped and new melodies were created, the chants of the Ordinary were regrouped in the troper-proser. In Beneventan graduals, however (e.g. I-BV VI 34; facs. in PalMus, 1st ser., xv, 1937–53/R), the chants of the Ordinary are inserted in their liturgical place among the sections of the Proper: introit, Kyrie (troped), Gloria (troped), gradual, alleluia, prose and so on. In other regions these chants appear at the end of the gradual, after the Common of the Saints and the votive Masses, and are followed by proses or sequences (see Sources, MS, §II).
In the textual and musical criticism of a volume of liturgical chant, as in the critical analysis of any liturgical book, the idea of an archetype (which has been the cornerstone of every system of classification of ‘dead’ texts such as the classics of antiquity, patristic writings or canonical texts) should be dismissed. Collation of textual variants tends to group manuscripts together in families and to establish relationships between some of these families: it could not lead to a genealogical stemma which would allow a restitution of the text by the strict application of the laws of textual criticism (see K. Ottosen: ‘Le problematique de l'édition des textes liturgiques latins’, Classica et mediaevalia Francisco Blatt septuagenario dedicata, ed. O.S. Due, H. Friis Johansen and B. Daalsgaard Larsen, Copenhagen, 1973, pp.541–56).
Graduals, like other liturgical books, are often composed of overlapping layers of material and the result of distinct traditions' having been forged into a new usage. A Europe-wide survey of their textual traditions (selection of pieces, textual variants) is not yet available. For their melodic variants the Benedictines of Solesmes conducted an investigation for the purpose of making a critical edition of the gradual (Le graduel romain, IV: Le texte neumatique, Solesmes, 1960–62). The following remarks are based on observations of both textual and musical traditions.
The manuscripts of the gradual and of the antiphoner (see Antiphoner, §3) can be divided into two large groups – East and West – between which small ‘transitional’ groups may be inserted. The Eastern group consists of all the manuscript or printed copies before 1600 of the gradual written and noted in German-speaking or Slav countries. The Western groups take in the manuscripts and old printed sources established in the Romance-language countries (south and central Italy, Aquitaine, Provence, northern France). All the graduals of the various religious orders founded between the 11th and 13th centuries belong to this Western group. The small transitional groups have some points in common with the East, but are indebted in other respects to the West: north Italy, north-west Switzerland, the western diocese of Alsace, and, for different reasons, England.
The manuscripts of Einsiedeln (CH-E 121, facs. in PalMus, 1st ser., iv, 1894/R), St Gallen (SGs 338; 339, facs. in PalMus, 1st ser., i, 1889/R; 340; 342; 343; 359, a cantatorium, facs. in PalMus, 2nd ser., ii, 1924/R; 374; 375; 376), the manuscripts produced by the scriptorium of Seeon in Bavaria and those of St Emmeram in Regensburg are numbered among the oldest and most important representatives of the Eastern group, a group displaying great homogeneity and permanent continuity so far as neumatic tradition is concerned. The Einsiedeln gradual and the St Gallen cantatorium have a neumatic notation that is very rich in agogic, dynamic and rhythmic musical nuances, which are indicated by means of letters of the alphabet (‘significative’ letters) (fig.1). Smits van Waesberghe (Muziekgeschiedenis der Middeleeuwen, ii, Tilburg, 1942, p.350) counted 32,378 significative letters in the first and 4156 in the second (a shorter book than the complete gradual, containing only the soloists’ chants, i.e. the gradual responsories and the alleluia verses). Oral tradition, which was fixed with the aid of these neumes and letters, survived longer in the East than in the West, neumatic notation in campo aperto (without a musical staff) being preserved in some German-speaking areas (Bavaria, Austria) long after the invention of the staff in Italy in about 1040. Some of the earliest sources with staff notation came from houses associated with the Hirsau reform, for example, the incomplete gradual D-Mbs lat.10086 (late 12th century) from Prüfening, near Regensburg (see Notation, §III, 1(v)(j)).
The transition between East and West is effectively achieved in the Rheinau manuscript graduals (CH-Zz Rh.71, 75 and 125), although the list of alleluias in the first of them is distinctly ‘Western’.
The homogeneity of the Eastern group is in singular contrast to the fragmentation and dispersion of the Western group in families that identifiably correspond to the various groups of neumatic notations (see Notation, §III, 1). The oldest family consists of the manuscript gradual F-CHRm 47 (PalMus, 1st ser., xi, 1912/R), notated in Breton neumes at the end of the 9th century and taken to Chartres after Norman incursions into Brittany (fig.2), and the Valenciennes fragment VAL 407 (389), taken to St Amand at the beginning of the 10th century (see Benoît-Castelli and Huglo, 1954, p.178, n.1).
One group of 11th-century manuscripts presents an archaizing musical tradition that is difficult to explain: that of St Denis-Corbie, represented by four notated manuscripts (F-Pm 384, Pn lat.9436, Pn lat.18010 and Paris, private collection, gradual-antiphoner from Mont-Renaud, ed. in PalMus, 1st ser., xvi, 1955–6), and by several older manuscripts without notation which reveal the same liturgical characteristics (the Masses are ‘capitulated’ or ‘headed’, i.e. numbered, like the sacramentaries; the alleluia series are the same as in the notated manuscripts) and which, moreover, indicate the musical tone by means of upper-case letters (see M. Huglo: Les tonaires: inventaire, analyse, comparaison, Paris, 1971, pp.91ff). The St Denis-Corbie group has its own alleluia series and the musical variants are proper to it; it seems, too, that tropes never penetrated its liturgy, at least, not on a large scale.
The church of Laon, made illustrious during the second half of the 9th century by the Irish commentators of Martianus Capella, possessed from the end of that century a most beautiful gradual (F-LA 239; PalMus, 1st ser., x, 1909/R) notated in Messine (Lorraine) neumes. Various precisions regarding melodic pitch and various agogic and rhythmic nuances have been introduced into this notation by means of letters and stenographic comments (Tironian letters), corresponding to the St Gallen significative letters (J. Smits van Waesberghe: Muziekgeschiedenis der Middleleeuwen, i, Tilburg, 1942, pp.269ff). This manuscript testifies to the interest taken by the Laon school not only in the ars musica but also in practical music. The gradual does not contain a single trope.
In Aquitaine, tropes were included at a very early date in the books containing the chants for the Mass: there is no example of a ‘pure gradual’ analogous to the manuscripts previously mentioned. Proper Masses and alleluia verses are in greater abundance than in the north (see Herzo, 1967). The most obvious interest of these manuscripts lies in their exact diastematy at the very period when graduals at St Gallen were still notated in neumes in campo aperto, without a staff. The most perfect of the Aquitanian graduals is that of Albi (F-Pn lat.776; see Notation, fig.29), written for the use of St Michel-de-Gaillac, which is very close in its neumatic and melodic variants to that of Toulouse (GB-Lbl Harl.4951; see fig.3). The St Yrieix gradual (F-Pn lat.903; PalMus, 1st ser., xiii, 1925/R) is perfect in its diastematic exactness but it has been systematically corrected from the modal standpoint (see U. Bomm: ‘Gregorianischer Gesang’, Jb für Liturgiewissenschaft, xi, 1931, p.405, no.488; and N. Stuart: ‘Melodic Corrections in an 11th-Century Gradual (Paris, B.N., lat.903)’, JPMMS, ii, 1979, pp.2–10).
In English manuscripts the influences operated from different directions according to the period. After the monastic revival of the 10th century, it was from such centres as Corbie and Fleury that books, monastic customs and musical traditions came (see the gradual fragment from Winchester GB-Ob Harl.110: D. Hiley, Western Plainchant: a Handbook, Oxford, 1993, pp.412–13; missal with neumes from the New Minster, Winchester, F-LH 380: D.H. Turner, The Missal of the New Minster, Leighton Buzzard, 1962). The Missal of Leofric, Bishop of Exeter (GB-Ob Bodley 579), which has chant cues in the margin, originated in the diocese of Cambrai.
After the coronation of William the Conqueror (Christmas 1066), the sees of the English bishoprics were gradually staffed by prelates chosen from among the clergy of Normandy; furthermore, the liturgical and musical traditions of Bayeux, Lisieux and Rouen penetrated to England, while the monastic reform inaugurated at St Bénigne in Dijon from 990 by Guillaume de Dijon (d 1031) went on, after conquering Normandy, to affect several English monasteries, such as Winchcombe and Gloucester. (See D. Hiley: ‘The Norman Chant Traditions – Normandy, Britain, Sicily’, PRMA, cvii, 1980–81, pp.1–33; and ‘Thurstan of Caen and Plainchant at Glastonbury: Musicological Reflections on the Norman Conquest’, Proceedings of the British Academy, lxxii, 1986, pp.57–90.) During the liturgical restoration undertaken at Salisbury by Bishop Richard Poore at the beginning of the 13th century, all liturgical books, including the gradual, were newly codified. Many aspects of musical repertory and variants can be traced to Norman traditions. Such high standards were set by this reform that Salisbury use became, as it were, a national norm, adopted by churches without any other local allegiance. (See Salisbury, Use of, §2.)
It was from the Aquitanian tradition of south-eastern France that the Carthusians borrowed their musical tradition, and they followed the practice of Lyons in suppressing all the pieces whose texts were not drawn from Holy Scripture. The choice of pieces was reduced to a minimum: the offertory verses were suppressed; alleluia verses were greatly reduced; but occasional melismas survived. The Grande Chartreuse graduals (Archives, 80, etc.) are united by a characteristic style of notation, using Aquitanian neumes on a staff with red F-line and yellow C-line. This colour scheme corresponds with the instruction of Guido of Arezzo, which was first applied in Italy and then in Provence and the Rhône valley (except for Lyons).
The
Cistercians based their gradual on the repertory of the church of Metz, which
was reputed to be the most faithful to the Gregorian tradition, and on that of
various churches in northern France (see Marosszéki, 1952). In the Cistercian
musical repertory, however, it was no longer a case of merely selecting pieces
from contemporary traditions, but actually of correcting melodies according to
three strict principles: the authentic and the plagal forms of the same mode
could not interpenetrate; B
was excluded; the range of a 10th could not be
exceeded within a single piece (thus, the Advent gradual Qui sedes had
its lowest section raised a 5th). The archetype codex of the order’s books,
composed at Cîteaux in 1185–9 and now at Dijon (F-Dm 114 [82]), lost all
the component books containing notation as early as the 16th century; thus, the
Cistercian Gradual is known only in copies made from the archetype, such as
those in London (GB-Lbl 16950, 27921, 27922), Paris and Munich.
The Dominicans owe the texts and melodies of their gradual to the Cistercians. They did not, however, retain all the systematic corrections that the Cistercians had made, and on many points returned to the universal tradition (see D. Delalande: Le graduel des Prêcheurs, Paris, 1949). The copies that were made for the different monasteries of the Dominican order, and which spread across Europe at a prodigious speed, must have been corrected against one of the Correctoria in Paris, at the monastery of St Jacques (the manuscript is now in I-Rss), in Bologna or in Salamanca (see M. Huglo: ‘Règlements du XIIIe siècle pour la transcription des livres notés’, Festschrift Bruno Stäblein, ed. M. Ruhnke, Kassel, 1967, p.130, n.37). The order’s liturgical manuscripts were regularly inspected on canonical visits to the monasteries with the aid of a portable Correctorium used by the Grand Master (GB-Lbl 23935).
The gradual used by the other branch of the Mendicants, the Franciscans, differs from the Roman only in employing a broad and elegant square notation, officially adopted in 1253 in preference to the notation of central Italy, but not in repertory.
The Premonstratensian traditions, too, were peculiar to that order, not by virtue of corrections made initially, but as a result of the selection of particular traditions belonging to the Vermandois (Prémontré is now in the département of l’Aisne) and to the Rhenish countries (St Norbert, their founder, was a canon of Tongres in Belgium). The peculiarities of Premonstratensian chant are found not in the most ancient manuscripts of the order, but in those written after about 1150; here, more than in the other orders, liturgical and musical unification was carried out not upon the first institution of canons regular, but only after several houses had been established.
The first printed graduals were composed for German churches and hence use Gothic neumes (Hufnagelschrift), for example the first gradual of about 1470 (see Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, ix, Stuttgart, 1991, no.10977). The first graduals with square notes on a red staff came only a little later: the Graduale romanum was printed in Parma in 1470 by Damiano and Bernardo Moillo (see M.K. Duggan: Italian Music Incunabula: Printers and Type, Berkeley, 1992, nos.16–17).
In 1577 Benedict XIII entrusted Palestrina and Annibale Zoilo with the task of revising liturgical music books. It was the view of Cimello in 1579, and later Palestrina – who signed the preface to Guidetti's Directorium chori in 1582 – that melismas should be put back to the accented syllables from the weak penultimate syllables which should thence carry only one note (ex.1). This short penultimate syllable is notated by a lozenge, particularly in printed sources. Curiously, Philip II of Spain intervened to have this work interrupted. In 1594 negotiations between Palestrina and the Medici printing house were resumed, but they were interrupted soon afterwards by the Congregation of Rites. The principles that had guided this reform, however, were carried through in 1611–12 by Anerio and Soriano.
In the 19th century, after the liturgical restoration undertaken by Dom Prosper Guéranger (d 1875), the first attempts to improve the gradual were seen in the edition known as that of Reims-Cambrai (1851–5), which was the work of the Abbés Alix and Bonhomme. In 1857 the posthumous edition of the Graduale romanum by the Jesuit Lambillotte appeared, and in 1863, in Trier, that of Michel Hermesdorff. By 1864 Dom Joseph Pothier had already completed the preparatory work for the improved edition of the gradual, which appeared in 1883; it is based on the gradual-tonary of Dijon in bilingual notation (F-MOf H.159; PalMus, vii–viii, 1901–05/R) and on Aquitanian manuscripts. It was further improved in 1895. On 25 April 1904 Pius X ordered an official edition of the liturgical chant books to be made. The Kyriale appeared in 1905 and the Gradual in 1908: it was based on the Liber gradualis of 1895, revised and modified in accordance with the evidence furnished by a much broader selection of manuscripts, photographed by Dom Amand Ménager and by Dom Paul Blanchon-Lasserve. In 1948 a new critical edition of the gradual, involving the consultation of a still greater number of manuscripts (about 450) was undertaken at Solesmes; the catalogue of manuscripts used was published in 1957. The critical classification of the manuscripts was established with a canon of 150 variants and was published in 1960–62. As originally planned, the edition was to be completed by a critical edition of the texts of the chants and parallel editions of each chant from selected manuscripts with neumes and staff notation.
The edition of the Gregorian gradual has to solve extremely complex liturgical, textual and musical problems, since its subject is a chant book that enjoyed a diffusion in space and time unequalled in scale.
For the gradual since Vatican Council II, see Ordo cantus missae.
Gradual (ii), §5: Printed graduals
A. Gastoué: Musique et liturgie: le graduel et l’antiphonaire romains (Lyons, 1913/R)
J. Borremans: Le chant liturgique traditionnel des Prémontrés: le graduel (Mechelen,1913–14)
A. Chavasse: ‘Les plus anciens types du lectionnaire et de l’antiphonaire romains de la messe’, Revue bénédictine, lxii (1952), 3–94
S.R. Marosszéki: ‘Les origines du chant cistercien: recherches sur les réformes du plain-chant cistercien au XIIe siècle’, Analecta sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, viii (1952), 1–179
H. Hucke: ‘Graduale’, Ephemerides liturgicae, lxix (1955), 262–4
H. Hucke: ‘Gregorianischer Gesang in altrömischer und fränkischer Überlieferung’, AMw, xxii (1955), 74–87
M. Cocheril: Le graduel de Cîteaux et la tradition grégorienne (MS, Port du Salut, 1957)
S.J.P. Van Dijk and J.H. Walker: The Origins of the Modern Roman Liturgy (London, 1960)
F. de Meeûs: ‘Pour l’édition critique du graduel romain’, Scriptorium, xiv (1960), 80–97
R. Le Roux: ‘Les graduels des dimanches après la Pentecôte’, EG, v (1962), 119–30
C. Vogel: Introduction aux sources de l'histoire du culte chrétien au Moyen Age, (Turin, 1966/R; Eng. trans., rev., 1986, as Medieval Liturgy: an Introduction to the Sources), 328–32
B. Stäblein: ‘Gregorius Praesul: der Prolog zum römischen Antiphonale’, Musik und Verlag: Karl Vötterle um 65. Geburtstag, ed. R. Baum and W. Rehm (Kassel, 1968), 537–61
J.W. McKinnon: ‘The Fourth-Century Origin of the Gradual’, EMH, vii (1987), 91–106
M. Huglo: Les livres de chant liturgique (Turnhout, 1988), 99–108
J.W. McKinnon: ‘The Eighth-Century Frankish-Roman Communion Cycle’, JAMS, xlv (1992), 179–227
D. Hiley: ‘Post-Pentecost Alleluias in Medieval British Liturgies’, Music in the Medieval English Liturgy, ed. S. Rankin and D. Hiley (Oxford, 1993), 145–74
J.W. McKinnon: ‘Lector Chant Versus Schola Chant: a Question of Historical Plausibility’, Laborare fratres in unum: Festschrift László Dobszay zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. J. Szendrei and D. Hiley (Hildesheim, 1995), 201–11
P. Bernhard: Du chant romain au chant grégorien (Paris, 1996)
J.W. McKinnon: ‘Preface to the Study of the Alleluia’, EMH, xv (1996), 213–49
MGG1 (‘Graduale (Buch)’; B. Stäblein) [incl. list of over 250 graduals]
W.H. Frere: Bibliotheca musico-liturgica (London, 1894–1932/R)
A. Ebner: Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte und Kunstgeschichte des Missale romanum in Mittelalter: Iter italicum (Freiburg, 1896/R)
Le graduel romain: édition critique par les moines de Solesmes, II: Les sources (Solesmes, 1957) [brief description and bibliography for nearly 750 MSS]
Le graduel romain: édition critique par les moines de Solesmes, IV: Le texte neumatique, i: Le groupement des manuscrits (Solesmes, 1960); ii: Les relations généalogiques des manuscrits (Solesmes, 1962)
S.J.P. Van Dijk: ‘Sources of the Roman Gradual’, Scriptorium, xiv (1960), 98–100
P. Salmon: Les manuscrits liturgiques latins de la Bibliothèque Vaticane (Rome,1968–72)
J. Froger: ‘The Critical Edition of the Roman Gradual by the Monks of Solesmes’, JPMMS, i (1978), 81–97
P. Jeffery: ‘The Oldest Sources of the Graduale: a Preliminary Checklist of MSS Copied before about 900’, JM, ii (1983), 316–21
For brief descriptions and bibliography for over 100 graduals and cantatoria, and over 50 missals, see Sources, MS, §II.
Le codex 339 de la Bibliothèque de Saint-Gall (Xe siècle): Antiphonale missarum Sancti Gregorii, PalMus, 1st ser., i (1889/R)
Le codex 121 de la Bibliothèque d’Einsiedeln (Xe–XIe siècle): Antiphonale missarum Sancti Gregorii, PalMus, 1st ser., iv (1894/R)
W.H. Frere: Graduale sarisburiense (London, 1894/R) [facs. of GB-Lbl 12194, with lacunae filled from Lbl 17001 and Ob Rawl.lit. d3, and Ordinary chants from Lbl Lansdowne 462]
Antiphonarium tonale missarum, XIe siècle: codex H.159 de la Bibliothèque de l’Ecole de Médecine de Montpellier, PalMus, 1st ser., vii–viii (1901–5/R)
H. Loriquet, J. Pothier and A. Colette, eds.: Le graduel de l’église cathédrale de Rouen au XIIIe siècle (Rouen, 1907) [facs. of F-Pn lat.904]
Antiphonale missarum Sancti Gregorii, IXe–Xe siècle: codex 239 de la Bibliothèque de Laon, PalMus, 1st ser., x (1909/R)
H. Netzer: L’introduction de la messe romaine en France sous les Carolingiens (Paris, 1910/R) [with edn. of table of gradual chants in F-Pn lat.2291]
Antiphonale missarum Sancti Gregorii, Xe siècle: codex 47 de la Bibliothèque de Chartres, PalMus, 1st ser., xi (1912/R)
J.-B. Thibaut: Monuments de la notation ekphonétique et neumatique de l’église latine (St Petersburg, 1912/R) [with facs. of RU-SPan O v I 6, from Le Bec]
H.A. Wilson: The Gregorian Sacramentary under Charles the Great (London, 1915) [edn. incl. chant text incipits of I-Rvat Ottob.lat.313]
Cantatorium, IXe siècle: no.359 de la Bibliothèque de Saint-Gall, PalMus, 2nd ser., ii (1924/R)
Le Codex 903 de la Bibliothèque nationale de Paris, XIe siècle: graduel de Saint-Yrieix, PalMus, 1st ser., xiii (1925/R)
P. Wagner: Das Graduale der St. Thomaskirche zu Leipzig, Publikationen älterer Musik, v (Leipzig, 1930/R); vii (Leipzig, 1932/R) [facs. of D-LEu 391 (St Thomas 371)]
Le Codex 10673 de la Bibliothèque Vaticane, fonds latin (XIe siècle): graduel bénéventain, PalMus, 1st ser., xiv (1931/R)
R.-J. Hesbert: Antiphonale missarum sextuplex (Brussels, 1935) [text of B-Br lat.10127–44, CH-Zz Rheinau 30, F-Pn lat.17436, lat.12050, Psg lat.111, I-MZ]
Le Codex VI. 34 de la Bibliothèque capitulaire de Bénévent (XIe–XIIe siècle): graduel de Bénévent avec prosaire et tropaire, PalMus, 1st ser., xv (1937–53)
Le manuscrit du Mont-Renaud, Xe siècle: graduel et antiphonaire de Noyon, PalMus, 1st ser., xvi (1955–6)
T. Schmid, ed.: Graduale arosiense impressum (Malmö, 1959–65)
E. Cecchi: Graduale: saggi, commenti, note di storia dell’arte (Modena, 1969)
Le manuscrit 123 de la Bibliothèque Angelica de Rome (XIe siècle): graduel et tropaire de Bologne, PalMus, 1st ser., xviii (1969)
Antiphonar von St. Peter (Graz, 1969–74) [A-Wn series nova 2700]
M. Landwehr-Melnicki: Die Gesänge des altrömischen Graduale Vat. lat. 5319, MMMA, ii (1970) [with introduction by B. Stäblein; incl. edn. of Old Roman Gradual]
N.I. Weyns, ed.: Antiphonale missarum praemonstratense (Averbode, 1973)
M. Huglo: ‘Le graduel palimpseste de Plaisance (Paris, B.N. lat.7102)’, Scriptorium, xxviii (1974), 3–31, pls. 1–3
Le manuscrit 807, Universitätsbibliothek Graz (XIIe siècle): graduel de Klosterneuburg, PalMus, 1st ser., xix (1974)
J. Bellavista-Ramon: Antifoner de la missa de l'esglesia de St. Roma ‘De les Bons’, Andorra: estudi i edicio critica del Ms. 1805 de la Bib. catalá a Barcelona (diss., U. of Paris, 1975)
T. Chrzanowski and T. Maciejewski, eds.: Graduał karmelitański z 1644 roku o. Staniława ze Stolca [The Carmelite gradual of Stanislaus of Stolca of 1644] (Warsaw, 1976)
R.-J. Hesbert, ed.: Le gradual de St. Denis, Monumenta musicae sacrae, v (Paris, 1981) [F-Pm 384]
C. Väterlein, ed.: Graduale pataviense (Wien 1511), EDM, 1st ser., lxxxvii (1982) [facs.]
K.H. Staub, P. Ulveling and F. Unterkircher, eds.: Echternachter Sakramentar und Antiphonar (Graz, 1982) [D-DS 1946]
A. Knoepfli and others, eds.: Graduale von St Katharinenthal (Lucerne, 1983)
M. Lütolf, ed.: Das Graduale von Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (Cod. Bodmer 74) (Cologny-Geneva,1987)
I. Ferenczi, ed.: Graduale ecclesiae hungaricae epperiensis 1635 (Budapest, 1988)
J. Szendrei, ed.: Graduale strigoniense (s. XV/XVI) (Budapest, 1990–93)
N. Albarosa and A. Turco, eds.: Benevento, Biblioteca capitolare 40, Graduale (Padua, 1991)
O. Lang, ed.: Codex 121 Einsiedeln: Graduale und Sequenzen Notkers von St. Gallen: Kommentar zum Faksimile (Weinheim, 1991)
A. Hänggi and P. Ladner, eds.: Missale basileense saec. XI (Fribourg, 1994) [incl. M. Lütolf: ‘Die Gesänge im Codex Gressly’, B: Faksimileband, 9–98]
D. Hiley, ed.: Oxford Bodleian Library MS. Lat. Liturg. b. 5 (Ottawa, 1995)
D. Hiley, ed.: Moosburger Graduale: München, Universitätsbibliothek, 20 Cod. ms. 156 (Tutzing, 1996)
L. Guibert: ‘Le graduel de la Bibliothèque de Limoges: notices et extraits’, Bulletin du Comité des travaux historiques, Section d’histoire et de philologie (1887), 315–65 [F-LG 2(17)]
A. Legris: ‘Le graduel de l'église cathédrale de Rouen à la fin du XIIe siècle’, Revue des questions historiques, lxxxviii (1910), 135–48
M. van Waefelghem: ‘Liturgie de Prémontré: le graduel de Bellelaye’, Analectes de l'Ordre de Prémontré, x (1914), 357–64 [CH-P]
G. Beyssac: ‘Notes sur un graduel-sacramentaire de St. Pierre de Bantz du XIIe siècle’, Revue bénédictine, xxxiii (1921), 190–200 [D-BAs lit.11]
G. Swarzenski: Das Antiphonar St. Peter in Salzburg (Munich, 1922) [A-Wnser.nov.2700]
O. Gatzweiler: Die liturgische Handschriften des Aachener Münsterstifts (Münster, 1926), 80–85
U. Sesini: La notazione comasca nel cod. Ambrosiano. E 68 sup. (Milan, 1932)
A. Künzelmann: ‘Ein interessantes Fragment einer Neumenhandschrift in der Bibliothek des Gymnasiums Münnerstadt’, Cäcilia: Organ für katholische Kirchenmusik, lxiv (1933), 225–7
P. Gutfleisch: Das Kiedricher Kyriale (Mainz, 1946)
L. Colombo: I codici liturgici della diocesi di Pavia (Milan, 1947)
L. Agustoni: ‘Die Musik im Kloster Allerheiligen zu Schaffhausen’, Schweizer Beiträge zur vaterländischen Geschichte, xxvi (1949), 171–215 [CH-SH 95]
P. Siffrin: ‘Eine Schwesterhandschrift des Graduale von Monza, Reste zu Berlin, Cleveland und Trier’, Ephemerides liturgicae, lxiv (1950), 53–80
G. Birkner: Die Gesänge des Graduale Karlsruhe Pm.16 (diss., U. of Freiburg, 1951)
R.-J. Hesbert: Les manuscrits musicaux de Jumièges, Monumenta musicae sacrae, ii (Mâcon,1954)
G. Benoît-Castelli and M. Huglo: ‘L'origine bretonne du graduel no.47 de la bibliothèque de Chartres’, EG, i (1954), 173–8
J. Aengenvoort: Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte des Graduale monasteriense (Regensburg, 1955)
M. Huglo: ‘Les “preces” hispaniques des graduels aquitains’, Hispania sacra, viii (1955), 361–83
W. Irtenkauf: ‘Eine St. Pauler Handschrift aus dem Jahre 1136’, Carinthia I, cxlv (1955), 248–74
P. Lefèvre: ‘Un témoin nouveau de la liturgie de Prémontré au XIIe siècle: le missel d’Anvers’, Scriptorium, ix (1955), 208–16 [St Willibrord, Berchem]
F. Bussi: L’antifonario graduale della Basilica di S. Antonino in Piacenza (saec.XII) (Piacenza,1956)
G.M. Beyssac: ‘Le graduel-antiphonaire du Mont-Renaud’, RdM, xl (1957), 131–50
M. Huglo: ‘Trois anciens manuscrits liturgiques d'Auvergne, II: Le graduel d'un prieuré clunisien d'Auvergne, Bruxelles Bibl. Royale II 3823’, Bulletin historique et scientifique de l'Auvergne, lxxvii (1957), 81–104
J. Leclercq: ‘Un missel de Montiéramey’, Scriptorium, xiii (1959), 247–9
D.H. Turner: ‘The Crowland Gradual: an English Benedictine Manuscript’, Ephemerides liturgicae, lxxiv (1960), 168–74 [GB-Lbl Eg.3759]
H. Schwarzmeier: ‘Mittelalterliche Handschriften des Klosters Ottobeuren’, Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des benediktinischen Ordens, lxxiii (1962), 7–23 [D-Mbs lat.27130; US-PROu 1]
G. Toussaint: ‘Neue Quellen zur Geschichte des Chorstiftes Kiedrich’, AMw, xix–xx (1962–3), 257–64 [Kiedrich A, B]
P. Ladner: ‘Ein Zisterzienser-Graduale aus Hauterive in der Universitätsbibliothek Basel’, Freiburger Geschichtsblätter, lii (1963–4), 129–35 [CH-Bu F IX 68]
K.V. Sinclair: ‘Quelques manuscrits cisterciens inconnus en Australie’, Analecta sacri Ordinis Cisterciensis, xx (1964), 232–6 [AUS-Sp Q 3/1]
D.H. Turner: ‘The Reichenau Sacramentaries at Zurich and Oxford’, Revue bénédictine, lxxv (1965), 240–76 [sacramentaries with graduals: CH-Zz Rheinau 71; GB-Ob Can.lit.319]
M. Murjanoff: ‘Sanktgallisch neumiertes Graduale mit sonst nur in Rom nachweislichen Gebeten’, Zeitschrift für schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte, xxiv (1966), 243–4, pl.1 [RU-SPan O v I 47]
I. Pawlak: ‘Graduał klarysek gnieźnieńskich z 1418 roku jako dokument kultury muzycznej Gniezna’ [The 1418 gradual of the Poor Clares of Gniezno as a document of Gniezno musical culture], Nasza przeszłość, xxiv (1966), 135–41
B.G. Baroffio: ‘Un antico graduale novarese’, Bolletino storico per la Provincia di Novara, lvii/1 (1967), 3–14
A.M. Herzo: Five Aquitanian Graduals: their Mass Propers and Alleluia Cycles (diss., U. of Southern California, 1967) [GB-Lbl Harl.4951; F-Pn 780, 903, 776, 1132]
M. Robert: ‘Le graduel du Mont St Michel’, Millénaire monastique du Mont-Saint-Michel: études historiques et archéologiques, i (1967), 379–82 [F-AVR 42]
J. Snižková: ‘Solnický graduale Samela Soukeníka’, časopis národního musea, cxxxvi (1967), 13–17 [CZ-Pnm I A 17]
G.S. McPeek: ‘Codex 697 in the Bibl. del Seminario vescovile in Padua’, Essays in Musicology: a Birthday Offering for Willi Apel, ed. H. Tischler (Bloomington, IN, 1968), 25–49
N. Weyns: ‘Le graduel dit de Tongerloo’, Analecta praemonstratensia, xliv (1968), 311–19
F. Bak: ‘Średniowieczne graduały franciszkańskie’ [Medieval Franciscan graduals], Musica medii aevi, iii (1969), 91–112
B. Bartkowski: ‘Graduał kanoników regularnych z Czerwińska’ [The gradual of the canons regular of Czerwińsk], ibid., 130–51
E. Hinz: ‘Notacja muzyczna graduału Rkp. 118/119 z Biblioteki Seminarium Duchownego w Pelplinie’ [The musical notation of the gradual MS 118–119 from the Seminary Library at Pelplin], ibid., 43–58
J. Froger: ‘L'édition du graduel par Pamelius et le manuscrit “blandiniensis”’, EG, xi (1970), 175–80
J. Froger: ‘L’édition mauriste du graduel et les lacunes du “compendiensis”’, ibid., 159–73
G. Hammer: ‘Das Kamper Graduale’, Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses (1971), 48–60 [D-DÜl D6]
A. Pierucci and L. Bellonci: Un antico graduale della Biblioteca oliveriana (Sassoferrato, 1972)
F. Bösken and G. Duchhardt-Bösken: ‘Eine neue Quelle zum Mainzer Choral’, Beiträge zur Mainzer Kirchengeschichte in der Neuzeit (1973), 123–33
T. Maciejewski: ‘Graduał z Chełmna’ [The Chełmno Gradual], Musica medii aevi, iv (1973), 164–245
O. Perler: ‘Die Weihnachtsminiatur des St. Gallener Cod. 340 und der konstantinische Memorialbau zu Bethleem’, Bavaria Christiana: zur Frühgeschichte des Christentums in Bayern (Munich, 1973), 129–40
V. Saxer: ‘Epaves d’un antiphonaire de la messe médiéval l'usage de Narbonne’, Narbonne: archéologie et histoire: Narbonne 1972 (Montpellier, 1973), ii, 179–98
K.D. Hartzell: ‘An Unknown English Benedictine Gradual of the Eleventh Century’, Anglo-Saxon England, iv (1975), 131–44
T. Miazga: Graduał Jana Olbrachta: studium muzykologiczne (Graz, 1980) [PL-Kk 43/75, 44/76, 42/74, gradual of the King Jan Olbracht, 1506]
T.F. Kelly: ‘Palimpsest Evidence of an Old-Beneventan Gradual’, KJb, lxxvii (1983), 5–23
H.E. Sowulewska: Polskie graduały norbertanskie (Warsaw, 1985)
B. Jessberger: Ein dominikanisches Graduale aus dem Anfang des 14. Jahrhunderts: Cod. 173 der Diözesanbibliothek Köln (Berlin and Kassel, 1986)
G.M. Paucker: Das Graduale Msc. Lit.6 der Staatsbibliothek Bamberg: eine Handschrift-Monographie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Repertoires und der Notation (Regensburg, 1986)
F. Unterkircher: ‘Ein neumiertes Graduale aus Weingarten: die Handschrift Wien, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Ms.4981’, Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft, xxx (1988), 21–32
R. Flotzinger: ‘Zu Herkunft und Datierung der Gradualien Graz 807 und Wien 13314’, SM, xxxi (1989) 57–80
T.F. Kelly: The Beneventan Chant (Cambridge, 1989)
D. Hiley: ‘Provins Bibliothèque municipale 12 (24): a 13th-Century Gradual with Tropes from Chartres Cathedral’, Recherches nouvelles sur les tropes liturgiques [Huglo Festschrift], ed. W. Arlt and G. Björkvall (Stockholm, 1993), 236–69
C. Veroli: ‘La revisione musicale Bernardina e il graduale cisterciense’, Analecta cisterciensia, xlvii (1991), 3–141; xlviii (1992), 3–104; xlix (1993), 147–256
M.T. Rosa-Barezzani and G. Ropa, eds.: Codex Angelicus 123: studi sul graduale-tropario bolognese del secolo XI e sui manoscritti collegati (Cremona, 1996)