Schola Hungarica / A Pilgrimage to Rome

Hungaroton HCD 31574
1995
Holy Family Parish Church, Zugliget, Budapest



A PILGRIMAGE TO ROME
Old Roman Liturgical Chants



1 - A. Jubilemus Deo (Invitatorium)     [3:22]
b. A. Ambulate sancti

2 - S. GIOVANNI IN LATERANO     [1:52]
a. A. Iste praecedet
b. A. Rufina et Secunda
c. G. Frescobaldi: Magnificat Primi Toni - Verso Primo

3 - S. PIETRO IN VATICANO     [8:04]
a. AA. Principes populorum - Dedisti bereditatem - Annuntiaverunt
b. R. Simon Petre
c. AA. Exaltabuntur cornua - Lux orta est - Custodiebant
d. R. Petre amas me?
e. Sequentia: Petre summe
f. Frescobaldi: Magnificat (Secondo Verso)

4 - IN TRASTEVERE     [3:14]
a. O beate Chrisogone (S. Crisogono)
b. R. O beata Caecilia (S. Cecilia)
c. A. Dum aurora finem daret (S. Cecilia)

5 - IN AVENTINO     [3:11]
a. A. Beati Aquila et Prisca (S. Prisca)
b. R. Ego Sabina (S. Sabina)

6 - COLOSSEO     [2:27]
a. AA. Johannes et Paulus... fac
- Johannes et Paulus... tu crede
- Paulus et Johannes - Nobis autem
- Laudemus viros
- Dico autem vobis (SS. Giovanni e Paulo)
b. Cosmas et Damianus (SS. Cosma e Damiano)

7 - SAN CLEMENTE     [6:41]
a. R. Orante Santo Clemente
b. Vers. Pusuisti Domine
c. A. Ora pro nobis
d. Dicit Dominus (Old Roman Introit)
e. Dicit Dominus (Gregorian Introit)
f. Frescobaldi: Magnificat (Terzo Verso)

8 - ESQUILINO     [3:52]
a. A. Inclitus martyr (S. Tiburzio)
b. R. Virgo Domini (S. Prassede)
c. A. Speciosa facta es (Santa Maria Maggiore)

9 - SAN LORENZO FUORI LE MURA     [5:42]
a. AA. Stridebant corporis - Adhaesit anima - Interrogatus te
b. R. Meruit esse hostia
c. A. Beatus Laurentius
d. Sequentia: Laurenti David
e. Frescobaldi: Magnificat (Quarto Verso)

10 - VIA NOMENTANA     [З:51]
a. A. Silvester beatissimus (S. Silvestro)
b. A. Domine meus (S. Hermes)
c. R. Quinto loco (S. Alessandro)

11 - S. AGNESE FUORI LE MURA (Via Nomentana)     [5:34]
a. AA. Christus circumdedit me - Mel et lac - Stans a dextris ejus
b. R. Diem festum sacratissimae
c. A. Congaudete mihi
d. Hymnus: Agnes beatae virginis

12 - S. SEBASTIANO (Via Appia Antica)     [2:38]
a. R. Sebastianus vir
b. Vers. Gloria et honore
c. A. Sebastianus Mediolanentium

13 - "AD CATACUMBAS"     [2:18]
a. A. Surge Petronilla (S. Petronilla)
b. A. Beatus Calixtus (S. Callisto)
c. A Cyriacus nomen est (S. Ciriaco)
d. A Beatissima Martha (S. Martha)
e. Frescobaldi: Magnificat (Quinto Verso)

14 - SAN PAULO FUORI LE MURA     [6:30]
a. A Tu es vas electionis
b. R. Egregie Dei Paule
c. A Sancte Paule apostole
d. Introitus: Scio cui credidi (Gregorian)
e. Frescobaldi: Postludium



sources:
The items are taken from the Antiphonale Romanum, 12th cent., Vatican, Archivio di San Pietro B 79

with the following exceptions:

Nonantolan Cantatorium (Nonantola, St. Silvester Abbey, Ms. I.) 11-12th cent. (3d)
Old-Roman Gradual, Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana lat. 5319 (7d)
Gradual from Saint-Yrieix, 11th cent., Paris, Biblothèque Nationale Cod. 903. (7e)
Monumenta Monodica Medii Aevi Bd. I. Kassel-Basel 1956, p. 29 cf. 39. (11d)
Graduale Strigoniense, 15th cent., Esztergom, Főszékesegyházi Könyvtár Mss I.1.3b. (14d)



SCHOLA HUNGARICA

Conducted by

DOBSZAY LÁSZLÓ
(1a, 2a, 3а, 3b, 3c, 3d, 3e, 4a, 5a, 6a, 6b, 7d, 8a, 9a, 9b, 9c, 10b, 10c, 12a, 12b, 12c, 13b, 13c, 14a, 14b, 14c)
SZENDREY JANKA
(1b, 2b, 4b, 4c, 5b, 7a, 7b, 7c, 7e, 8b, 8c, 9d, 10a, 11 a, 11b, 11c, 11d, 13a, 13d, 14d)


Wilheim András, organ
(2c, 3f, 7f, 9e, 13e, 14e)


Sung in Latin



SUNG TEXTS

A Pilgrimage to Rome


The one-time military glory of Rome is insignificant compared to the dignity which SS. Peter and Paul, the spiritual refounders of the city and thousands of martyrs in their wake acquired her - argues Leo the Great, the most Roman of all Popes. From the blood of these martyrs the age-worn city awoke actually to new life. The Christians went on a pilgrimage to their graves for centuries and the churches built on top of the graves are viewed with reverence and admiration by 20th-century pilgrims and tourists alike. When we make an imaginary tour of these repeatedly rebuilt but in their fundament Old Christian buildings we recall the chants by which Rome honoured its martyrs in those centuries.

The chants are taken from the Old Roman repertory which the Gregorian music also derives from. These melodies preserve the liturgical chant of Rome in an essentially more ancient state, even if not note by note. In the Old Roman codices several movements survive that have not gone over to the Gregorian chant, most of all the festive songs of the saints proper of Rome. The differences are considerable musically as well. In the Old Roman chant the rich archaic ornamentations captivate at first hearing the attention of present-day listeners as well - though the form, the melodic progression may be essentially identical with the Gregorian offspring. This music abounds in standard, precisely repeated ornaments or motifs, most probably because it was easier to remember them so in the age of oral tradition without written musical notation.

The chants have chiefly been selected from two genres. The RESPONSORY is a melismatic genre (enriched by a lot of ornaments) whose main part is followed by a simpler "versus" after which the second section of the main part returns again (ABCB structure). It is striking to observe that almost each of the responsories about early Roman saints is a "G melody" (Mixolydian, 7th-8th Gregorian tone). They resemble each other to such an extent that they can almost be regarded as the many-sided uses of the same melody. At the same time, they adjust themselves to the deviating structure of the prose texts so perfectly that we are taken aback by ever new variants, changing proportions and newly arranged motifs almost every second.

The second genre applied is the ANTIPHON. Antiphons are shorter, slogan-like two-part chants to be sung before and after the psalms. (They are presented here separate from their psalm.) Apart from these two genres two VERSICULI will be heard yet (couplet with ornamented recitation) as well as two INTROITS (an item beginning the Mass). Whenever our pilgrimage stops, one or two items will be sung, depending on the relevance of the memorial place.

The reverence of most Roman martyrs remained within the confines of the Eternal City's own range of tradition. Some martyrs are, however commemorated in the whole Latin Church. This is symbolized by closing the series of chants about the given saint by a typical "transalpine" item on the present recording. The chants about Peter and Lawrence are added a sequence, one of the most favourite European genres in the Middle Ages. In the honour of Agnes a section from the nice hymn by Saint Ambrose is recalled. The old-an introit of Clement is supplemented by its surprisingly reinterpreted Gregorian variant. And finally, the group of chants about Saint Paul and the recording as a whole is closed down by a medieval introit.

The sequence of the items follows an imaginary route on the map of Rome. The longer transitions are accompanied by the short organ pieces of the 17th-century organist Frescobaldi, one of the greatest musicians of Rome.

Dobszay László