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Andrew Major Anonymous: Mass for Christmas Day: Kyrie, Gloria, and Alleluia (ca. 9th and 10th Centuries) In medieval roman liturgy and chant, texts specific to each occasion in the Church calendar were collected in their own books (e.g. antiphoners, graduals, etc.). Those that were sung at every Mass were included in the ordo itself, an outline of a Mass celebration, describing how and in what order liturgical texts and rituals are employed to constitute the Mass. Hence to musicians the term Mass Ordinary has come to designate the five invariant texts sung by the choir: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei. The Mass Proper, however, refers to additional texts which vary day to day in the Church calendar and are named according to their function (e.g. Introit, Gradual, Offertory, etc.) rather than by the text sung. As such, in the Mass for Christmas Day (NAWM 3), the Kyrie and Gloria compose part of the Mass Ordinary, and the Alleluia is a selection from the Mass Proper. As in the case of the other “ordinary” chants, there are simple Kyries that probably reflect early congregational singing, and more decorative melodies that were probably produced at the Frankish monasteries, beginning in the tenth century, for performance by the schola cantorum, a musical school attached to monasteries or churches that specialized in performance of liturgical music. The Kyrie from the Mass for Christmas Day is one of these decorative tunes, modified from the traditional structure. The Kyrie – Christe – Kyrie are set to a non-repeating ABC pattern, while the eleison forms an AA'B pattern. This Kyrie is in Mode 1, the dorian mode, and would traditionally be sung antiphonally in liturgy, with two or more independent choirs singing alternate phrases of the piece often separated by physical space. The Gloria, also known as the Greater Doxology, begins with two verses or stichs from the Gospel of St. Luke, quoting the angels’ greeting to the shepherds on the night of the Nativity. For this reason, before it was assigned to its fixed position in the Mass, the Gloria was often used as a Christmas processional hymn, forming the culminations of the celebrants’ entrance. Following the angelic hymn is a series of laudes (acclamations), litanies (petitions), and finally a concluding praise-song. While its earliest use seems to have been congregational, implying a simple, formulaic style, the Glorias preserved in Frankish manuscripts are neumatic chants with occasional melismas, and are clearly intended for the clerical or monastic schola cantorum. The

Gloria in the Mass for Christmas Day is one of these chants and is in Mode 4. The Gloria would begin with the priest intoning the first phrase followed by the chorus for the remainder of the chant. The Alleluia of the Mass for Christmas Day is part of the Mass Proper, and is sung after the gradual following the two texts described above. This Alleluia is in Mode 2, the plagal mode, and would be sung responsorially, with elaborately set verses for virtuoso soloists. The soloist would sing up to the asterisk, and then the chorus repeats this and continues with the following melisma, forming what is called a jubilus. The soloist then sings the verse with the choir joining in on the final words. The overall form is ABA'. Comparing these mass selections, all three are melismatic, arrhythmic, and monophonic. They differ in mode, overall phrasal structure, and in the way in which they would likely be performed (e.g. antiphonally, responsorially, etc.). Although they now appear together in performance, this compilation occurred long after their composition, as it appears that each individual movement’s composition spanned a period of at least a century.

Works Consulted: Grout, D. J., & Palisca, C. V. (1996). A history of Western music (No. Ed. 5). WW Norton & Company, Inc.. Palisca, C. V. (Ed.). (1980). Norton anthology of western music: in two volumes. Norton. Taruskin, R. (2005). Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century, Volume 1 of The Oxford History of Western Music.