The Musical Enactment of Drama in Sarum Plainsong

Abstract

In the tenth century, a sung dialogue, the 'Quem queritis' trope, appeared as a ceremonial addition to the paschal vigil and morning liturgy of Easter Sunday. It is often appraised as the bridge between liturgical chant and the later full-cast liturgical dramas of the Middle Ages, but what has generally not been considered, is that Franco-Romano (Gregorian) chant, compiled at least a century earlier, already contained the seeds of liturgical drama from which this dialogue naturally grew. This paper shows that some ideomelic chants from the twelfth-century 'Graduale Sarisburiense' from England, a minor variant of earlier graduals from the Continent, enact a vocal drama utilising the words of the biblical personages found in the chant text. Specifically, two types of dramatic representations are examined: the monologue and the dialogue. In the former, the text is spoken by one biblical figure whose ethos is expressed musically. In the latter, more than one voice conveys the words of the biblical text, and these are delineated musically. Employing examples for each type, I discuss the different ways that chant melody makes representational drama possible. Monologues studied are the introits 'Resurrexi, Ad te levavi, Gaudete', and the offertories 'Dextera Domini and Ave Maria'. Of the dialogues studied are the communions, 'Dominus Jesus, Fili, quid fecisti, Dicit Dominus: Implete, and the offertory Precatus est Moyses' which is examined in greater detail.