fragment of a gregorian melody: which chant is it?
  • SNW
    Posts: 8
    hi everybody

    I am currently examining fragmentary scores by an unknown composer from Russia; amongst these fragments are settings/harmonisations of gregorian chants, most of them from the Office of the Dead or the Requiem Mass (the Introit "Requiem aeternam", the preface "Praefatio defunctorum", and the responsory "Libera me Domine"). As of now, there is one fragmentary score left which I couldn't allocate yet. You find a provisional transcription attached, with the gregorian melody highlighted.

    Maybe anybody can help me finding the origin of the gregorian melody? I couldn't allocate it to any other gregorian chant from the Requiem Mass or the Office of the Dead, as far as I am concerned. maybe anyone got an idea what it could be?

    many thanks in advance for any support!
    Fragment.pdf
    74K
  • RobertRobert
    Posts: 343
    This is a melodic motif present in a few Gregorian melodies - the antiphon Vidi Aquam, the Communions Hoc Corpus and Dicite Pusillanimes, for example. Not sure exactly which one is the inspiration here, probably some version of Vidi Aquam I suspect.
  • SNW
    Posts: 8
    hi robert!

    thank you very much for your hint which is really tremendous!!! indeed, after checking the whole fragmentary parts it turned out to be the antiphon "Vidi aquam"... and it looks like it could be reconstructed for a performance!

    thank you very much again!
    greetings and all the best
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