Laetábimur in salutári tuo, et in nómine Dómini Dei nóstri, magnificábimur.
Let us rejoice in Your salvation, and in the name of the Lord our God, we will be magnified.
Psalm 19:6
GN: 226
GT: 359
As usual, my rendition takes the lead from the BzG editors while retaining some unedited elements from the Vatican edition.
The opening phrase on lætábimur features a similar melodic pattern as found on last week’s communion antiphon on univérsa. In this range and specific instance, the issue between low B and low Bb is contested. The preface in BzG’ reconstruction of this antiphon gives a detailed consideration of low Bb. Ultimately, their conclusion remains unresolved.1 Using a Bb in the first and final phrases (lætábimur and magnificábimur) would shift the modality from hypodorian to aeolian and provide an interesting modal shift bookending the piece and highlighting the symmetrical, future passive verb tense. Although I also refrained from using Bb, a rendition including it would be fascinating!
The clivis over Dómini in the Vatican edition is clearly wrong, refuted by both virgae in St. Gall and Laon. SOL, as a simple passing tone between LA and FA, is more appropriate than FA, which would over-emphasize the dominant at this point.
Although BzG moves the first note of Dei from FA to MI and cites several manuscripts justifying their correction,2 I don’t have access to those manuscripts, so I retained FA, underscoring the mode II dominant.
In the Vatican edition, the initial note of the torculus inito debilis on magnificábimur is missing. Because this note became progressively lighter as the centuries passed, it eventually faded away completely. Later manuscript traditions dropped the first note entirely. The Vatican edition follows these later traditions here by excluding the initial note. Since the fragment over magnificábimur is a melodic formula, the first note of the torculus ought to be equal to its preceding note, DO.
My heart is always drawn to two words and concepts that inevitably arise in Gregorian chant: that of joy and that of salvation. Both lætare or gæudete mean joy, though the first represents an outer joy and the second represents an inner joy. In this case, the psalmist uses an exterior disposition in the future, passive tense: lætabímur. It is not so much our efforts, but by remaining in the name of the Lord that our countenances may radiate with His joy. Furthermore, we are rejoicing in His salvation: salutári. This isn’t some abstract notion of salvation – as if we could do anything to merit “being saved.” Rather than some “thing” that can be grasped at, the Lord’s salvation – His healing – is something so vastly different from ours. We can almost hear the plaintive cry for healing in the melodic peak occurring on salutári.
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