A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Victimæ Paschali

by William Smyth Rockstro

VICTIMÆ PASCHALI. A Prose, or Sequence, sung, in the Roman Church, on Easter Sunday and during its Octave, immediately after the Gradual, which intervenes between the Epistle and Gospel. The text, written in a very irregular metre, with unexpected rhymes marking the caesura and close of verses of constantly varying rhythm, is attributed, by Rambachius, to the 11th century. The old Ecclesiastical Melody, in Modes I. and II., is probably of equal antiquity, and may well have been composed by the author of the text, since it adapts itself, with never-failing facility, to the rhythmical change in the verse.

The Sequence was a great favourite with the Polyphonic Composers, most of whom have treated it with marked success. The finest examples are the well-known settings by Palestrina.

[ W. S. R. ]