RESPONSORIUM
787
RESPONSORIUM
him a sum to defray the expenses of the journey.
Respighi accepted on condition that he should not be
subject to take the oath. It does honour to the
minister that he did not insist upon a condition with
which a loyal subject of the pope would not have
complied even if his refusal cost him his position.
Six years later, in 1877, Respighi was appointed
Knight of the Civil Order of Savoy; to receive this
honour it became again necessary to take the oath.
In a letter to the Minister of Instruction, Respighi
refused and returned the cross which had been already
sent to him. Besides the aforenamed studies,
we owe to him other very important researches, on
spectra of stars and on the solar corona, as also
the first systematic observations on solar protuber-
ances. Moreover, he discovered and practised new
methods to determine the diameter of the sun and
the zenith distances of stars. Finally, astronomy
owes Respighi a masterly catalogue of the absolute
declinations of 2534 boreal stars. After Schiaparelli,
Respighi was the most prominent Italian astronomer
of the nineteenth century.
V. Cerulli.
Responsoriiun, Responsory, or Respond, a series of verses and responses, usually taken from Holy Scrip- ture and var^^ng according to the feast or season. Responsories are of two kinds: those which occur in the Proper of the Mass, and those used in the Divine Office; each differing slightly both as to history and form.
I. The Responsories of the Mass. — The psalmodic solo is the oldest form of Christian chant, and was apparently derived from the Synagogue. The psalm was recited by one chanter, to whom the people an- swered with a refrain or response, the latter being either the alternate verses of the psalm itself, or one verse repeated again and again, or sometimes a sen- tence taken from elsewhere. The psalm " Confiteinini Domino", every verse of which has the refrain "Quoniam in a?temum misericordia ejus", is a typical example, though sometimes the refrain was a mere exclamation, such as "Alleluia". This method of chant was known as the cantus responsorius, and is mentioned in the writings of Tertullian, St. Augustine, and St. Isidore. It was an integral part of the Lit- urgy, that is to say it was not introduced to fill up time whilst other things were going on, but was listened to by clergj' and people alike, and ir this it differs from the antiphonal chant, which was merely an accompaniment to various actions and ceremonies, e. g. the Introit, Offerton,', and Communion. The responsorial parts of the ^lass were the Gradual (so named from the position of the soloist, at the steps of the pulpit or ambo), the Alleluia, and at one time the Offertory. Up to the twelfth century the way of singing the Gradual was as follows: The cantor sang it from the beginning as far as the verse, and the choir repeated the cantor's part. Then came the verse, sung by the cantor, after which the refrain, i. e. the part first sung, was repeated by all. After the twelfth century the custom began of omitting the repetition after the verse whenever another chant, such as the Alleluia or Tract, followed. The present practice is to omit the repetition on all occasions, but in order to avoid a conclusion by the soloist alone, it has become general for the choir to join in at the end of the verse. In the early Middle Ages the responsorium graduate was still sung at every Mass, and not replaced, as at present, by an Alleluia in Eastertide. It may be noted that it is still retained in Easter Week, the Graduals of which are all connected (the refrain being the same and the verses being all from one psalm), and doubtless originally formed one chant with sev- eral verses, which was performefl in full on Easter Day.
The second piece of responsorial chant in the Mass
is the Alleluia. It was introduced by Pope Damasus
at the advice of St. Jerome, in imitation of the Liturgy
of Jerusalem. The chant became very elaborate, the
greater part of it being devoted to the last vowel of
the word alleluia, which was prolonged through so
many successive notes as to suggest a mystical mean-
ing, viz., that it represented the chant of eternity, or,
as Durandus says, the joy that is too great to be ex-
pressed in words. The reduction of this chant to
responsorial form is due to St. Gregory, who added
verses to it. The method of singing it was as follows:
The soloist began with the Alleluia, which was re-
peated by the choir; the soloist then continued with
the verse or verses, after each of which the choir re-
located the Alleluia. On Holy Saturday and the Vigil
of Pentecost there was no repetition, but the verse
"Confitemini" was followed immediately (as now) by
the tract "Laudato Dominum". The Offertory was
originally an antiphonal chant, i. e. sung by two
choirs, introduced to fill up the time whilst the obla-
tions of the people were being made. Later on it be-
came more convenient to leave the Verses to a soloist,
and so it became a responsorial chant. One reason
for this may have been that the singers, as well as the
people, had oblations to offer. The change was
naturally accompanied by an elaboration of the
melody, both of the antiphon (which became the re-
frain) and of the verses. But when the popular
offering fell out of use, the Offertory had to be cur-
tailed, and the venses were dropped, in which form it
is found as early as the eleventh century. At the
present day the Mass for the Dead alone retains a
vestige of the ancient usage, in the verse "Hostias et
preces" and the repetition after it of the concluding
part of the Offertory. Originally the people joined
in the singing of all the ^Iass, responsorial chants
taking up the responses after they had been com-
menced by the soloist. The gradual elaboration of
the melodies, however, made this increasingly diffi-
cult for them, and so by degrees they were forced to
relinquish their share to the trained singers of the
choir. They had become thus silenced probably by
St. Gregory's time, and thenceforward it was only in
the Ordinars' of the Mass that they were able to take
their share.
II. The Responsories of the Divine Office. — These con- sist, like those of the Mass, of verses and responses, with or without the "Gloria Patri" (but omitting sicul erat), and their usual place is after the Lessons of Matins. There is also a shorter form, called the responsorium breve or responsoriola, which in the monastic Office always comes after the Capitulum at Lauds and Vespers, and also after the Lesson in sum- mer ferial Matins (Reg. S. Ben., c. x). In the Roman Office it is found only in the Little Hours. St. Bene- dict in his Rule (written about 5.30) prescribes the use of responsories after the Lessons of Matins, but he gives no intimation as to their form, impljdng rather that they were in general use and therefore well- known. The earliest definite information we have as to their form is found in the description of the Roman Office at the beginning of the ninth century, given by Amalarius in his "De Ordine Antiphonarii " (Migne, P. L., CV). The method of chanting then in vogue is thus given by him: the precentor began with the first part, which the choir repeated; then the soloist sang the verse and the choir repeated the first part again as far as the verse; the soloist sang "Gloria Patri" and the choir repeated the second portion of its part again ; finally the precentor began the Respond again from the beginning, and sang it as far as the verse, and the choir replied with a last repetition. The first Responsory of the year, " Aspiciens a longe", and a few others, had several verses, and in these cases the second part of the refrain was divided into as many sections as there were verses, one section being repeated after each verse, and then after the
