Karen,
More information on the place of sequences in the Medieval Mass can be found
in Joseph A. Jungmann's wonderful _The Mass of the Roman Rite_. In Part III,
2.5, Jungmann treats of the various intervient chants: psalms, graduals,
alleluias, tracts, and sequences.
Jungmann writes that the _sequentiae_ first appeared in Normandy and St. Gall
about the middle of the 9th century. Jungmann mentions Adam of St. Victor as
a leading writer of sequences, and states that in Northern Europe almost every
feast day would have one. He cites a 1487 Cologne missal as having 73, and a
1555 Augsburg missal with 98. Rome adopted sequences less enthusiastically,
and Pius V's reform kept only four.
Jungmann mentions that _Veni, Sancte Spiritus_ has been ascribed to others,
but asserts it as having been written by Langton. He does not trace the
history of this particular sequence, but a footnote mentions that the second
alleluia verse is of later origin - earlier antiphonaries have _Spiritus
Domini_ or Haec Dies_.
Contemporary Roman Rite usage is governed by the _Roman Missal_ adopted
following the Second Vatican Council. Its _General Instructions_ state that,
"except on Easter Sunday and Whit Sunday the Sequences are optional." This
leaves the _Victimae paschali_ and _Veni, Sancte Spiritus_ as the only
required sequences.
Phil Feller me salutoe molto virtuosamente,
esp, Software Services tanto che me parve allora vedere
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[log in to unmask] Dante, _Vita Nuova_ III, 1
http://www.skypoint.com/~pfeller
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