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CONCERT SUGGESTION
“MATER DOMINI“
The figure of Mary in Gregorian chant
Since the early beginnings of the church, Mary has been the focus of attention for believers: the disciples of the Lord looked to her, when they were bewildered after the hour of darkness at Calvary and dazed by the brilliant light of the resurrection at Easter; the converts from Judaism referred to her as they saw not only the Messiah, but also the daughter of Zion become materialise in history; the Alexandrian communities prayed to her as the true mother of God, announced to the fathers of ancient Egypt in the figure of Isis.
All late ancient Christian cultures sang to the glory of Mary, concentrating their hopes and dreams in her, recovering memories and promises, in a sometimes unclear plot between orthodox theological propositions and images evoked from paganism and superstition, overlapping at times heterogeneous layers which, beyond their relevance and objectivity, reveal, however and passionate enthusiasm and a warm filial love for the woman the Church recognises as being its mother.
In this climate the exuberant blossoming of literature about Mary can be easily understood, especially in the fields of poetry and music. A typical example of this is the hymn “Ave, maris stella” – at one time attributed to Venanzio Fortunato – with his captivating succession of evocative images which recall the perils of life, but open the heart to the certainty that in Mary, in welcoming the angel’s prayer, the human destiny that had been assured since the time of Eve, was turned completely upside down. It is not surprising therefore to see in this programme various pages from psalm 44 (45), which, with its reflection on salvation and the explicitly feminine theme. Five pieces are equally theological and musical variations on the role of Mary as co-redeemer, attentive listener of the Word which in her takes on life and works constantly, filling her with a beauty that it spreads a new senses of human existence everywhere.
How new one sole and identical psalm Word can appear each time it is reread can be demonstrated by two versions of the same text (“Diffusa est gratia”) used sometimes as a simple communion antiphon, sometimes as an offering response in which the fullness of the vocalising of “saeculum speculi” seems as if it would widen the historical space and immerse those blessed by God – with Mary at their head – in the eternity of the Creator. This already anticipates the eschatological perspective sung by the visionary of the Apocalypse, from whom some particularly incisive assertions can be heard in the subsequent lection.
The destiny of Mary of Nazareth is full of adversity, as she closely follows the destiny of the Son without shrinking from the trial of the Cross. And it is the destiny of the Church, glorious and suffering at the same time which is reflected, for example, in the two sequences “Ave mundi spes Maria” and the more famous “Stabat mater dolorosa” which today still accompanies the devout meditations of the via Crucis. And in the wider world of popular devotion the last two songs of Mary, the antiphon “Alma redemptoris mater” and “Salve regina”, are particularly important as they have for centuries have concluded every day the liturgical prayer of the Church at the end of compline. |
