17th Sunday after Pentecost 2024
Processional hymn: The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady, 917
Recessional hymn: Hail, Holy Queen, 908
Kyriale: Mass XI, 740; Credo IV, 780
Hymn at Offertory: Stabat Mater, Chant Sequence
Motet at Communion: Ave Maris Stella, Guillaume Dufay
The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the feast itself commemorated this Sunday. When the Mass of the feast is said, the sequence Stabat Mater is recited/sung prior to the Gospel. This sequence is often used as a devotional hymn for praying the stations of the cross and is sung to a simple tune. The chant sung today, which is the proper chant, is more ornate and the melody changes every two verses.
The Vespers hymn for many feasts of the Blessed Virgin is Ave Maris Stella, which dates to the 9th-century and sung today is a setting by Guillaume Dufay. This hymn as with many of Dufay’s compositions use the technique of fauxbordon, where the original melody is retained with some embellishment while the other voices harmonize in a fixed parallel structure.
Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397–1474) was a priest, composer, and music theorist of early Renaissance music, who is variously described as French or Franco-Flemish. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1428 and spent his life directing and composing for papal and cathedral choirs. Dufay was among the most influential composers of the fifteenth century, and his music was copied, distributed and sung everywhere that polyphony had taken root.