Posted on by Jeffrey Tucker

Ask, Seek, Knock: The Structure of Petite

This weekend’s communion antiphon “Petite, et accipietis” does not appear on Sunday in the old ordering of Mass music, so this is a musical treat that can only be experienced in the ordinary form for this Sunday.

It is drawn directly from the Gospel reading. “Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you: for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened, alleluia.”

Here is the antiphon (and here is a sound file that you can listen to as you watch the music):

Now, for those who might say that there is no real relationship between the music and the text in Gregorian chant, consider this wonderful musical structure and how it beautifully reflects the symmetry of the prose here.

We begin with three actions: ask, seek, knock. These actions are embodied in the musical phrase that form the pillars of the first half of the chant, which we see in petite, quaerite, and pulsante. Each is structured to be a unique musical phrase, each with its different character.

The first half of the chant ends at the full bar. Then we pick up with the answer: he who asks, receives; he who seeks, finds; he who knocks, it is opened. The words in Latin are now grammatically different (petit, quaerit, pulsanti) but the unique musical structure of each of those words is preserved from one phrase to the next, and then extended upon to signify the universality of the relationship between the reach for God and the granting of grace, consistent with the text (for everyone).

The parallels between the words in the first phrase and the repeat in the second phrase are beautiful, creative, and unmistakable. The chant then closes with great drama, an alleluia more elaborate than anything series of notes before, all coming together to form a perfectly crafted composition and unity of music and text.

4 Replies to “Ask, Seek, Knock: The Structure of Petite”

  1. I don't think anyone would claim that the music has no relation to the text, and indeed, you can use almost any chant to demonstrate a particular sensibility to sentence structure, etc. But as to whether the chants were composed with a particular relation to the *meaning* of the text (as in "word-painting", for example), well, that seems less clear to me.

  2. When you have an alleluia tagged on to an antiphon such as the above example you have to suspect that it was originally composed for or modified a long time ago for use during the Easter season. As Jeffery point out, this antiphon is not used on a Sunday in the old calendar, but it is from the Mass for the major and minor Rogation days during the Easter season; these have been around in the West since at least the time of St Gregory the Great (and definitely earlier as litanies in the East). The 3 minor Rogation days are the 3 days before Ascension Thursday in the old calendar. These Rogation days have Luke 11 for the Gospel, "Ask and and Ye shall receive" whilst the last Sunday in Easter has the similar text from John. "To ask" for something in Latin can also be "rogare", and so that last Sunday in Easter in the old calendar is often called Rogation Sunday. As one can see, there is a lot of interrelating going on here.
    This text is also used with different music on the last Sunday in Easter for the Magnificat at Sunday vespers which anticipates the following day, the Monday before the Ascension which is the first minor Rogation day in the old calendar.
    As we all know the Rogation days have been suppressed in the new calendar, and what a loss.
    The mish-mash of chants that we often find in the new Roman Gradual, using Easter chants for days outside of Easter season for instance, only follows the desire to force a relation between the old chant texts and the new readings, such as to keep the communion antiphon as closely related as possible to the Gospel reading in the new calendar.

  3. This was the first Grgeorian Mass Proper sung at my parish since who knows when… and it happened tonight at the vigil Mass! A beautifully crafted piece indeed.

Comments are closed.