Easter Drama - Liturgical Origins

Liturgical Origins

In the Middle Ages, the celebration of liturgical feasts was as rich and varied as they were numerous; poetry and music, in particular, were used to impress on the congregation the significance of the events commemorated. Liturgical worship is in itself dramatic, with its stylized dialogues and the use of choirs. Often, as at Christmas, Epiphany, and Easter, the text of the Gospel called for a variety of roles. The Benedictines of St. Gallen, in Switzerland, in the 10th century wrote sequences, hymns, litanies, and tropes and set them to music. The tropes—elaborations of parts of the Liturgy, particularly the Introit—found universal acceptance and remained in use in various forms until the end of the 17th century. These tropes were dramatic in construction and, as their musical settings prove, were sung alternately by two choirs of men and boys, or by two halfchoirs. The history of the ecclesiastical drama begins with the trope sung as Introit of the Mass on Easter Sunday. It has come down to us in a St. Gallen manuscript dating from the time of the 10th century monk Tutilo.

The conversation held between the holy women and the angels at Christ's sepulchre forms the text of this trope, which consists of the four sentences:

Quem quaeritis in sepulchro, o christicolae

Jesum Nazarenum, o coelicolae

Non est hic. Surrexit, sicut praedixerat.

Ite nuntiate quia surrexit de sepulchro.

Resurrexi, postquam factus homo, tua jussa paterna peregi.

The first three sentences are found in many liturgical books dating from the 10th to the 18th century. The trope, however, did not develop into a dramatic scene until it was brought into connection with the Descent from the Cross. It was widely commemorated in Continental monasteries, but appears first in a ritual of English origin, attributed to St. Dunstan (967). In giving directions for public services, the Ritual refers to this custom particularly as observed at Fleury-sur-Loire and Ghent. On Good Friday, after the morning services, a crucifix swathed in cloth was laid in a sort of grave arranged near the altar, where it remained until Easter morning. On Easter morning, after the third responsory of the Matins, one or two clerics clothed in albs, and carrying palms in their hands, went to the grave and seated themselves there. Thereupon three other priests vested in copes, and carrying censers representing the three holy women, joined them. Upon their arrival the "angel" asked them: "Whom seek ye?" The "women" answered; they hear from the "angel" the message of the Resurrection and were told to go forth and announce it. Then they intoned the antiphon: "Surrexit enim, sicut dixit dominus. Alleluia". The choir finished Matins with the Te Deum.

This simplest form of liturgical Easter celebration was elaborated in many ways by the addition of Biblical sentences, hymns, and sequences, in particular the "Victimae paschali", which dates from the first half of the 11th century; also by the representation of St. Peter and St. John running to the grave, and by the appearance of Jesus, who thenceforth becomes the central figure. The union of these scenes in one concerted action (the dialogue), rendered in poetic form (hymns, sequences) or in prose (Bible texts), and the participation of a choir gave to the Nuremberg Easter celebration of the 13th century the character of a short chanted drama. Such celebrations, however, remained parts of the liturgy as late as the 18th century. They were inserted between Matins and Lauds, and served for the instruction of the people, whose hearts and minds were more deeply impressed by reproductions of the Resurrection of Jesus, which appealed to the senses, than by a sermon. The Latin text was no obstacle, since the separate parts of the plays were known or were previously explained. The wide diffusion of these liturgical plays, in which priests took the different parts, is proof of their popularity. At least 224 Latin Easter dramas are known to have existed, of which 159 were found in Germany, 52 in France, and the rest in Italy, Spain, Holland, and England.