An Epiphany Responsory: In columbae specie ("In the form of a dove")

In columbae specie is the ninth responsory of Epiphany Matins in the Sarum Breviary; in the Roman Breviary, it's used as the second responsory.  It's sung here beautifully by the Schola Hungarica, with Janka Szendrei and László Dobszay.



Here are the words of the Responsory itself, in Latin and English, from Divinum Officium:

R. In colúmbæ spécie Spíritus Sanctus visus est, Patérna vox audíta est:
* Hic est Fílius meus diléctus, in quo mihi bene complácui.
V. Cæli apérti sunt super eum, et vox Patris intónuit.
R. Hic est Fílius meus diléctus, in quo mihi bene complácui.

R. The Holy Ghost appeared in a bodily shape like a dove, and the voice of the Father was heard:
* This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.
V. The heavens were opened unto him, and, lo, the voice of the Father was heard, like unto thunder, saying:
R. This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.

The text is taken from Luke 3:22, part of the story of the Baptism of Jesus by John in the River Jordan - one of events historically celebrated on the Feast of the Epiphany:

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

The singers have inserted an extra-responsorial, prose-like text into the middle of this chant, as you probably noted.  It's called Quem non prevalent, and was actually used at the offices on Epiphany in some places.   (The general subtitle to the CD above is "Gregorian Chants from Austria," so I'm assuming for now that is primarily where this was used.  And indeed there is something about it in this paper titled "The Identification of Quem Non Prevalent in Klosterneuburg, Augustiner-Chorherrenstift-Bibliothek, 1013."  So there's the Austrian connection; I still need to read this paper, though.)

Here's the chant score of the Responsory itself, from the Sarum Rite website; as you will see, the text is slightly different:

Here are the words from the Sarum Breviary, in Latin and English; I've bolded the section that departs from the text used in the Roman Breviary. 

R. In colúmbæ spécie Spíritus Sanctus visus est, † Patérna vox audíta est:
* Hic est Fílius meus diléctus, in quo mihi bene complácui. ‡Ipsum audíte.
V. Vox Dómini super aquas Deus majestátis intónuit : Dóminus super aquas multas.  †Patérna.
V.  Glória.  ‡Ipsum.


R. IN the form of a dove * the Ho-ly Spi- rit was seen : † The voice of the Father was heard,
* This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.  ‡Hear ye him.
V. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters ; the God of majesty hath thundered : the Lord is upon many waters. †The voice.
V. Glory be. ‡Hear.

This alternate Sarum verse is taken, verbatim, from Psalm 29:3:

 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters.

Looks to me that the Roman Breviary text may be a nod towards the Baptism story in Matthew 3; it contains the same reference to the "heavens opening":

The heavens were opened unto him, and, lo, the voice of the Father was heard, like unto thunder, saying:

According to Cantus database, this Responsory was used in many places on the Octave of Epiphany, rather than on Epiphany itself (as far as I can tell so far).  Interesting to note, too, that it is Luke's genalogy - which is recounted immediately following the Baptism story in Luke - that is sung at the end of Epiphany Matins in the Sarum Rite.  I would bet that accounts for In columbae specie being used as the ninth, rather than the second, responsory, in the Sarum Breviary.

Sr. Fidelis, of the Community of Jesus, writes on this Responsory; as you can see, she is referring to as a responsory "for the octave of Epiphany," which "brings us right to the scene of the Baptism of Jesus," as the modern calendar celebrates these two (now separate) feasts:

One of the loveliest Responsories for the octave of Epiphany brings us right to the scene of the Baptism of Jesus. The text is as follows: “In the form of a dove the holy Spirit was seen;  the Father’s voice was heard: ‘This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.’ V. The heavens opened over him and the voice of the Father thundered.”

The Responsory follows a particular pattern: the first section of the piece is chanted, after which a verse is sung, usually by a single voice. Then all begin at a point halfway through the first section, and chant to the end.

This Mode 2 Responsory has an almost plaintive quality to it. You’ll notice the FA clef, so often used with Mode 2 chants. The high point of the chant comes on the text  paterna vox — the voice of the Father. If you look closely at the chant below while listening to the recording, you’ll notice that in some instances, the notes differ from what is written in square notation. This particular piece was chanted and recorded according to the ancient neumes, taken from the Hartker Antiphoner — a manuscript from around the early 11th century! Listen to it a second time, while looking at the ancient neumes written above the square notation, and you’ll “see” what you are hearing!  It is fascinating to note the slight variation in the melody and how it has changed over the centuries.

There is also an mp3 at that page.

I cannot find a good .jpg representation of this Matins chant at the Cantus database!  Each available image is the chant as used on the Octave of Epiphany, or else used in another way on Epiphany.  I will have to take a look at that Octave usage, too, to see if it's exactly the same chant as this one.

But here's a wonderful Battesimo di Cristo I haven't seen before, from around 1475; it's credited to both Andrea Verrocchio and Leonardo da Vinci: