Alleluia

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Alleluia

The Alleluia is chanted before the Gospel

Gospel

In Christianity, a gospel is generally one of the first four books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus....
lesson in the Eucharistic liturgies of the various Christian liturgical rites

Christian liturgy

A liturgy is a set form of ceremony or pattern of worship. Christian liturgy is a pattern for worship used by a Christian congregation or Christian denomination on a regular basis....
. Alleluia will be solemnly chanted at other times also, usually in conjunction with Psalm verses.

Hebrew

Hebrew language

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The Alleluia is chanted before the Gospel

Gospel

Christian liturgy

History

The Hebrew

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic languages of the Afro-Asiatic languages. Modern Hebrew is spoken by more than seven million people in Israel and Classical Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jews communities around the world....
word Halleluya
Hallelujah

Hallelujah, Halleluyah, or Alleluia, is a transliteration of the Hebrew language word meaning "praise Yah ". It is found mainly in the book of Psalms and has a similar pronunciation in many, but not all, languages....
as an expression of praise to God was preserved, untranslated, by the early Christians as a superlative expression of thanksgiving, joy, and triumph. Thus it appears in the ancient Greek Liturgy of St. James, which is still used to this day by the Patriarch of Jerusalem and, in its Syriac recension is the prototype of that used by the Maronites. In the , apparently the most ancient of all, we find this rubric: "Then follow Let us attend, the Apostle, and the Prologue of the Alleluia."—the "Apostle" is the usual ancient Eastern title for the Epistle reading, and the "Prologue of the Alleluia" would seem to be a prayer or verse before Alleluia was sung by the choir.

Western Use

Roman Rite

Allelujah means "Praise Jehovah God".

The Alleluia is part of the Proper

Proper (liturgy)

The Proper is a part of the Christian liturgy that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the Liturgical Year, or of a particular saint or significant event....
of the Mass

Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
in the Roman Rite

Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
. It follows the Gradual

Gradual

Gospel

In Christianity, a gospel is generally one of the first four books of the New Testament that describe the birth, life, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus....
(or the Sequence

Sequence (poetry)

A sequence is a Gregorian chant sung or recited during the Mass , before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year....
, if one is used).

It was used in many ways in early liturgies. It was especially favored in Paschal time

Eastertide

Eastertide, or the Easter Season, or Paschal Time, is the period of fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.It is celebrated as a single joyful feast, indeed as the "great Lord's Day"....
, the time between Easter

Easter

Easter is the most important religious feast in the Christianity liturgical year.Christians believe that Jesus was Resurrection of Jesus from the dead three days after his Crucifixion of Jesus, and celebrate this resurrection on Easter Day or Easter Sunday , two days after Good Friday....
and Pentecost

Pentecost

Pentecost is one of the prominent feasts in the Christianity liturgical year, celebrated the 49th day after Easter Sunday?or the 50th day, inclusively, whence its name is derived from the Greek....
, perhaps because of the association of the Hallel
Hallel

Hallel is a List of Jewish Prayers and Blessings?a verbatim recitation from Psalms 113-118, which is used for praise and thanksgiving that is recited by observant Jews on Jewish holidays....
(Alleluia psalms) chanted at Passover

Passover

Passover is a Jewish and Samaritan holy day and festival commemorating God sparing the Israelites when He killed the first born of Egypt, and is followed by the seven day Feast of the Unleavened Bread commemorating the Exodus from Ancient Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from Judaism and slavery....
. During this time, the word is sung at the end of every chant

Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainsong, a form of monophony liturgy chant in Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services....
, and an Alleluia replaces the Gradual

Gradual

The Gradual is a chant in the Roman Catholic Mass . In the Tridentine Mass#Present status of the Mass it is sung after the reading or singing of the Epistle and before the Alleluia, or, during penitential seasons, before the Tract ....
in the mass, so that there are two of them in the service. It is also added to the "Ite, Missa est" at Mass and "Benedicamus Domino" at Lauds and Vespers during the Octave of Easter. The word, however, is omitted from Septuagesima Sunday until Holy Saturday; at these times the chant Alleluia is either replaced by a Tract

Tract (liturgy)

The tract is part of the proper of the Roman Mass, which is used instead of the Alleluia during Lenten or pre-Lenten seasons, and a few other penitential occasions, when the joyousness of an Alleluia is deemed inappropriate....
, or omitted. At the beginning of each Hour in the traditional Divine Office, the "Alleluia" after the Gloria Patri is replaced with "Laus tibi, Domine, rex aeternae gloriae" ("Praise to thee, O Lord, king of eternal glory"), which also replaces the "Alleluia" before the gospel in the revised rite of Mass.

The Alleluia is one of the responsorial chants in the Mass. It opens with the cantor singing "Alleluia," after which the choir repeats it, and adds a long melisma

Melisma

Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note....
on the final vowel (called a "jubilus

Jubilus

Jubilus is the term for the long melisma placed on the final syllable of the Alleluia as it is sung in the Gregorian chant. The structure of the Alleluia is such that the cantor first sings the word "alleluia," without the jubilus, and then the choir repeats the word with the melisma added....
"). (The repeat

Repeat

In music, a repeat sign is the Musical notation which indicates a musical form should be repetition . If the piece has one repeat sign alone, then that means to repeat from the beginning, and then continue on ....
is notated in the Liber Usualis

Liber Usualis

The Liber Usualis is a book of commonly-used Gregorian chants compiled by the monks of the St. Peter's Abbey, Solesmes in France.This 1,900-page book contains most versions of the ordinary chants for the Mass , as well as the common chants for the Liturgy of the Hours and for every commonly celebrated feast of the Church Year ....
with the Roman numeral "ij," and then continues with the jubilus.) The cantor then sings the main part of the verse, and the choir joins in on the final line. At the end, the opening Alleluia is repeated, but instead of the choir repeating the word, they repeat only the jubilus. When a Sequence follows the Alleluia, this final repeat is omitted, as it was in other cases in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

File:Karl 1 mit papst gelasius gregor1 sacramentar v karl d kahlen.jpgThe Middle Ages of European history are a period in history which lasted for roughly a millennium, commonly dated from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century to the beginning of the Early Modern Period in the 16th century, marked by the division of Western Christi...
.

The musical style of the Alleluia is generally ornate, but often within a narrow range. The Alleluia for Christmas Eve, for instance, has an ambitus

Ambitus (music)

The ambitus of a Gregorian chant is the range, or the distance between the highest and lowest note. Different chants vary widely in their ambitus....
of only a perfect fifth

Perfect fifth

The perfect fifth is the musical interval between a note and the note seven semitones above it on the musical scale. For example, the note G lies a perfect fifth above C; D is a perfect fifth above G, C is a perfect fifth above F, and so on....
(but this example is rather extreme). Alleluias were frequently troped

Trope (music)

The term trope derives from Greek language "turn, turning", from - tropos "turn, direction, way" related to the root of - trepo, "to turn, to direct, to alter, to change"....
, both with added music and text. It is believed that some early Sequence

Sequence (poetry)

A sequence is a Gregorian chant sung or recited during the Mass , before the proclamation of the Gospel. By the time of the Council of Trent there were sequences for many feasts in the Church's year....
s derived from syllabic text being added to the jubilus, and may be named after the opening words of the Alleluia verse. Alleluias were also among the more frequently used chants to create early organa

Organum

Organum in general is a plainchant melody with at least one added voice to enhance the harmony, developed in the Middle Ages. Depending on the mode and form of the chant, a supporting bourdon may be sung on the same text, or the melody is followed in parallel motion or a combination thereof....
, such as in the Winchester Troper

Winchester troper

The Winchester Troper includes perhaps the oldest large collections of two-part music in Europe, along with the Chartres Manuscript which is approximately contemporaneous or a little later....
.

Eastern Uses

Byzantine Rite

In the Eastern Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
and Greek-Catholic Churches, after reading the Apostle (Epistle) at the Divine Liturgy

Divine Liturgy

The Divine Liturgy is the common term for the Eucharistic service of the Byzantine church tradition of Christian liturgy. As such, it is used in the Eastern Orthodoxy and Eastern Catholic Churches....
, the Reader announces which of the Eight Tones

Octoechos

Octoechos is the fundamental structure for classifying and describing modes in Byzantine music....
the Alleluia is to be chanted in. The response of the choir is always the same: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia." What differs is the tone in which it is sung, and the stichera (psalm verses) which are intoned by the Reader.

The Alleluia is paired with the Prokeimenon

Prokeimenon

In the liturgical practice of the Eastern Orthodox Church, a Prokeimenon is a psalm or canticle refrain sung responsorially at certain specified points of the Divine Liturgy or the Canonical hours, usually to introduce a scripture reading....
which preceded the Apostle. There may be either one or two Alleluias, depending upon the number of Prokeimena (there may be up to three readings from the Apostle, but never be more than two Prokeimena and Alleluia).

The Alleluia is intoned in one of the two following manners (depending upon the number of Prokeimena):

One Alleluia

Deacon: "Let us attend."

Reader: "Alleluia in the ____ Tone."

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

The Reader then chants the first sticheron of the Alleluia.

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

The Reader then chants the second sticheron of the Alleluia.

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Two Alleluias

Deacon: "Let us attend."

Reader: "Alleluia in the ____ Tone:" Then he immediately chants the first sticheron of the first Alleluia.

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

The Reader then chants the second sticheron of the first Alleluia.

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Reader: "In the ____ Tone:" And he chants the first sticheron of the second Alleluia.

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Lenten Alleluia

Among the Orthodox, the chanting of Alleluia does not cease during Lent, as it does in the West. This is in accordance with the Orthodox approach to fasting, which is one of sober joy. During Great Lent

Great Lent

Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season in the church year in Eastern Christianity, which prepares Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Easter ....
and the lesser Lenten seasons (Nativity Fast

Nativity Fast

The Nativity Fast, is a period abstinence and penance practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches, in preparation for the Nativity of Christ, ....
, Apostles' Fast

Apostles' Fast

The Apostles' Fast, also called the Fast of the Holy Apostles, the Fast of Peter and Paul, or sometimes St. Peter's Fast, is a fasting observed by Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Christians....
, and Dormition Fast), the celebration of the Divine Liturgy on weekdays is not permitted. Instead, Alleluia is chanted at Matins

Matins

Matins is the early morning or night prayer service in the Roman Catholic Church, Anglicanism, Lutheran and Eastern Orthodoxy liturgy of the canonical hours....
. Since this chanting of Alleluia at Matins is characteristic of Lenten services, Lenten days are referred to as "Days with Alleluia."

The Alleluia at Matins is not related to scripture readings or Prokeimena; instead, it replaces "God is the Lord..."

Theos Kyrios

Theos Kyrios is a psalm response chanted near the beginning of the Matins service in the Rite of Constantinople, observed by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches....
It is sung in the Tone of the Week and is followed by the Hymns to the Trinity (Triadica) in the same tone (see Octoechos

Octoechos (liturgy)

The Octoechos —literally, the book "of the Eight Tones"—contains an eight-week cycle, providing texts to be chanted for every day at Vespers, Matins, the Divine Liturgy, Compline and the Midnight Office....
for an explanation of the eight-week cycle of tones).

"God is the Lord..." would normally be intoned by the deacon, but since the deacon does not serve on days with Alleluia, it is intoned by the priest. He stands in front of the icon

Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
of Christ on the Iconostasis

Iconostasis

In Eastern Christianity an iconostasis , also called the templon, is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church ....
, and says:

Priest: "Alleluia in the ____ Tone: Out of the night my spirit waketh at dawn unto Thee, O God, for Thy commandments are a light upon the earth."

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Priest: "Learn righteousness, ye that dwell upon the earth."

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Priest: "Zeal shall lay hold upon an uninstructed people."

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Priest: "Add more evils upon them, O Lord, lay more evils upon them that are glorious upon the earth."

Choir: "Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia."

Alleluia for the Departed

Alleluia is also chanted to a special melody at funerals

Christian burial

A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with Ecclesiology rites; typically, in consecrated ground....
, memorial services (Greek: Parastas, Slavonic: Panikhida), and on Saturdays of the Dead. Again, it is chanted in place of "God is the Lord...", but this time is followed by the Troparia of the Departed.

The Alleluia is intoned by the deacon (or the priest, if no deacon is available):

Deacon: "Alleluia, in the 8th tone: Blessed are they whom Thou hast chosen and taken unto Thyself, O Lord."

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

Deacon: "Their memory is from generation to generation."

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

Deacon: "Their souls will dwell amid good things."

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

On Saturdays of the Dead, which are celebrated several times throughout the year, the prokeimenon

Prokeimenon

Deacon: "Alleluia, in the 8th tone.

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

Deacon: "Blessed are they whom Thou hast chosen and taken unto Thyself, O Lord."

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

Deacon: "Their memory is from generation to generation."

Choir: "Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia."

Other uses

Gospel readings

Gospel (liturgy)

The Gospel in Christian liturgy refers to a lection from the Gospels used during various religious services and Mass or Divine Liturgy. In many Christian churches, all present stand when a passage from one of the Gospels is read publicly, and sit when a passage from a different part of the Bible is read....
are appointed for other services as well, particularly those in the Trebnik. A number of these are preceded by an Alleluia, in the same manner as that chated at the Divine Liturgy, though sometimese there are no stichera (psalm verses).

During the Sacred Mystery (Sacrament) of Baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
, in addition to the Alleluia before the Gospel, the choir also chants an Alleluia while the priest pours the Oil of Catechumens

Oil of catechumens

Oil of Catechumen is the oil used in some baptisms; it is believed to show the strength to turn away from evil, temptation and sin.The catechumen, the person prepared for baptism, is also anointed as a symbol of being the heir of the Kingdom of God, as kings and queens were anointed at coronations....
into the baptismal font

Baptismal font

A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.Aspersion and affusion fonts...
.

External links

Catholic Encyclopedia
Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press....
article, s.v.,
Russian Orthodox

Alleluia

History

Western Use

Roman Rite

Eastern Uses

Byzantine Rite

One Alleluia

Two Alleluias

Lenten Alleluia

Alleluia for the Departed

Other uses

See also

External links