Versus

What it means

Versus is the Latin word for verse and designates, in the liturgy, the single textual section delivered by a cantor or a group, followed by a response. In liturgical books a sign of its own often stands for it, matched by the sign for the response. Beyond this, the term in the Middle Ages also designates a genre of sacred songs with newly written Latin texts that stand outside the fixed liturgical stock.

Musical use

In liturgical practice, the alternation principle governs the course: cantor and congregation, two choir halves, or choir and organ take turns. From this developed alternatim practice, in which, for instance, the verses of a hymn are sung and played on the organ in alternation; a large part of the older organ literature arose for this purpose and is hardly to be understood without knowledge of this practice. As a song genre, the versus stands close to the trope and the sequence and belongs among the forms with which the liturgical repertoire was expanded.

Performance practice

Before the performance, clarify the distribution of the verses and set it down in writing; unclear alternatim schemes lead to gaps or overlaps. Watch for the same key and the same tempo between sung and played verses, so that the change does not seem like a break. With organ verses it must be borne in mind that the corresponding text stanza stays silent — its content should guide the registration. Agree on unambiguous signs for the entries, especially when groups stand spatially separated.

Bear in mind that in alternatim practice a stanza stays silent while the organ plays: the text of this stanza nonetheless belongs to the matter and should guide the registration and the shaping. Read it before playing. The manuscripts from St. Martial in Limoges transmit the most important twelfth-century versus. Practise the changes between the groups so that no gap arises. Mark in all parts which group takes which verse.