Editing Introit (section)

==Musical setting==

In the musical idiom of [[Gregorian chant]], Introits normally take the form antiphon-verse-antiphon-[[Glory Be to the Father|doxology]]-antiphon. In the Tridentine Missal, this form was, with very few exceptions, reduced to antiphon-verse-doxology-antiphon.

For example, the Tridentine Missal presents the Introit of the Fourth Sunday of [[Advent]] as follows:<ref>[http://media.musicasacra.com/pdf/missale62.pdf Missale Romanum 1962, p. 14]</ref>
:First the antiphon ''[[Rorate caeli]]'' from {{bibleverse||Isaiah|45:8|DRA}}:
::''Rorate, cæli, desuper, et nubes pluant iustum:''
::''aperiatur terra, et germinet Salvatorem.''
::(Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Saviour.)
:Then the verse from the beginning of the psalm, {{bibleverse||Psalm|18:2|DRA}}:
::''Caeli enarrant gloriam Dei''
::''et opera manuum eius annuntiat firmamentum''
::(The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.)
:Then the doxology.
::''Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,''
::''Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.'' 
::(Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.)
:Then, once again, the initial antiphon: ''Rorate ... Salvatorem.''

Introits, like [[Offertory|Offertories]] and [[Communion (chant)|Communion]]s, are believed to have evolved from simpler [[reciting tone]]s. Introit melodies show this musical parentage most clearly, and are often anchored around two reciting notes which may be repeated or percussed.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Hiley
 | first = David
 | year = 1995
 | title = Western Plainchant: A Handbook
 | publisher = Oxford University Press Inc.
 | location = New York
 | isbn = 0-19-816572-2
}}</ref> The melodies are mostly ''neumatic'', dominated by [[neume]]s with two or three notes per syllable, although syllabic and [[melisma]]tic passages also occur.

The Introits of [[Old Roman chant]] share many similarities with their Gregorian cousins, and often include a repeated extra verse that fell out of use in the Gregorian repertory.