Ecce advenit dominator Dominus: et regnum in manu eius, et potestas, et imperium.
“Behold, the dominator, the Lord has come (or: is coming), and in his hands the kingdom, and the power, and the dominion.” (cf. Mal 3:1 and 1 Chron 29:12)
You can find the reconstructed melody in modern four-line notation here.
Despite the weighty content of this text, the chant itself is short, and the melodic interpretation is on the calm side of the range of Gregorian settings.
Most Gregorian chants end in a calm manner, and some of the chants that belong to the highest-ranking solemnities are surprisingly unspectactular. At the end of the Christmas season we hear a message of a mature faith: Yes, the Lord is coming, but there is no reason for panic. The dominion of the Word that became flesh in a tiny baby is not a dominion of fear, rather of grace and peace – Inner peace of the singers of this introit, and hopefully visible peace in the world.
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