Briggs, Henry Bremridge
Recent research in
5
I HE JT*LAINSONG & Jvl EDIAEVA
Eecent Eesearcb
IN
,
RECENT RESEARCH
IN
PLAINSONG.
300 Copies printed, of which this is No
186
RECENT RESEARCH
IN
PLAINSONG
A PAPER READ TO THE MEMBERS OF THE
PLAINSONG AND MEDIAEVAL MUSIC SOCIETY
BY
H. B. BRIGGS.
PUBLISHED BY
MESSRS. VINCENT, 9, BERNERS STREET, LONDON, W.
1898.
Ai
if v- Y" B^ *')/
1^8:1
ML
RECENT RESEARCH IN PLAINSONG.
IT is proposed in this paper to examine briefly into the
present state of our knowledge as to the musical structure of
Plainsong. Until about twenty years since, when the
Benedictine monks of Solesmes began to publish the results
of their systematic study of the music, theories on the art
were founded mostly on conjecture. The reason for this was
that the chant was composed more than two centuries before
the earliest and very rudimentary treatise on the subject was
written ; that the few later works treated of things from a
different point of view to ours, so that they are not very easy
to understand ; and that by the time writers become more in
accord with us moderns, say the fifteenth century, the
rendering of Plainsong had become so corrupted that all
theoretical treatises were completely worthless. Practically,
therefore, all that we have to work upon is the music itself,
with some vague indications in treatises of about the ninth
century, which may or may not be comprehensible, and may
often be twisted to mean anything we like. The notation in
which the music has come down to us is in four forms viz.,
the Alphabetic, the Dasian, the Neumatic, and the Square
notation. The alphabetic is but rarely met with, and was
probably only used for instruction books. The Dasian is
used in the MSS. formerly attributed to Hucbald, but these
only contain a few examples illustrating the treatises. The
neumatic was the notation in general use down to the eleventh
century, when it was gradually converted into the ordinary
square notation. Now this last shows us exactly the notes to
be sung, but very little more. If properly printed in the style
of all MSS. until the sixteenth century, the phrasing is fairly
well indicated, and it acts very serviceably, far better than
modern notation, for singers acquainted with the spirit of
Plainsong; but by itself it is as useless as " Rule, Britannia,"
written in minims would be. But when this square notation
is collated with its forerunner, the neumatic, a different state
of things appears. The square notation shows only the
notes ; the neumatic shows none of the notes but almost
everything else that converts notes into music. The
approximate time value (all that can be given in recitative),
the phrasing, the expression, all is given in the neums as
clearly as in a modern composition. For example, the
podatus only expresses two notes of which the first is
lower than the second, but neither the tonal value of the first
Recent Research in Plainsong.
TABLE OF NEUMS.
punftutu
porrefius
*tt
flexm
torcultu
resupinus
Recent Research in Plainsong.
SCdvdlCUS /// C
climacus
stropbicus
C' "fy
. J\A<A C 8*.
T
it
epipbonus t/ C j
quilisma
cepbalicus /* C ft
pressus
ancus
8 Recent Research in Plainsong.
note nor the interval of the second. But it has four different
forms, which must necessarily mean four different renderings
of the note-group i.e., that the first note of the group is
accented, but that each note may have a longer or shorter
duration according to the form of the neum. And it has even
a fifth variety, which I take to be a turn on the first note as
indicated by the wavy form given to the lower limb (see
neum at end of second line in the Alleluia, p. 12).
Then besides these distinctions in the neums themselves
we have what are called Romanian letters, which were
added to the MSS. at St. Gall in the eighth century by
Romanus, who had been sent from Rome to instruct the
Frankish clergy. These indicated that a note was to be held,
or to be sung quickly, or to be strongly accented, and so on,
all pointing to the fact that Plainsong was intended to be
rendered in a thoroughly artistic manner. And the notable
peculiarity of these marks of expression is that, if a trained
singer who is acquainted with the general spirit of Plainsong
sings one of these melodies, he will interpret it instinctively
in the manner that Romanus marked in his MS. eleven
hundred years ago. And he does this because the music
being purely vocal, a melody composed for the mere
delight of using the voice, he finds that while it affords
full scope for his exercising the creative powers of the
true artist, the general outline is determined by the
music itself. I think I have said sufficient to show that
the two notations taken together, the neumatic and
the square, must enable us to arrive at a fairly accurate
interpretation of a Plainsong melody. Of course at present
controversy rages fiercely over innumerable matters. The
last shot fired has been a work on the neums by M. Houdard,
entitled " Le Rhythme du Chant Gregorien," which is a
direct assault on the position taken up by the Solesmes
Fathers. My impression is that, so far as he is right, he
misunderstands the Solesmes teaching, while, on the other
hand, he attempts unsuccessfully to fit the vast number of
facts he has collected together to a preconceived theory.^
The theory propounded by M. Houdard is that the neums*
show that Plainsong was not recitative but in strict time,
and that the note-groups, whether of two, three, or more
notes up to seven or eight, all equalled one other^
M. Houdard qualifies the strictness of his theory to some
extent, so that it is not quite possible to say whether in
execution this fixity of rhythm would be carried out ; but
certainly the examples he gives in modern notation are
almost impossible of execution, and much inferior in beauty
to the same melodies sung after the method of Solesmes.
This system appears to be the one which is founded on the
surest basis, and though experience may show that the actual
j
Recent Research in Plainsong. g
execution of melodies at the Abbey may admit of modifica-
tion, it does not seem probable that any violent departure
from the method will be made. When it is once grantd_that
( Plainsong is recitative, it is evident that no notation can
exactly express the rendering that will be given to it by a
good singer, whilelhe renderings by a choir and by a soloist
will naturally differ in delicacy of detail. The better the
choir and the more accustomed they are to the music, the
better will be their rendering ; but a body of voices can never
^Jiave the flexibility of the single singer. And in our views as
to the interpretation of the chant we must always remember
that it was written for Italians with flexible voices, and that
the complaint was made even in the eighth century that the
Prankish monks with their harsh voices could not execute
the florid passages. The result was that notes of ornament
such as the quilisma were often omitted from MSS. in the
square notation, and the tempo of the ornate melodies was
reduced to what one now hears in most Roman Catholic
^churches.
The essential theory underlying the neumatic notation is of
course that the first note of every neum or note-group is
</]accented. A neum, in fact, may be said to represent a modern
^bar, and the result is that we have a succession of bars
containing various numbers of beats two, three, four, five,
six, or seven. There are traces of a certain balance being
preserved among these unequal time-measures, but the rules
which govern it await the further critical examination of
students.*
Having thus briefly taken stock of the materials at our
_-^ disposal, let us now consider the results that have been
f / attained in the study of the art. Thp rhythmical structure
V^ of Plainsong is founded on that of a prose sentence. This
depends on the accentuation of the syllables, and as the
succession of accents in prose is irregular, we get what is
called free rhythm, in contradistinction ,to fixed rhythm,
which is the characteristic of poetry, where the accents occur
at regular fixed intervals. This is the real distinction.,
between Plainsong and modern music. The ancient hymn j
melodies cannot be strictly termed Plainsong, since they are J
merely forms of free measured music in an ancient tonality./
It is the melodies set to a prose text which are Plainsong,
and this is an art sui generis, which apparently cannot be
imitated, though there seems no reason why not, if its
principles were thoroughly understood. Modern recitative
was an independent invention and not a development of
Plainsong, and it would be interesting no doubt to compare
the different lines on which the two species of music have
been developed.
* See further " The Elements of Plainsong " (Vincent). 33. 6d.
10
Recent Research in Plainsong.
Plainsong contains two essentially different structural
forms, the Antiphonal and the Psalmodic, the former
being derived from the antiphons and the latter from
the psalm-tones. We will first consider the anj:iphon < a v
They are shortjmelodies in freg^ rhythm^jbhe accentuation
being quite dependent on theJtexTi They mayn5e~simple~aLn3
syItabtc7~OT~they may be ornate, with several notes to a
syllable. The simple form is probably the more ancient, for
it is a characteristic of the classic music that has come down
to us that there is rarely more than one note to a syllable.
Now as the text is prose the music has to follow exactly its
accentuation and rhythm^and no note must be dwelt on
longer than is necessary for its pronunciation. To take
the Antiphon Confitebor, if we were to write it in modern
measured music we should have approximately
m - mis in
with the time signature altered at every bar, as the strong
accents should fall on the tonic accents of the words, and the
number of syllables between these accents always varies.
And this translation can only be approximate, for the time
required for the pronunciation of the different syllables is
never quite the same. This antiphon is only the half of a
psalsa-verse, and consists of a period which is broken in the
middle, but this division is scarcely more than for the
purpose of taking breath. When the whole of a psalm
verse is used there is a true pause at the colon and a
real interruption of the melody. Some few examples
contain three distinct periods. The antiphons which are
used for the canticles are longer and more ornate, but
are equally divisible into two or three periods. The melody
of the antiphon class, which was sung by St. Augustine
on arrival in England,* consists of four periods, each divided
into two cola, and a fifth period consisting of the Alleluia.
Another class of antiphons was the Alleluia after the
Gradual (page 12). This begins with a melody for the Alleluia
and a long jubilum on the last syllable, forming what we may
reckon as two periods. A psalm verse follows, also of two
periods, and the melody of the Alleluia is then repeated,
making six periods in all, but of different lengths and broken
up into unequal cola. Introits, offertories, and communions
* " Deprecamur Te" (Vincent). 2d.
Recent Research in Plainsong.
ii
also belong to the antiphonal species, which includes the
Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus,* except the earliest music to these
texts, which, with the Creed and the melodies to the Gloria in
Excelsis, was psalmodic.
*
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Let us turn now to the Psalmodic species of Plainsong.
The practice from which this was developed was simply that
of monotoning a sentence with a fall of the voice at its close, as
in our versicles and responses. This is peculiarly applicable
* " The Ordinary of the Mass " (Vincent), as. 6d.
12
Recent Research in Plainsong.
to Latin, which generally has an unaccented syllable at
the end of a sentence. English is not so regular in form, but
when there is not a trochaic or dactylic ending the final
syllable in the great majority of cases may be treated as
I a
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\ L_ . O .
^ I ^n
'tl
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f
common. In French, on the other hand, the final syllable
is generally accented, so that this language cannot be
adapted to Plainsong. On this basis of the usual close of
Latin sentences being generally on an unaccented syllable,
let us see how the ancients treated the recitation of the
Recent Research in Plainsong. 13
Psalms. The mediations, or inflections in the middle of the
verse, follow the same principles as the endings, so it is
only necessary to consider these latter. A simple ending
of the fourth Tone shows what we may consider to be
*? !
H &
CL-
o
W
W
H
3f
3
the primitive form of ending for a trochee. When the
last foot is a dactyl the additional syllable is filled in as
shown by the hollow note. The second and third Tones
are a development from the simple inflection. The reciting
note does not continue up to the penultimate syllable of the
14 Recent Research in Plainsong.
trochee, but the inflection becomes a short melody, the
penultimate note of which carries the accented syllable. In
the first, sixth, and eighth Tones two notes precede the
accent, the two-note group in the sixth Tone being treated
as a single note ; but the first of the two added notes may be
accented or not, and this is also the case with the third
added note in the fourth Tone. This is because the melody
has no fixed rhythm beyond the accent or rallentando on the
penultimate note, and I believe the explanation is that, when
the chant leaves the reciting note for a lower note, as in all
these Tones, there is no reason why this note should not be
sung as easily to an unaccented as to an accented syllable.
It is like the second syllable in a dactyl which, it is true, is
stronger than the third, so that it is no violence to give it an
accent, but does not demand it. Now if we turn to the fifth
and seventh Tones we find a difference. There the reciting
note is left for one higher, and consequently an accented
syllable must be given to it, so here the filling in of a third
syllable has to be provided for. In the fifth Tone this is
done by touching again on the intermediate note before the
unaccented one; in the seventh Tone by doubling the un-
accented note. Why should this not be done in the fifth Tone ?
Because in both cases the note that is filled in is the reciting
note. This is a curious example of the skill, or rather the
naturalness that pervades all Plainsong. Everything is done
that in practice tends to ease in the singing, and though this
interpolation of a note in the fifth Tone looks so impracticable
on paper, I have found a very rough choir do it almost of
their own accord as soon as they were told they might. I
suppose the reason is that the power of the reciting note
makes itself felt, when, as in good chanting, it is given its
proper weight and the inflection is treated lightly and as a
mere appendage to it. We have examined only the simple
forms of the endings, but the more florid ones are treated in
the same way. When the single notes have been elaborated
into groups they should be treated as single notes, and not
split up among syllables.
It may not be amiss to compare the known with the
unknown, an Anglican Chant with a Tone. The form of
ending was original^ the same, the penultimate bar
representing the accented penultimate note of the Tone, but
in course of time the notes of this bar, if more than one, have
been split up among the syllables if necessary, instead of
remaining grouped on the one syllable as in a To"ne. The
last note too has lost its characteristic of being the second
syllable of a trochee, and has gained an accent, with the
result that the whole trochee, or a group of even four syllables,
is allotted to it, and the beginning of the inflection is thrown
farther back into the psalm-verse than it would be in a Tone.
Recent Research in Ptainsong. 15
The use of vocal harmony also precludes its being pointed
on true principles, for, in the example given, the treble part
might be pointed as to the fifth Tone, but the alto part must
be like the first Tone. The consequence is that to effect a
compromise the Anglican Chant has to be sung in fixed
rhythm, so that the prose of the psalms is forced into the
procrustean bed of regular metre.
A more elaborate form of simple psalmody is to be found
in the phrases of the Creed (page 18). There are two forms
of ending, depending on whether the final syllable is preceded
by an accented or an unaccented syllable. The length of the
inflection too is not fixed but varies according to the length
of the text, notes being added or omitted as occasion requires,
and only in an extreme case are there several reciting notes.
The intonation is also expanded when necessary, so as to give
the reciting note to the first strong accent. It is also a
development of the psalm-form to have different reciting notes
in the two halves of the melody. This peculiarity occurs also
in the Tonus peregrinus. There are other phrases in the Creed,
but the one selected forms the greater part of the melody, and
a close examination of the whole composition shows that the
simplest materials were so skilfully treated that no imitation
has been equally successful. Merbeck was a long way
behind, for his Creed is antiphonal rather than psalmodic,
while Dumont is not to be mentioned in the same breath.
The original MS. of his .Missa Regia proves to be written
in measured notation, though it was afterwards printed in
square notes, because that was the fashion of the day for
Church music. Although so simple, the Plainsong melody
of the Creed, owing to the modifications that it undergoes in
successive phrases, escapes the monotony that is inseparable
from all modern settings to unalterable modern chants in
fixed rhythm.
We have seen how the simple syllabic antiphon was
developed into the highly ornate form of the Alleluia. The
same process took place in the psalmodic form, so that it
is often hard to distinguish between the two ; but the inter-
mediate stage is interesting, and of this the Tracts (page 18)
supply examples. The intonation is slightly elaborated, the
reciting note is doubled on the accented syllables, and the
inflection is very ornate. The peculiarity, moreover, of the
inflection is that here, for the first time, the music is more
important than the words. In the Tones the accentuation of
the syllables, especially at the end of the verse, decided their
apportionment to the notes, but in the psalmody of the
Tracts the music is the master. In the example the last
three syllables are allotted to the last three phrases of the
inflection quite irrespective of accent. It is not difficult to
see that the reason is that the accent of the syllable is lost
r6 Recent Research in Plainsong.
in the number of notes sung to it. The primary idea was,
no doubt, that the penultimate phrase corresponded to the
penultimate note in the trochaic Tone-ending, and was the
most important of the three groups ; but, as this importance
showed itself in the melody, it was not necessary that the
words should accord with it, while it was necessary that
there should be no doubt which syllables were to be sung to
the three phrases.
We will examine this peculiarity a little more closely. We
all recognise the charms of good oratory or of a good literary
style, but it is questionable if any modern critic can exactly
define them. It is easy enough to point out defects, but not
to lay down distinct rules for attaining perfection. We know
that one phrase may run more smoothly than another, but we
cannot tell why it does. Now with the Latins it was different.
They could identify faults in the rhythm of prose as easily as
we can point out mistakes in poetry. Modern poetry
depends upon accent, not on quantity, but the prose of Cicero
depends, like Latin poetry, on quantity. So important a part
is played in Roman oratory by the quantities in the last few
syllables of a sentence, that Cicero (B.C. 107) in his " De
Oratore " and Quintilian (A.D. 42) in " Institutiones
Oratorio," discuss the matter very fully, laying down certain
rules to which good oratory must conform. The grouping of
these final syllables is called the cursus, which is of two
kinds : metrical, if depending on the quantities of the
syllables ; rhythmical, if depending on their accentuation.
The metrical is what was used in classic times ; the
rhythmical was in fashion later, between A.D. 400 and 650.
The forms of the metrical cursus were :
_ u_ I _ o o
1. Velox gloriam congregentur.
1 u
2. Planus membra firmantur.
3. Tardus ira victoriae.
_ u| o o_ u
4. Trispondaic esse videatur.
and Cicero says further that the last syllable is always long
i.e., through its ending a sentence.
But besides quantity, Latin also contained accent, which
was then an elevation of the voice, not a prolongation of
the syllable, and towards the year 400 the conflict between
quantity and accent resulted in the supremacy of the latter.
The effect of the change was probably that, whereas, e.g.,
membra firmantur used to require eight beats for its
pronunciation, it was now pronounced membra firmantur, in
Recent Research in Plainsong. 17
five beats. But this change having taken place in the
language, there was a corresponding alteration in the cursus.
Rhythm only recognises two forms, either of two or of
three syllables, for it is impossible to pronounce more than
two perfectly unaccented syllables together. Rhythm, in
fact, requires either double or triple time ; anything else is a
combination of these measures. The new rhythmical cursus
was therefore founded on the metrical, by accent taking the
place of quantity as follows :
1. Velox gloriam | congregentur.
2. Planus membra | firmantur.
3. Tardus ira | victoria?.
4. Trispondaic esse | videatur.
Of these the cursus planus and its derivative, the cursus
tardus, were most commonly used. Observe that, though of
course exceptions occur, the ccesura is not immediately before
the accented syllable nearest to the end, but between the
unaccented syllables which precede it, and this makes the
phrase run smoothly. The last syllable is unaccented, and
though making a feminine ending the last syllable is always
long, which rule enables English, with its often long though
not necessarily accented final syllables, to adapt itself to the
genius of Plainsong.
These four forms of closes, of which the cursus planus
became now the most common in place of the cursus velox,
governed the style of official Latin between the years 400
and 650, according to the evidence of the Papal Bulls of that
period. They then fell into disuse, to be again revived in
the twelfth century. In the " Pal6ographie Musicale " the
Solesmes Fathers have shown that the greater part of Plain-
song is evidently based on the cursus, especially the cursus
planus, and draw the deduction that it must have been
composed during the period when the laws of the cursus
were generally recognised. Instances of the five-syllable
cadence of the cursus planus meet one at every turn in all
psalmodic portions of the Service, and, when an extra
unaccented syllable occurs at the end, the melody always
provides for this as in the psalm-tones. It is found in a
simple form in the Preface and the Paternoster, in the
Exultet and the Benedictus es, and in still more elaborate
forms in the psalmody of the Introits and the Responds.
In the specimen of the Respond Psalm on page 18
there is an intonation as usual to fix the tetrachord, the
reciting note then follows with an amplification on some of
the accented syllables, and then begins the inflection of five
i8
Recent Research in Plainsong.
note-groups, quite irrespective of the accentuation of the
syllables, except only that the accented syllable nearest the
final is given to the penultimate note-group. Should, how-
ever, two unaccented syllables close the verse, the adjust-
ment is not made by splitting up the three notes of the
penultimate group, but, as in timui and Filio, by setting
PSALMODY OP TRACT
RlCITATfoa
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PSALMO0Y O7 THE CEEEt>
ft. S ' '
Cre- . . . . do m . u-numDc-um. I'a- ircm Oin- . . in- v leii-ttm
et in iMium Do. . . . mi-num )e-un Christum. F>- C- uin )> i u- - gA lu. <ui>
(ixat-ni . . . Uii es de Spi- ti- (u Sanc-lcs T"et quuii am- . . nt- o tut la mi* -
it- nun vin
p> no at
s ) *
Jb- (U. C.C Bi Vi. vos .
the accented syllable to a note of anticipation, and allotting
the group of three notes intact to the extra unaccented
syllable.
In this comparatively simple form of psalmody the object
has evidently been to preserve the Latin trochaic ending,
both in the melody and the text, while letting the music
assert its predominance in the three preceding note-groups.
Recent Research in Plainsong. 19
In the more complex Psalmody of the Tracts the music is
altogether supreme in the inflection. In the example we
have a cadence of three note-groups, and though the form
is evidently based on the trochaic ending, as in most of the
text given, yet in Sdbaoth, where the accent falls on the
antepenultimate instead of the penultimate syllable, there is
no adjustment of the extra unaccented syllable, but the last
three syllables go to the last three groups. The accentuation
of the syllables is evidently merged in the more elaborate
musical phrase. The only explanation seems to be that the
more florid the music the more it is independent of the text,
on which it impresses the accentuation derived from the
original model.
From this elaborate Psalmody of the Tracts, where the
reciting note often disappears, the step is not far to that of
the Graduals of which the different phrases contain the
characteristics of a psalm-tone i.e., an intonation, a reciting
note, and an inflection. The first phrase of Justus ut palma
is very clear. There is the intonation on Jus, then the
reciting note, and then the inflection beginning on the re,
the accented syllable nearest the end of the phrase. In the
next phrase we may consider the notes on cedrus either as
an ornamentation of the reciting note, or as beginning the
inflection on the fifth syllable from the end i.e., treating
cedrus Libani as an example of the cursus planus. The next
phrase has a longer reciting note and begins the inflection
on the accented syllable ca, filling in a note for the intruding
short syllable bi. These last two phrases have had no
intonation, but the next has one on in do, and on this
syllable rises to the reciting note, which it decorates, and
the inflection begins, as in the preceding phrase, on the
accented syllable of the cretic Domini. Each of these
last three periods ends with a cadenza which is called a
jubilum. The verse Ad annuntiandum may be analysed in
the same way ; but the music is of a more florid description,
as it was intended to be sung by the best singers of the
Schola. The accented penultimate syllables in mane and
tuam each carry a considerable number of notes, but the
closing phrase on per noctem, where the choir would join in,
is quite simple, and the jubilum at its close was a well known
ending. In the older MSS. these jubila are generally omitted,
as they were so well known that it was not worth the trouble
of writing them down. It is worth noting that the reciting
note is not the same throughout the melody.
Let us now turn to the tonality, which is always an
interesting and mysterious subject. M. Gevaert has recently
published a work, " La Melopee antique," which deals at
considerable length with the antiphons, and, while showing
that most of them have come down through the ages in their
2O
Recent Research in Plainsong.
original form, endeavours to account for certain difficulties in
the tonality of others which have hitherto defied explanation.
In order to consider M. Gevaert's theories, we must
examine the whole question of Plainsong tonality as explained
<D
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|:
1
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i
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by him. The ordinary explanation is that there are eight
modes, or scales, consisting of the octaves beginning on every
note of the diatonic scale of A, but with only the four notes
D, E, F, G as finals i.e., one final to every two modes, and
Recent Research in Plainsong.
21
that as an accidental the [?* may be introduced to avoid the
interval in the melody of the tritone, F to tj. The question
has always been why this |? should be allowed, because an
examination of the melodies shows that the alleged reason is
insufficient, and the further explanation that it provides for
the transposition of a melody does not cover the whole
ground.
The Greek modes consisted of octaves taken out of the
great scale of A, beginning, not as we usually reckon our
scales, from below, but from above downwards.
TABLE OF MODES. I.
CLASSIC
MODES.
SCALE OF A TRANS-
POSED TO REDUCE
MODES TO f F.
NAMES.
CHURCH
MODES.
aato a
g-G
FF (flfl)
GG (ft)
j ^Eolian or
{ Hypodorian
( lastian or
I Hypophrygian
II. A a
IV. B fl
f F
Aft)
Hypolydian
VI. C c
e E
Bb (ftft^)
Dorian
I. D d
d D
c bv'
Phrygian
III. E e
c C
D (1?)
Lydian
V. F f
H-B
El? (b^ft^ub)
Mixolydian
VII. G g
a
G
F
E
D
C
B
A
* We will speak of bp as {? and 13 fl as fl
22 Recent Research in Plainsong.
The compass was that of the octave, and the final was the
lowest note of the octave in most of them, but (see Table II.)
the lastian and the Hypolydian had three forms the normal,
the strong, and the weak. The strong lastian had the normal
compass, but t| for the final. The weak had the normal G
for the final, but the compass d D of the Phrygian. The
strong Hypolydian had the normal compass, but a for the
final, while the weak had F for its final but the range c C
of the Lydian. Now to bring these octaves within a reasonable
compass for the voice, they had to be transposed so that the
range should in all cases be f F. If the scale of A be accord-
ingly transposed, as in the second column of Table I., it will
be found that the classic modes all lie within the desired
compass f F ; but the curious effect of the transposition is
that the key-notes of the transpositions of the A scale are in
exactly inverse order to the original finals of the modes.
Boethius, when he wrote his famous treatise on music,
evidently knew little of the practice. He had heard that the
transposed scales were in an ascending order, so that that
which served for the ^olian Mode was the lowest, and that
for the lastian the next higher, and so on, but he was quite
oblivious of the original position of the modes. He seems to
have known that the ./Eolian was the A octave, and he
accordingly starts fairly with that mode, but he makes the
lastian mode begin on B, and so reverses their whole order.
The result has been endless confusion and mystification to
the student.
But to accompany the seven transposed modes on wind
instruments, such as were used in public performances,
the player had either to use a different instrument for every
mode, or, in later times, a flute like that which has been
discovered at Pompeii. By a very ingenious contrivance
this instrument was capable of playing all the modes, but had
to be prepared beforehand by certain holes being stopped and
others left open for the particular mode to be used. The
accompaniment of soloists on the lyre presented, however,
fewer difficulties. Their vocal scale was necessarily not so
restricted, and, moreover, only five modes were used for lyrical
music, so that by slight chromatic alterations they could all
be brought within a reasonable compass. The lyre was
originally tuned in the diatonic scale from D to aa, with the p
but without t). The lower D was kept for accompaniment
only, and the remaining eleven notes, E to aa, served for the
melody. This range was sufficient for the following modes
if transposed
1. Dorian, a to aa ,with 1?.
2. Phrygian, G to g, with i\
3. lastian, weak, G to g, with fr.
4. Lydian, F to f, with i?.
Recent Research in Plainsong. 23
To provide for two other modes an extra string was added
tuned to eb, and this gave, omitting etj
5. ^Eolian, G to g, with b and eb.
6. lastian, normal, F to f, with fy and eb.
The next step was to alter the tuning of the strings c, d,
e[? to ft, c, d, which allowed of the transposition of the last
two modes a tone higher. We thus have a scale of thirteen
notes from D to aa, including both b and ft, which was
commonly in use for lyrical music in the second century.
This was extended downwards to A (and even r) by later
theorists, and we thus again find ourselves in presence of the
great scale of A, with the addition of the b, which is no
longer a puzzle.
So far as we know the music of the lyre was the only
species that was regularly cultivated, for, with the exception
of a doubtful specimen of Pindar, all the compositions which
have come down to us are for this instrument. Until the
third century lyrical music was a Greek art, and practised at
Rome itself chiefly by Greeks. About that time it took root,
but again decayed with the transfer of the seat of empire,
in A.D. 330, from Rome to Byzantium. Such as it was,
however, it formed the basis for the ecclesiastical music
which was in course of development. The music in seven
modes with accompaniment of wind instruments had been
reserved for the pagan temple worship. The music of the
lyre in five modes was that of private life. And of these five
modes the fragments which have been preserved use only
three: the Dorian, lastian, and ^Eolian. The less sober
Phrygian and Lydian modes are conspicuous by their
absence, though there is a small instrumental piece in the
Hypolydian.
The earliest Church music, of the date of which we are
absolutely certain, consists of the hymns written by St.
Ambrose towards the end of the fourth century. Those
of which he is certainly the author are : " Deus creator
omnium" (120),* "Jam surgit hora tertia " (74), "Sterne
rerum conditor " (15), " Veni redemptor omnium " (26),
" Illuxit orbi jam dies," " Bis ternas horas explicans."
Probably he is also the author of " O lux beata Trinitas " (22),
" Hie est dies verus Dei," " Splendor paternae gloriae," and
" ^Eterna Christi munera " (61). They are written in our
ordinary long measure, and the iambics are quantitative, not
accentual ; by licence, however, the first syllables of the first
and third lines in a verse may be long. But it seems
probable that the change which had already begun to operate
in the pronunciation of Latin i.e., the displacement of
* The numbers refer to " Plainsong Hymn Melodies and Sequences "
(Vincent), as. 6d.
24 Recent Research in Plainsong.
quantity by accent, affected the hymns in their popular
rendering, and that the short syllables became rather
lengthened, so that the hymns are rather in duple than
triple time. Now it is remarkable that all the above hymn
melodies, which can be ascribed to the earliest times, belong
to the three principal modes of the lyre : the Dorian, lastian,
and ^Eolian , and, since there are two forms of the lastian,
they exhibit four modal forms out of the five of which we have
classic examples. The exception is the strong Hypolydian
(f F, final a), of which there is only a small instrumental
piece. But against this our ecclesiastical specimens contain
the strong lastian and the two mixed modes lastian-
^Eolian and ^Eolian-Iastian.
We will now turn to the antiphons, which were mostly
composed before the year 600. The simpler examples are
short melodies of one or more phrases sung with a psalm,
supposed to be in the same Church mode, and ending on its
final. But about some of them considerable doubt has always
existed, one writer referring them to one mode and someone
else to another. It is not surprising this should be the case
when we recognise the confusion that was caused by Boethius ;
but the matter gets a little clearer when we take account of
the modes in which the hymns of the same epoch are written.
All these modes are found in the antiphons, and, in addition,
the Hypolydian in its three forms, though it is comparatively
rare. Plainsong tonality in the year 600, when St. Gregory
edited the melodies, was, therefore, that of the old Greek
modes, transposed by the addition of b to the great scale
of A. The music has survived in a fairly accurate form ;
but we have no treatises of the period beyond the earlier
one of Boethius, who has been shown to have quite mis-
understood what he was writing about.
In the ninth century the first treatises on Plainsong appear,
and they show a totally new and Byzantine system of music,
which regarded the scale not as a succession of eight notes,
but as composed of two tetrachords. In pure Byzantine
music these may vary considerably and produce innumerable
scales, but the first note of the upper tetrachord in the Greek
modes used for Plainsong happened to be in all cases a perfect
fifth from the final. In applying the Byzantine system to
the music in use, the theorists therefore took the diatonic
pentachords on D, E, F, G, and named them protus, deuterus,
tritus, and tetrardus first, second, third, and fourth modes
beginning the upper tetrachords on the perfect fifths.
Recent Research in Plainsong.
TABLE OF MODES. II.
CLASSIC MODES.
CHURCH MODES.
NAME.
OCTAVE
ON
FINAL.
No.
OCTAVE
ON
FINAL.
^Eolian ...
a
a
I.
D
D
I astian, normal...
G
G
VII.
G
G
weak ...
D
G
VIII.
D
G
strong
G
ft
IV.
B
E
Hypolydian, normal ...
F
F
V.
F
F
,, weak
C
F
VI.
C
F
strong ...
F
a
II.
A
D
Dorian ...
E
E
III.
E
E
These four Church modes were next supposed to have two
forms, the authentic and the plagal. In the latter the octave
began on the first note of the upper tetrachord transposed an
octave lower, but the final remained that of the authentic
mode. The melodies in the ancient ^Eolian, Dorian, and
normal Hypolydian and lastian modes were then allotted to
Church modes as in Table II. But the Hypolydian and
lastian had besides the normal two other forms, the weak
and the strong. The weak Hypolydian therefore became
the third plagal mode (VI.) and the weak lastian the fourth
plagal mode (VIII.), the finals being the same as in the normal
forms, though their compass was different. But to bring the
strong Hypolydian and strong lastian modes into the system
was a different matter.
The final of the strong Hypolydian being a while its
compass was f F, it was transposed a fifth lower and called
a first plagal mode (II.), while its transposition required the
low Bt?, a new note in the scale, and not taken into account
by the theorists, who made this Church mode the diatonic
octave on the low A, instead of the octave on Bb with Etf.
The strong lastian has for its final and the compass g G.
Transposed a fifth lower it becomes a second plagal mode
(IV.), but the fifth from its final E was the imperfect fifth t?
instead of the 'perfect Q of the real mode, the Dorian, which
26 Recent Research in Plainsong.
begins on E. This note occurs very rarely in the course of
antiphons in this mode, and as they began much in the same
way as antiphons of the normal lastian, or seventh mode, it
was the common opinion that the melodies were mixed,
beginning in the seventh mode and ending in the fourth. An
antiphon must be in the same mode as the Psalm to which it
is affixed ; but if an antiphon be in a mixed mode, or in what
seems to be a mixed mode, as with these strong lastian
melodies, how should the psalmody be chosen ? In modern
times it has become the rule to let the close of the antiphon
govern the psalm-tone, but in the ninth century it was as
often as not the case that the psalmody was governed by the
opening of the antiphon, so that for instance we find that
the antiphon Ex dBgypto, beginning in the seventh and
ending in the fourth mode, is classed by Regino among the
seventh mode antiphons, while it is now treated as in the
fourth mode.
The foregoing explanation of the growth of Plainsong
tonality is, I think, a fair abstract of M. Gevaert's views ;
but then arises the question, what authority is there for the
authenticity of the melodies as we have them at the present
day ? The following are the only data on which we can
positively rely. The antiphons can be divided into three
groups according to their text :
1 . Melodies to A lleluia and to verses from the Psalms or
Canticles (before A.D. 530).
2. Antiphons drawn from other Biblical sources, or
specially written for the festival, which were in use in
A.D. 600.
3. Antiphons from the Acts of the Martyrs, &c., composed
during the seventh century.
Until the eleventh century there was no notation in
regular use which expressed the tonal value of the chant,
and we have no MSS. earlier than the ninth century which
even supply the memoria technica of the neums. The
only grounds then for our believing that we possess the
original melodies must be something quite apart from the
earliest documentary evidence. That something is the sur-
prising fact that the melodies of the antiphons, numbering
over a thousand, which are contained in the service books
of all the countries of Western Europe, are practically
uniform. And these melodies came into use in the various
countries at different times. Probably England was the
first to receive them from Rome at the hands of St.
Augustine in 597, and 120 years later the Anglo-Saxon
missionary, St. Boniface, introduced them into Germany,
Recent Research in Plainsong. 27
while later still, about 750, the Prankish Empire adopted
the Roman chant direct from Rome in place of the
Gallican.
But though we find practical uniformity in all MSS. of the
thirteenth century, there is a certain group which shows
considerable discrepancies, and, as might be expected, they
are the antiphons which may be attributed to the strong
lastian mode. Our data for an explanation of these discrep-
ancies are few, but, so far as they go, seem to suffice. The
neumatic notation is no guide, but in 850 Aurelian of Reome"
classified the antiphons under their modes, and then in 900
comes Regino of Prum with his Treatise and the Tonarius
tabulating the antiphons of the Offices and of the Mass. And
about the same time we have Hucbald, or the unknown authors
of the Enchiriadis and other works attributed to him, and lastly
the author of the Commemoratio . These last works contain
many examples in the Hucbaldian or Dasian notation
(page 28), and so give us some ground to work on. Most of
the antiphons are classed in these works under the modes to
which they are now considered to belong, but there are
certain exceptions. These are the melodies which are classed
under the third mode, the pentachord of which E h contains
the tritone F t). The dominant of the mode was originally,
as in others, the fifth t) according to the Commemoratio,
but the dislike of the tritone caused the dominant to be
moved to c, and by the middle of the eleventh century this
change seems to have been universal. But the antiphons in
the mode, although they were consequently altered, were
necessarily not all treated in every country in the same way,
so that their melodies differ amongst themselves.
Another cause of error was when a third mode melody has
been converted to the first mode by dropping a degree in the
scale, owing perhaps to the opening phrase containing only
first mode intervals through the omission of the character-
istic second, E to F. Some melodies remain unchanged,
but out of seventy antiphons classed by Regino under the
third mode, only five or six have escaped alteration, one of
these being Fac benigna. The discrepancies between the
classification of the antiphons under their modes by Regino
and that current in later times are assuredly very striking,
and are treated by M. Gevaert on certain well denned lines.
His work is the most instructive which has yet appeared,
and should be closely studied, especially by English
musicians, for the versions in our Service Books, with which
he is apparently unacquainted, confirm several of his
theories.
We have now considered the formation of the tonality of
Plainsong, but there is one peculiarity which has not been
touched on. The modes are diatonic, but the scale includes
28 Recent Research in Plainsong.
the b. Were any other accidentals used ? and were they used
as real accidentals and not only for purposes of transposition ?
Professor Jacobsthal, in his work " Die Chromatische
Alteration im liturgischen Gesang," shows that they were not
only known but used, and that different versions of melodies
have arisen through the efforts of theorists to get rid of
these chromatic changes, which on transposition betrayed
themselves by a fr orfi. It is interesting to note that he
makes free use of the " Graduale Sarisburiense,"* which
seems to contain a very pure version of the chant. But
before examining one of these melodies it may be well to
learn the grounds on which we now know that certain
accidentals were recognised in the ninth century.
1 A 1 ,M 8 t t
r A/C D EFG !a R_c d ie Q} a :
The notation contained in the Commemoratio, to which
we must look for tenth century versions of antiphons, is in
the Dasian notation, which has been generally considered to
give the exact tonal values. But this belief must be modified
in some cases, and we cannot tell how far it will affect our
translations of this notation. A fixed value certainly applies
to some of the psalm-tones, for instance, which are given in
the Commemoratio ; but when the same rules of interpretation
are applied to others it seems impossible that such tones can
ever have existed. We must not, then, too blindly follow
M. Gevaert in all the suggestions he makes as to the original
* A foe-simile Gradual published by the Plainsong and Mediaeval Music
Society (Quaritch). 4.
Recent Research in Plainsong. 29
versions of the antiphons. Some explanation may perhaps be
found in the way in which the writer of the Commemoratio
regarded the notation he used. In its normal form, a succession
of tetrachords, it represented the scale shown on the diagram,
but ; s these signs, as appears from the explanation in the
Enchiriadis, of pentachords on C and D, were not always
absolute ; they were certainly sometimes relative i.e>, they
did not represent D, E, F, G, but that the note was a tone or
a semitone from the one last sounded. So we gather from a
series of figures showing the pentachords in an ascending
and a descending form, one of which figures is given above.
The regular forms are the major and minor C, D, E, F, G,
and D, E, F, G, a, and the chromatic, one of which is shown
on the right limb of the figure, are C, D, El?, F, G,
C, D, E, Ftf, G D, E!?, F, G, a, and D, E, Ff , G, a. The
upper tetrachords would be altered in the same way, but as
the El? was already provided for by the !?, the only addition
there would be the cjf. The effect of these accidentals was
to change the mode, while the range of the pentachord
remained unaltered. Thus to flatten the E in the pentachord
C G converted the seventh mode into a first mode penta-
chord, while to flatten it in D a transposed the pentachord
from the first to the third mode. To sharpen the F in C G
made a fifth mode out of the seventh, and the same change in
D a made a seventh out of a first mode.
Now of these four modes the first and the seventh are the
ancient ^Eolian and lastian, the third mode is practically
the strong lastian, and the fifth mode is the Hypolydian,
which was not used in the Greco- Roman music nor in the
early hymns, and first appears in the antiphons. But mixed
modes were in use both with the ancients and in the hymns
and antiphons, though the only modes which were so used
were the ^Eolian and lastian. M. Gevaert proposes to
amend several of the antiphons, but it is possible the
corrections should not be made in the way he suggests, and
that the solution of some of the discrepancies he perceives in
the melodies should be sought in the direction indicated by
Herr Jacobsthal. In our English books we have a very good
example of the transposition of a mode in the Offertory
In die solemnitatis (page n). The melody as it stands in the
MS. is transposed a fifth higher than its original seat, so that
it begins on G instead of on C, and the t? in the notation is
the equivalent of El? ; but this transposition replaces it in the
octave of the classic ^Eolian mode instead of that of the first
Church mode to which it is attributed. For the purpose of
comparison with the Hucbaldian system we will consider it as
if it were in first-mode form. Up to the end of the phrase
vestrce we therefore find that the melody is in the first
authentic mode, but the last note is flattened, and this
30 Recent Research in Plainsong.
chromatic alteration continues down to the middle of the
Alleluia, when it disappears and the melody closes in the
original mode. The accidental converts the first - mode
pentachord D, E, F, G, A, into D, El?, F, G, A, the equivalent
of the third-mode pentachord E, F, G, A, B. The prevailing
note in the opening first-mode phrase is the mediant F, and
in the third-mode portion of the melody this is still the pre-
vailing note. The intention of the composer has therefore
obviously been to mix the modes, but to keep the pentachords
within the same range. In the hymns the modes were mixed,
but without any change of key. Here we find a distinct and
interesting advance on the older system, by the mixture of
the ^Eolian and lastian modes in such a way as to have an
identical mediant throughout. We now know the reason for
this accidental in the English MSS., but in the Middle Ages
the theorists in France were troubled by what they considered
a corruption, and accordingly transposed the third-mode
phrases a tone higher, and in this form it is found in the
Solesmes edition of the Gradual. The result is certainly not
so graceful as the English version, for by the elimination of
the Et? the transition to the third mode is peculiarly harsh,
and the return to the first mode has to be effected by an
alteration of the melody. For facility of reference to what
has been said on the Hucbaldian theory of the pentachords,
and to the modern numbering of the modes, part of the melody
has been referred to as being in tthe third mode, but it is,
strictly speaking, in the fourth mode, which is only another
form of the third.
The question of course may be asked, whether the English
version, with the modulation on vestrce, is more correct than
the French, which keeps the whole piece in the same key.
The neums will decide it. A MS. of Einsiedeln, which is
probably a copy of one brought from Rome in the eighth
century, while our version represents the English tradition
since 597, marks the note on tree with a j, and the next note
on dicit with an e ; j means \ f look out, the note is lower than
you expect it to be" i.e., Ej? not Efc|, and e means " repeat
the note." These Romanian letters together verify the
English version ; the El? on tree is lower than would be
expected, though by straining a point it might be contended
that the Et| satisfied this condition ; but the next note is
the same El? in the Sarum Gradual, but in the French
is F, a semitone higher than the Et(,. if that version be
adopted, because the following sequence of notes requires
this. The reformer did not mind altering the melody just
by two notes, but he did not dare change the body of the
melody itself, though he damaged the artistic ensemble.
Another question as to the use of accidentals is whether they
were used as real accidentals or only for the purpose of
Recent Research in Plainsong. 31
modulation, as in the above example. Herr Jacobsthal
understands the pseudo-Hucbald to say they were so used.
Other translators of the treatise cannot see this meaning
in the text. However, if there was such a use of an
accidental it occurred in this Offertory In die solemnitatis.
It does not appear in any MS. so far as we know, and we
can only conjecture where this lost chromatic should be
inserted.
Since the above was written the Abbe Dechevrens has
published " Etudes de Science musicale," 3 vols. (Blanc,
4, Rue Malebranche, Paris), in which he essays to translate
Plainsong into strict time. The work deserves considerable
attention, for, though founded on a different theory, the
examples seem to indicate in some ways the same results
as an artistic rendering of the chant after the method of
Solesmes.
LONDON:
NOVELLO AND COMPANY, LIMITED,
PRINTERS.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
Briggs, Henry Bremridge
Recent research in
plainsong
Music
