This chapter contains the musical analysis of the Great Responsory repertory in Paris 12044. The analysis is divided according to mode and detailed in Chapter III B.
Prefacing this, several widely applicable principals of this analysis are discussed in Chapter III A. The rules and mechanics of the nomenclature system used here are presented and general observations will be made about the form and function of musical elements in the repertory. The prominence of the pentatonic scale in the progression of component elements will also be discussed. Finally, Chapter III 0examines melodic elements which are found, usually transposed, in more than one mode.
A. Nomenclature and Standard Phrases
In this chapter, melodic analysis is applied to each of the eight modes separately.
Each responsory is broken down into its component elements and each element is given a letter which represents its final pitch (or goal-pitch). To assign these letter-labels, I use the non-repeating alphabetic system of notation associated with William of Volpiano and found in the manuscript Montpellier H. 159.
If the respond has been transposed, the letter-label representing the final pitch remains untransposed, since this helps to clarify its tonal role. For example, if a mode 1 responsory has been transposed up a fifth, the final element will still be labeled ―D‖
assuming that it cadences on the final of that mode, even though it appears, in the transcription, to end on an a. Maintaining untransposed letter-labels is helpful to determine at a glance whether or not a transposed respond behaves similarly to the untransposed chants.
Capital letters are assigned to the initial and final element of each respond to differentiate them from intermediate elements, where a lower-case letter is used. Initial elements are identified by an additional letter, ―i‖, which stands for ―incipit‖; final elements included the letter ―x‖. In the multi-mode database tables found in the Appendix, each label will be shown with a number prefix which represents the mode in which the element is found (i.e., 1 for mode 1, 2 for mode 2, etc.)
Dividing a responsory into its component elements is a subjective exercise. This study deals with component elements in much the same way as Frere or Holman handles them. The identification of an element usually starts with the identification of its cadential figure. An element begins wherever the previous cadential figure ends. In practice this means that elements with the same ending may vary considerably at their beginnings. But
the inclusion of the beginning in the labeling system is preferable to losing the musical material altogether. By including variant openings within the standard element label, information is also provided about how texts which are extremely long or short may be set to a particular element or how the beginning of an element may be adjusted to accommodate the previous element. In Transcription 1 below, Praevaluit David (cao7427; De Regum) a mode 2 responsory analyzed by Frere, Holman and this study is broken up into component standard elements and labeled.
Transcription 1: Praevaluit David (cao7427; De Regum) broken up into component standard elements by Frere, Holman and this study
Some of the melodic elements in Transcription 1 above occur more than fifty times in the repertory as a whole, while others occur only twice. The term "standard element" refers, in this study, to those which occur at least five times, in at least three responds in the repertory.171 This helps ensure that the term "standard" applies to any musical material which occurs in several different chants and is not simply repeated material in one respond.
The requirement that an element must appear in a recognizable variation at least five times also helps to ensure that melodic figures occurring in a simple contrafactum are not considered "standard" in the repertory as a whole. Furthermore, the number of elements which do not appear more than four times is very high; tracing the use of these elements would complicate the analysis unnecessarily and perhaps obscure the clarity of the overall results. The standard elements (those occurring five times or more) were given a number, immediately following their letter-label. This number indicates the frequency with which the
171 For example, in mode 4, the element d7 is found twice each in two different responds, and is found once in a third respond, amounting to five appearances in three responds. There are several occasions where a standard element appears five times in a total of four responds (for example, mode 1: d27 and h12, mode 2: a2, mode 5: g2 and h3 and mode 7: l10). All other occurrences of standard elements involve at least five different responds.
Nomenclature and Standard Phrases 59 element occurs. The lower the number, the more frequently the standard element is found in that mode. For example, the element "d1" is found more often than "d2" and much more often than "d8". The actual number of occurrences has not been incorporated into the labelling system, in order to reduce confusion.
In order to preserve the information about the frequency of occurrence of a given standard element, the labelling system used here applies to one mode only. Therefore, "d1"
in mode 1 will not have the same musical meaning as "d1" in mode 2, but both elements can be immediately understood to be the most frequently chosen d intermediate element in their respective modes. In the multi-mode tables in the Appendix, the labels will also reflect the mode in which the respond is found with a numerical prefix. The idea of using the same nomenclature for each mode afresh comes from Frere‘s work, but while it was confusing in Frere‘s analysis because he did not present any comprehensive table, the present study provides databases which can be searched and sorted according to various criteria. In Holman‘s study, labels are not reused from mode to mode. While this has the advantage of clarity (i.e., one element will never be mistaken for another in a different mode), the labels only indicate the final pitch of the element and nothing about its melodic character or role within the repertory as a whole. The present study uses a labeling system which contains information about the frequency of each element within the mode, enabling the reader to discern quickly which elements occur time and again and which are rarely found. Elements which appear in more than one mode, transposed or otherwise, are listed in the appendix,172 and will be discussed in the third section of this chapter.
In the database tables in which elements are displayed horizontally, those which occur fewer than five times in a given mode are not assigned a number, but their final pitch is reflected in the letter they are assigned. This preserves the information about how they fit into the fundamental tonality of the chant, while also indicating that the text is set to
uncommon musical material. In the database listed as
01_DATABASE_Melodic_Elements_Paris_12044 in the Appendix, non-standard elements retain their initial label assigned to them as the repertory was being entered as individual records. This consists of an initial number (mode 1 through 8), an indicator of position (0 = opening, M = middle, F = final), a letter representing the final pitch of the material in question (in Volpiano, G through O) and, finally, a sequence number which identifies like elements.
During the initial stages of analysis, these labels could be added to as the transcription progessed and entries to the database were made. Once the database was complete, however, those elements occurring five times or more were given their new labels to reflect their relative frequency within the mode.
The elements grouped under one label can display a moderate degree of melodic variation. This is inevitably a subjective matter, in which it has been considered better to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Since each element is defined according to its final pitch or its goal-pitch, less variation is allowed for at the end of elements than at the beginning. The most important factors for including an element in a group of standard elements are its range, characteristic melodic gestures or figures, and the important pitches emphasized by these gestures. For example, the label "c1" applies to both the following elements, even
172 The folder in the appendix is entitled: ―CHAPTER_3‖, the file within this folder is entitled:
―Chapter_3_c‖
though they begin on different pitches. From Si dominus deus meus fuerit (cao6699, Fer. 4 p. Pascha):
and from Expurgate vetus fermentum ut (cao7650, Dom. 2 Quadragesimae):
These two elements have the same cadential material, range (i.e., A – C) and emphasize the same important pitches (i.e., A, G, E, A, F, D, F, D, C in roughly the same order). This qualifies them as similar enough to be given the same label. Although a complete analysis of every responsory found in each mode would be too voluminous for the confines of the present study, transcriptions with element labels, as well as a list of all the members of each standard element according to mode, may be found in the appendix.173