All oral traditions use standard material at important positions in the work.181 It seems that it is easier for the singer to recall a particular chant when equipped with knowledge of well-known elements and a general feeling for where the significant musical and textual positions are. In modes 2 and 8, a large number of responds are made up of standard elements which occur in the same order, creating, in effect, groups of responds with the same melody. This study has determined that the more a standard element is used within a melody group, the more it is also likely to occur in a respond which does not correspond to any particular group. An additional finding is that the more frequently a particular standard element is used, the more likely it is to be found in an important structural position within the chant. The following examination of the standard elements in each mode will demonstrate this. More importantly, it has become clear that all standard elements in important positions have pentatonic goal-pitches.182 Therefore, in those modes where standard elements are often used, such as modes 2, 7 and 8, a clear responsory roadmap may be drawn. In modes where fewer standard elements exist, such as modes 5 and 6, the roadmap is more difficult to define. These observations will be pursued further in the following examination of responsories in each of the eight modes.
181 See Treitler, With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made 2003, 131 ff
182 Hansen also comments on this phenomenon: Hansen 1979, 166
Favouring standard elements over unique elements has been linked to the chronology of the repertory by many scholars. Chants made up solely of standard elements may be thought of as highly formulaic and therefore products of a strictly oral culture, and therefore older than unique melodies. In the discussion preceding the republication of his article on oral composition and transmission, "Homer and Gregory: the Transmission of Epic Poetry and Plainchant", Leo Treitler refers to the claims of both W. H. Frere and James McKinnon which assert that "fixity means antiquity".183 Treitler also suggests that the use of standard material at fixed positions within the chant shows that the "practitioners of ... chant composed their melodies following overall formal models and patterns."184 Since the present analysis focuses on the use of standard elements, all the feasts in which such responsories appear have been noted. Unfortunately, no clear conclusions can be drawn from this list of feasts, perhaps because older chants for ancient offices were used as models in the composing of chants for newer feast days. Future work might draw further conclusions about these chants by checking their distribution among the CAO concordance sources which are included in the list of responsories in Paris 12044 in the appendix.185
The present study divides the analysis of each mode of responsory into three general areas. First, the standard elements which occur most frequently in the mode are shown and discussed. Second, groups of responds using the standard elements in similar orders are listed. These two steps are also taken in the analyses written by Frere and Holman. Finally, this study examines the melodic structure of the majority of melodies in each mode and determines the goal-pitches which occur at the six important cadence points. Here, the musical functions which standard elements have are shown. The present study is the first to emphasize the musical roles of standard elements in responsories and their role in the musical structure, rendering concrete some of the theories about oral cues and constraints discussed in Chapter I C.
183 McKinnon, The Emergence of Gregorian Chant in the Carolingian Era 1990, 105-106 based on Frere, The Sarum Gradual adn the Gregorian Antiphonale Missarum 1895 as quoted in Treitler, With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made 2003, 144
184 Treitler, With Voice and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made 2003, 131 185 Entitled: ―01_LIST_Responsories_Paris_12044‖
Intra-modal Variants, Formula Variants and General Tendencies : Mode 1 67
B. Intra-modal Variants, Formula Variants and General Tendencies
This section examines the responsory repertory in each of the eight modes in Paris 12044 in detail. General characteristics of responds in each of the modes, such as their number and type, are presented. Following this, the standard elements are listed and analysed. This information is accessible in database format in the appendix.186
Table 4, below, shows the total number of elements, the number of those which are
‗standard‘ in this study, the percentage of ‗standard‘ material and the number of different
‗standard‘ labels used per mode.
Total Elements Standard Elements
%
Standard
# Different Standard Labels
Mode 1 1668 1056 63 % 69
Mode 2 874 540 65 % 31
Mode 3 517 235 45 % 24
Mode 4 784 476 60 % 33
Mode 5 323 142 44 % 15
Mode 6 311 112 36 % 12
Mode 7 1254 844 67 % 49
Mode 8 1088 704 65 % 40
Table 4: Standard and Non-standard elements in responsories in each mode in Paris 12044
Groups of responds which use the same elements in similar orders are identified.
Using the information in the database for the entire repertory, the roadmap for each mode of respond is displayed. The degree to which these roadmaps reflect the responds in the mode is demonstrated with examples.
i. Mode 1
After a discussion of the standard verse tone and musical range and important pitches found in mode 1 responsories, the most frequently occurring standard elements are identified and discussed. Next, some groups of responsories which have certain standard elements in common are examined. Finally, the responsory roadmap for mode 1 is displayed
186 Entitled ―01_DATABASE_Melodic_Elements_Paris_12044‖
and several responsories are plotted on it. The few responsories which do not follow the tonal roadmap are also noted.
Paris 12044 contains 214 Great Responsories in mode 1. The appendix contains a list of these in alphabetical CAO or manuscript order and a transcription of each.187 There are 86 mode 1 responsories found in the Temporale, 110 in the Sanctorale and eighteen in the Commune. Most (168) of these responds have verses which are sung to the standard mode 1 verse tone, an example of which is shown in Transcription 2, below.
Transcription 2: Mode 1 Standard verse tone for Germinaverunt campi (cao6772, Sabb. Q.T. Adventus)
Verses which are not set to the standard tone are found scattered throughout the church year, but a predominant number come from saints' offices and Marian feasts. Twelve of those verses set to non-standard tones are found in responsories which are unique to this manuscript, from the offices of Arnulf of Metz188, Babolenus189, Benedict190, Clement191 and Eligius.192
Mode 1 is termed the "protus authentus" mode in several medieval treatises193. The 10th-century Dialogus de musica defines the range of this mode as spanning low C to high D.
D is the mode's final, marked here with an arrow:
The component standard elements and the specific ways in which they function in Great Responsories are examined, before the tonal roadmap for this mode is presented.