Western Plainchant

A Handbook
DAVID HILEY
IV.S. THE NOTATION OF RHYTHM
(i) Rhythmic Elements in Early Notations
(ii) Rhythm in Simple Antiphons
(iii) Cardine's 'Gregorian Semiology'
(iv) The Evidence of Theorists
(v) Conclusions
The notation of several early chant manuscripts includes indications of rhythmic
differentiation between individual notes or groups of notes. Richest in such
indications are the early sources from Switzerland and south Germany (such as
St Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 359 and 339, from St Gall, Einsiedeln, Stiftsbibliothek 121,
from Einsiedeln, and Bamberg, Staatsbibliothek, lit. 6 from Regensburg) and Laon,
Bibliotheque Municipale 239, but very many other manuscripts indicate at least some
374 IV. Notation
degree of rhythmic differentiation. There are several ways in which this was done: (a)
the normal shape of a sign was altered in such a way as to suggest a rhythmic
alteration, (b) in the Eastern manuscripts, extra elements were added to the normal
signs, usually the short bar known as the episema, (c) the way in which several notes
were comprehended in one sign was altered, separating what might have been joined
and joining what might have been separate, (d) so-called 'significative letters' were
placed adjacent to the sign.
The medieval tables of musical signs are later than the early sources just mentioned,
and it is not surprising that they provide no explanation of durational significance.
Only the Italian tables in Montecassino, Archivio della Badia 318 (Coussemaker 1852,
pl. XXXVII; Ferretti 1929, 193, pl. II) and Florence, Biblioteca Magliabecchiana F.
3. 565 (Ferretti, 195) indicate a differentiation: thus in Montecassino 318 we find
percus.sionalis brevis (a dot or punctum) and percussionalis tonga (a dash or
tractul us) .
(i) Rhythmic Elements in Early Notations
The meaning of the significative letters, at least as they were understood at St Gall, is
given in a letter attributed to Notker (see PalMus 4, 10 and Pl. 5. B-D; also Sunol
1935, 134; NG 13, 132; critical edition by Froger 1962). St Gall tradition ascribed
their invention to the Roman cantor 'Romamis', who was supposed to have brought
chant-books from Rome to St Gall in the eighth century. Hence the name 'Romanian
letters', coined by Schubiger (1858). But we have no contemporary explanation of
the other features mentioned above. The only way in which we can approximately
understand the notation is by careful comparison of the sources among themselves.
Significative letters can be found in many manuscripts up to the early eleventh
century from different areas of Europe, in Breton and Aquitanian sources and the
early Winchester manuscripts, for example. But they are commonest in the
abovementioned Eastern and Laon manuscripts. Smits van Waesberghe's special
study of them (1938-42) reported that Einsiedeln 121 contained the staggering total
of 32,378 significative letters. Notker's letter ascribed a meaning to almost every letter
of the alphabet, but several cannot be traced in extant manuscripts, or are very rare.
Preferences naturally differ from one area to another, and we have no Notker to
explain the system in, say, Laon 239. Not all the letters refer to rhythmic properties of
performance, some concerning dynamic or melodic features. The commonest in the
Eastern sources are the following:
dynamic: f = cum fragore seu frendore: with harsh attack
k = k{enche (Gk. ?) or clange: with ringing tone
melodic: a = altius: higher in pitch
e or eq = equaliter: at the same pitch
i, io, or iu = inferius, iosum, or iusum: lower in pitch
iv = inferius valde: much lower
5. The Notation of Rhythm
l = levate: rise to a higher pitch
375
s = sursum : ascend to a higher pitch
rhythmic: c = cito or celeriter: quickly
t = trahete or tenete: drag, hold
x = expectate: wait
The preferences of Laon 239 are for the following:
melodic: eq = equaliter: at the same pitch
h = humiliter: at a low pitch
s = sursum .= ascend to a higher pitch
rhythmic: a = augete: lengthen
c = dto or celen'ter: quickly
n or nl or nt = natura/iter: normal
t = trahete or tenete: drag, hold
In both traditions, m ormd = mediocn'ter: moderately, can qualify either a melodic or
a rhythmic indication, or even appear on its own, when its meaning has to be deduced
from the context.
(More complete lists of letters may be found in studies of the individual notations,
and inSufiol 1935, 134-8, 141, 143-4, etc.)
Among the letters indicating melodic features, e is particularly important, for it
specifies the relationship between two disjunct note-groups. The others usually
( tho.ugh by no means exclusively) serve to warn of intervals larger than a tone (or
sem1tone). Ex. IV.5.1. shows a typical use of the letters e, i, m, and s (medieval s
looks like an elongated r). .
Ex. IV .5.1. From offertory Be1zedictus es Domine (GT 277, notation of Einsiedeln 121)
t" ( ..
t 7 -/ / e / - ff ,, n. II
/#)
i'l
... -o .
in Ia - bi- is me - is pronun-ti - a- -ui
Rhythmic differentiation depends almost entirely on c and t. They are the key to
understanding the notational signs that have been altered from their usual form or
given an episema, for a fairly consistent correspondence (though it is by no means
complete) can be seen between the use of, on the one hand, the letter c and the normal
shapes for signs, and, on the other hand, the letter t and the altered or supplemented
shapes. Typical normal and altered shapes in St Gall notation are given in Ex. IV.5.2,
together with two passages from Alleluia Pascha nostrum, with the signs in St Gall
359 and 339 and in Einsiedeln 121.
The letter cis always used in conjunction with the normal signs, whereas the letter t
is usually allied to an episema (in the same or one of the other sources). Striking
confirmation of the sense of the episemas comes from the notation of Laon 239. This
376 IV. Notation
Ex. IV.5.2. Normal and modified signs in St Gall notation (selection)
normal modified
eli vis
/} tf ll"'
If
pes
J
j ./
porrectus IV iv I'Vff
torculus
Jl
))
.A
JTJl, s
climacus /..
?.. /.. /:. /._
/-.:.
/
.! scandicus
from Alleluia Pascha nostrum (notation of St.Gall 359, 339 and Einsiedeln 121)
t
c. ....
' 359
.{1/
I
-
...fV Jl, J .. J; I' 1111 lC JV-. J:: /',/'
..I!, cll,/r.
339
_t.l ,Jl/
r
-
..JV J} J.r. IIIII /1;. rfll. t:' f.; Jl .IV r
E
'( /"C .JIJ
r - JY
J)
( .. ...
,. l
121
_ .. -
-"' l
'"'
! Ml fl... l ,../ .11: }' r.


:sa


eH
Al-le- lu- -ia.
source does not have episemas, but makes much more frequent use of the letters a and
t, both meaning a lengthening of some sort. Ex. IV.5.3 gives first the 'normal' and
the 'longer' signs in Laon 239, then the same extracts from Alleluia Pascha nostrum.
One important feature of the second part of Ex. IV.5.2 in particular is that the
notes are grouped in exactly the same way-single notes, twos, threes, and so on-in
all the sources. The phrasing of the melody was obviously important enough to have
been transmitted with a fair degree of uniformity. In a strikingly large number of
instances, the group ends with a longer note. The rhythmic significance of the point of
separation between the groups has been studied in depth by Cardine (his term for it
was 'coupure neumatique').