Commentary for Laudemus viros gloriosos

In terms of the accuracy of the source (Laudemus viros gloriosos, folio 195v from
Lon 8, final chant), there are no discrepancies between the words of the manuscript
and the text edition. Like in the text edition, there is a new verse for the last sentence.
In terms of the layout and spacing of the source, the chant words have been well
spaced out to allow room for the neumes above the words. For example, the words "in
virtute" has a gap in virtu-te to allow room for a melismatic set of neumes on the line
below. This shows that the scribe had considered this problem in advance of writing
the words and neumes down on the parchment. Similarly, on the following line, there
is a noticeable gap between the words "narrantes" and "carmina", to allow space for
the melisma on the final syllable of "narrantes".
On the second line of this chant, the word "studium" has a mark on the final letter.
Either the parchment has aged with time, someone spilt something on the surface, or
someone scratched out the letter "m". The scribe may have made a small mistake
while writing the letter and scratched it out as he was so near the end of the page.
The source is very well scribed and clearly legible, suggesting that the scribe was in
no hurry and planned this manuscript in advance. There is also plenty of space at the
edges of the pages, on the left and at the bottom, which suggests that the scribe was
not trying to save space; the patron was rich enough to afford more parchment. This
leads on to the implication that this was not for a community church or monastery,
that this was commissioned for a more important cause.
There are no neumes above the final word of the chant, "requirentes"; the chant
seemed to finish on the penultimate word, "portantes". There is also a gap between the
two words, which shows that this was deliberate.
Above the word "nostros" was a neume that I didn't recognise and couldn't find in the
list of available options in the Chant Editing and Analysis Program, so I used the work
in progress symbol to represent this. Several of the neumes I had to build up
separately when they looked like one unit, e.g. above "mi" of "homines"; "ben" of
"habentes"; and the final neume, above "tes" of "portantes". Overall, however, most
neumes were fairly easy to find.
Latin:
Laudemus viros gloriosos et parentes nostros, homines divites in virtute,
pulchritudinis studium habentes, requirentes sonos musicos et narrantes carmina in
scripturas. Pertransierunt quasi nabes poma portantes, requirentes.
Translation:
Let us now praise men of renown, and our fathers, rich men in virtue, studying
beautifulness: living, looking for the sounds of the musical tunes, and published
canticles of the scriptures. They have passed by as it were, only carrying fruits, such
as we seek.