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Views from the Choir Loft

Gregorian Rhythm Wars • “Non Praevaleat”

Patrick Williams · April 10, 2023

Gregorian Rhythm Wars contains all previous installments of our series.
Please refer to our Chant Glossary for definitions of unfamiliar terms.

OST ENGLISH SPEAKERS have the notion that chanting is something fundamentally different than singing. The words we use have a tremendous effect upon the way we think. People who are fluent in more than one language sometimes have the experience of a slightly different personality taking over when they switch between languages. Many (most?) languages lack separate verbs for chant and sing; some also lack separate nouns for chant and song. Similarly, the singers of Western Europe in the Early Middle Ages would have had no words for arsis or thesis, and probably the only thing they would have known approximating upbeat or downbeat would have been the levatio and positio of the hand in marking a steady beat. Fast-forwarding a millennium, it seems reasonable to say that nobody living today was brought up with a proportional rhythm interpretation of Gregorian chant. Those of us who embrace it got to this point because we questioned unfounded claims. Like most people who learned either the Solesmes method or semiology, it was drilled into us that mensuralism was to be avoided at all costs. That evasion was something we had to accept on the authority of our teachers, choirmasters, and various authors, without proof.

Analysis • I encourage everyone to study the sources for themselves, and I make the resources available to them to do so. Now let’s study together. We’re going to examine just two words and eighteen notes from the gradual for the third Sunday in Lent. I have doctored the sources only to the extent it was necessary to place the syllables on the same line, remove the neumes of other syllables, and, where appropriate, show the clef. Compare which figures (neumatic signs) are used interchangeably among the various manuscripts.

Liber Usualis:

Graduale Novum:

Einsiedeln 121:

Bamberg 6:

St. Gall 339:

Graduale Restitutum (Stingl):

Graduale Renovatum (Nickel):

Graduale Lagal (Hakkennes):

Graduale Authenticum/Synopticum (Kainzbauer):

Comparative table (Kainzbauer):

My edition with numbered notes for ease of identification:

    1. uncinus in L; plain virga in all SG sources
    2. cursive torculus initio debilis in L; cursive torculus in all SG; first note marked with c in C
    3. 〃
    4. 〃
    5. uncinus in L; virga with episema in E & C; plain virga in Bam; tractulus (with episema?) in 339
    6. cursive clivis with oriscus plus virga in L; cursive clivis plus pes quassus in all SG; C & Bam add c above the clivis; Bam & 339 add an episema at the end of the neume
    7. 〃
    8. 〃
    9. 〃
    10. uncinus in L; tractulus with episema in C; virga with episema in E; plain tractulus in Bam & 339
    11. short-short-long climacus in L, C, & E; entirely short climacus in Bam* & 339
    12. 〃
    13. 〃
    14. non-cursive clivis (=two uncini) in L; clivis with t in C; clivis with episema in all other SG
    15. 〃
    16. short-short-long climacus in L; short-short-long climacus in C, with c above first note; entirely short climacus in E with st before first note; entirely short climacus in Bam*; long-short-short climacus in 339
    17. 〃
    18. 〃

*In Bam, it is often difficult to determine whether the last note of a climacus is a short punctum or long tractulus.

I tend to go with the most straightforward reading of anything ambiguous. Because of the rounded clivis in L and the letter c in C and Bam, I offer an alternative interpretation:

Conclusions • The Graduale Novum incorporates two instances of neumatic disaggregation not found in the Vatican edition, which are undoubtedly an improvement to the square notation. Special forms for the weak beginning note and the oriscus appear in some of the other editions. Hakkennes and Nickel appear to interpret the special torculus as a long torculus initio debilis, i.e. a long (non-cursive or episematic) clivis preceded by a lower auxiliary grace note. The reading of the second and third notes (#3–4) as long is a mistake apparently originating with Cardine (see Gregorian Semiology, pp. 51–58). The adiastematic manuscripts are generally in agreement with one another in their use of either the short or long form. In the short, cursive form, the second and third notes are long only relative to the weak beginning note. They each have the usual short value of half a beat. Yet again, we encounter a false ictus at the third note of -le- (#12), which must be rejected as incorrect, unhistorical, and unmusical. The unmarked ictus on the first note of prae- (#2) must likewise be rejected.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Gregorian Rhythm Wars Last Updated: April 11, 2023

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President’s Corner

    Luis Martínez Must Go!
    Sevilla Cathedral (entry dated 13 December 1564): The chapter orders Luis Martínez, a cathedral chaplain, to stay away from the choirbook-stand when the rest of the singers gather around it to sing polyphony—the reason being that “he throws the others out of tune.” [Excerpt from “The Life of Father Francisco Guerrero.”]
    —Jeff Ostrowski
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    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The following question is asked by the Most Reverend Lord Bishop of the Diocese of Chur: May this Diocese’s ancient custom be continued of having the Celebrant in Sung Masses (excepting more solemn Masses) intone the Credo and when he is finished reciting it going on immediately to the offertory and finishing it while the credo is being sung by the choir?” (Dubium of Dec 1909)

— 11 December 1909

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