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Views from the Choir Loft

A Classic Example of Modal Modulation

Dr. Charles Weaver · November 12, 2023

A FEW MONTHS AGO, I wrote a post about a traditional and brief way of formulating the ethos or character associated with each of the eight modes. If you apply this way of thinking to your chanting, it can often bear a great deal of fruit for contemplation. It provides another dimension for us to think about as we approach a chant: liturgical context and meaning, melody, text setting, mode. In particular, I would like to suggest that you might get something out of adopting a dynamic rather than a static way of thinking about the modes.

Here is what I mean by a static way. What we teach our students is that we classify a melody into one of the modes by looking at its final and its range. The final is the last note of the melody, and it works like this: D is for modes 1 and 2; E is for modes 3 and 4; F is for modes 5 and 6; G is for modes 7 and 8. If a chant ends on another note, we consider it as being in a transposed version of one of the other modes. Typically C endings are mode 5, A endings are mode 2, and B endings are mode 4. The range refers to whether the final note is near the bottom of the range of pitches in the melody or somewhere in the middle. Near the bottom means an odd-numbered mode, while in the middle means an even-numbered mode. This is not really an exact science, but after spending a while with the melodies you get pretty confortable categorizing them.

In a dynamic way of thinking about the modes, we add on to what I wrote above by thinking of the modes as also having certain typical melodic patterns and certain notes that seem to anchor the mode. Often these are the same as the tenor or reciting tone of the psalm. Sometimes these are other notes, like the pitch F in the Easter introit. Sometimes a melody can visit other modes by adopting the melodic mannerisms of that mode. If you combine that with the modal ethos, you can sometimes get some real analytical insight. I know that sounds like dry theory, but I think it can be rewarding for any choir director to think this way!

A very clear example of this happened today at the communion in the ordinary form. The communion sets an excerpt from today’s gospel about the wise and foolish virgins. As usual, the Gregorian author did a great job of paraphrasing the gospel text to make a coherent and beautiful antiphon focused on one important aspect from the gospel lesson. That could be the basis for a whole other post. Anyway, the melody also moves between modes in an interesting way. First off, we have this phrase:

The antiphon is in mode 5, but if we single out this phrase, we are most certainly in mode 6, which is the mode of devotion. How fitting for the prudent virgins, who keep their vessels full of oil against the bridegroom’s coming—a praiseworthy act of devotion! When the cry comes announcing the coming of the bridegroom, it bursts forth into the fifth mode, the mode of joy:

This sudden rise up to the high E makes a really startling effect in context. As a depiction of the Lord’s coming, it it reminiscent of the image of the lightning coming from the east to the west.

Finally, we get a rather unusual (for a communion chant) melodic repetition, but with a new continuation:

On the command “go out,” the melody also goes outside of its previous limits, finding a new peak on the high F. Of course we don’t really think about chants in tonal terms, but the Schenkerian in me can’t help hearing this F as a long-term resolution to the high E in the previous phrase. If you’d rather think about this in a more historical way, we can think of the pointed character of the La on which we would sing the E in the solmization system, which finds some resolution in finally attaining the softness of the fa (F) above. Toward the cadence, the melody on the ending of “Christo” is also reminiscent of one of the formulaic phrases from fifth-mode graduals.

These are some tentative, sketchy beginnings of an analysis that occurred to me today while singing. Do you find the move from the mode of devotion to the mode of joy suggestive? For me, this kind of thinking helps me to shape the melody in my own singing.

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

Filed Under: Articles Last Updated: November 13, 2023

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About Dr. Charles Weaver

Dr. Charles Weaver is on the faculty of the Juilliard School, and serves as director of music for St. Mary’s Church. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and four children.—(Read full biography).

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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
    Urgent! • We Desperately Need Funds!
    A few days ago, the president of Corpus Christi Watershed posted this urgent appeal for funds. Please help us make sure we’re never forced to place our content behind a paywall. We feel it’s crucial that 100% of our content remains free to everyone. We’re a tiny 501(c)3 public charity, entirely dependent upon the generosity of small donors. We have no endowment and no major donors. We run no advertisements and have no savings. We beg you to consider donating $4.00 per month. Thank you!
    —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

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“I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me shall find me.”

— Proverbs 8

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