HAVE ALWAYS believed that “conducting from the keyboard” is an insult to the ensemble. (Others will disagree.) I realize that great musicians like Mozart sometimes conducted “from the keyboard.” Nonetheless, the soloist who conducts from the keyboard unconsciously tells the ensemble: “I will conduct you—but only when I’m not busy doing my own stuff.” On the other hand, the conscientious choirmaster frequently has no choice in the matter. For example, when I accompany on the pipe organ I often allow one of my singers to conduct. The problem is, sometimes that singer is absent. That means I’m back to “conducting from the keyboard.” This can be a source of great frustration, especially when members of the choir start to compete with one another. If the conductor is busy playing the organ, this can’t be addressed.
They Love This Piece • Below is a hymn tune choir members absolutely love singing. You will notice a few of the choir members began to “compete with one another”—but there was nothing I could do because I was playing the organ:
Provenance Problems • That hymn melody (called IOANNES in the Brébeuf Catholic Hymnal) is similar but not identical to a melody from the 1920s called ST BOTOLPH. One difference is that ST BOTOLPH is significantly shorter (86.86.) than IOANNES, which is an 88.88 meter. Tracing the provenance of hymn tunes is notoriously ticklish. One of my professors used to say: “There’s only seven notes in the diatonic scale!” As a result, there’s always “sharing” or “borrowing” or “stealing” that goes on. A famous example is BRESLAU compared to WINCHESTER NEW, as you can see:
Gregorian Rhythm Wars • Years ago, we started a series called “Gregorian Chant Rhythm Wars.” During that series, one of the interlocutors noted (pardon the pun) that hymn melodies’ rhythm often changes. Sometimes “duple” is changed to “triple”—and vice versa. Ancient versions of the hymns are often rather jagged—that is to say, the meter is irregular. According to Dr. Horst Buchholz, Sebastian Bach “smoothed out” many of those tunes for Cantatas and Passions he composed. To give an example of what I’m talking about, consider BRESLAU (mentioned above). Many hymnals print that tune in triple time, although 4/4 is more common:
Poor Analogy (1 of 2) • The interlocutor in Gregorian Rhythm Wars said that because metrical hymnody sometimes has rhythmic variation through the years, that means plainsong’s rhythm could have been radically different in the year 900AD than it was in 950AD. My personal opinion is that his analogy was quite poor. If such a radical change to the fundamentals of Gregorian chant rhythm—let’s say in the year 950AD—I’m absolutely convinced we would have “traces” or “evidence” or “clues” of such a massive recasting. I would bet my life on the fact that no such changed happened. How can I be so sure? One reason is that hundreds of ancient manuscripts have been made available online—yet not one of them betrays a “former” or “authentic” rhythm that was suddenly abandoned … even by accident!
Poor Analogy (2 of 2) • Another reason is that it wouldn’t have been possible to notify everyone in Europe of such a fundamental change. There were no telephones, and travel was extremely dangerous and frightfully difficult. Email was still more than 1,000 years away! Even if such a thing were possible, human beings tend to be contrarian. As a result, surely some of the monasteries would have rejected such a change—preserving this supposed “true” or “original” or “authentic” rhythmic system—but there’s no evidence of that taking place. Not one punctum!
Pothier Vindicated • Indeed, 101 years after the death of Abbat Joseph Pothier, we see that his basic theory—the shockingly consistent “one-to-one correspondence” of the mediæval neumes, broadly speaking—has been strengthened, not diminished. Abbat Pothier stubbornly resisted the idea that 2-3 manuscripts could be elevated above the testimony of thousands of others (which were also very ancient). Abbat Pothier took into consideration the entire manuscript tradition, not just 2-3 manuscripts which were particularly beautiful or happened to be easily accessible, and he was correct to do so. Perhaps Auguste Pécoul (considered the spiritual “son” of Abbat Prosper Guéranger of Solesmes) put it best, writing on 24 June 1901:
“To forestall any confusion, let us remember that there is just one Gregorian notation—that restored, according to the ancient manuscripts, by the eminent Abbot of Saint-Wandrille, Dom Pothier.”
