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Atkinson, Charles M International Musicological Society / Internationale Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft Research Group / Forschungsgruppe CANTUS PLANUS 13th Conference / 13. Tagung Benediktinerabtei Niederaltaich 29. August – 4. September 2006 und Regensburg 1. September 2006 CANTUS PLANUS 2006 ABSTRACTS Charles M. Atkinson (Ohio State University at Columbus) Ars grammatica and the Ars musica in Carolingian Schools - Glosses on Martianus Capella and Boethius In his De musica, written about 1100 of the Common Era, the writer known as Johannes Cotto or Affligemensis names several ancient authors whose works were central to formation of the discipline of music, the ars musica. Among them are two one might expect, Martianus Capella and Boethius, but John also accords a prominent role to Donatus and Priscian, representatives of the discipline of grammar. Indeed, in his treatment of mode in the tenth chapter of his work, the only ancient authority John cites by name is Donatus, and he draws several direct parallels between the ars grammatica and the practice of plainchant. Far from being an isolated phenomenon, John's invocation of both Latin grammar and ancient Greek harmonic theory in a treatise on music is well established in the early Middle Ages, with important examples to be found in 9th-century treatises such as the Musica Disciplina of Aurelianus Reomensis, dating from approximately 850, and the Musica and Scolica enchiriadis, probably dating from somewhat later in the century. The question naturally arises: Whence cometh this dual focus within the ars musica? This paper will explore one answer to that question: viz., the nature of instruction in grammar and music in Carolingian schools. ~Z7HHGF~ Rebecca A. Baltzer (University of Texas at Austin) A Gallican Remnant in the Paris Mass: Episcopal Benedictions Scholars have long acknowledged that sets of episcopal benedictions are a Gallican remnant in the medieval mass. The oldest extant Paris pontifical, from the early 13th century, opens with one hundred and ten sets of benedictions, and the first set, for the first Sunday of Advent, includes musical notation. Each set has five benedictions; the first three are proper to the day, and the last two are ordinary, written out only in the first set. In the mass they come after the Pater noster and Libera nos, just before the Peace and the Agnus dei. In this source the benedictions cover all the feasts and Sundays of the Temporale plus some ferias and the Common of saints, but there are less than two dozen sets proper to feasts of the Sanctorale. Taking note of medieval commentators on the liturgy, I will compare this collection of benedictions with earlier and later ones from Paris (9th-16thcs) and with collections from other locales in terms of their coverage and their variant readings. A handout will include selected texts, music, and translations. ~Z7HHGF~ Hilde Binford The "Loblied" of the Old Order Amish: Tracing the Oral Tradition of a 400-year Old Tune The "Loblied" is the second "slow song" sung in every Old Order Amish church service. Passed down in an oral tradition through the male song leaders, it provides a paradigm for medieval chant and other oral traditions. The Old Order Amish chant tradition dates back to the sixteenth century. The texts to these tunes are contained in the Ausbund with no music notation, but the texts and tunes still are used in the services. Popular secular and sacred tunes are identified with incipits as the root melodies, and scholars have looked at the diminution and ornamentation that characterize the tunes, comparing them to both melismatic medieval chant and Baroque ornaments. It is possible to learn how the Old Order Amish slow songs are transmitted and to determine the extent of change as the tradition has evolved over time and regionally. Perhaps what is most astonishing is the stability of the oral tradition over the last 65 years. Already, though, changes are occurring. In a parallel to medieval chant tradition, some Amish started jotting markings like neumes into their Ausbunds to help remember the shape of the melody. The greatest impact on the tunes, however, has been with the introduction of written transcriptions of the slow songs, available in the Old Amish communities beginning around 1990. With these written transcriptions, the song leaders are seeing that the memory of less common tunes are being lost, and the notes don't capture the articulation and phrasing that are unique to the Amish. The very imperfect written transcription may presage a loss to the character of the Amish slow songs. ~Z7HHGF~ James Borders (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) Chants for the Consecration of Virgins Based on an examination of over 100 manuscript pontificals of mainly French, English, and Italian origin, this presentation will survey the repertoire of some thirty antiphons and responsories for the consecration of virgins, and group the collections regionally and chronologically. This approach reveals, among other things, how widely the selections chants varied compared with other pontifical services, let alone the mass and office. Also clear is how extensively the last and most widely disseminated consecration ritual, in the Pontifical of William Durandus of Mende (compiled ca. 1293- 1295), transmits earlier regional ritual practices and chants. Examining the sung texts further reveals how the chants-many borrowed from offices of virgin martyrs-enhanced and sometimes contested the meaning of this rite of passage; musical settings suggest an increasing differentiation in the bishop's and the consecrands' musical roles. Finally the presenter will consider whether the unique characteristics of consecration rituals and surveyed patterns of chant transmission warrant investigation into the possible involvement of nuns in designing such services particularly in the later Middle Ages. ~Z7HHGF~ Charles E. Brewer (Florida State University) The Songs of Johannes Decanus Included among the well-known collection of cantiones and Benedicamus tropes copied at the end of the Moosburger Gradual (München, Universitätsbibliothek, 2° Cod. ms. 156, ff.230v-250v) are five works attributed to "Johannes Decanus." Though earlier scholars have examined this repertoire as a whole, both in terms of its contents and concordances, no previous scholar has examined the unusual nature of two of the songs written by the Moosburg deacon, Johannes de Perchausen (+ 15.VIII.1362). This paper will place the songs of Johannes Decanus in the larger context of fourteenth-century melodic concepts and in relation not only to the other songs of the Moosburger Gradual, but also to the larger repertoire of fourteenth-century monophonic song in Latin. Three of these songs (Mos florentis venustatis, Flos campi profert lilium, and Ad cultum tue laudis), with a few exceptions, follow the traditions evident in medieval Latin song from the late eleventh century on, including the consistent use of melodic rhyme, internal repetition of phrase units in both the verses and the refrains, and clear modal centering. Two songs (Castis psallamus mentibus, and his Benedicamus trope, Florizet vox dulcisonans), however, represent a radical departure from these "norms," through the unusual structuring of their melodies. These anomalous songs may reflect Johannes's desire to stretch the training and musicality of the young scholars of the Moosburg church. ~Z7HHGF~ Clyde W. Brockett (Christopher Newport University) The Repertory of Processional Antiphons: Work-in-Progress In this paper I report my work-in-progress on an edition of processional antiphons post quem non 1200. I will relate the background of this project, accesses and contributions to the collection process, its scope, organization, indices, inventories, and phases with dates completed. A handout will furnish an overview of my method of accomplishing objectives in these phases. I will illustrate the mechanism for transcription of texts and melodies and the incorporation of commentary. This report aims to gauge the value as well as the enormity of the project. ~Z7HHGF~ John Caldwell (Oxford University) What is a neume? The Latin word neuma, from which the English ‘neume’, like cognate words in other languages, is derived, did not originally refer to a notational symbol but rather to a melisma or musical phrase or even a single pitch. Sometimes it is not entirely clear in which sense a modern or a medieval writer is using the term. However, it would be difficult to eradicate the use of the word in its notational sense (nowadays the primary one in the vernacular languages), and the problems of definition that I wish to address are just as pressing if one substitutes ‘note’ or ‘sign’ for ‘neume’. ‘Note’ is in any case sometimes used more restrictively to mean the sign for a single pitch or tone (and, in British English, for the single pitch or tone itself) in contradistinction to ‘neume’ to mean a compound sign. Is this a useful distinction? Irrespective of that point, how does one decide where one neume ends and the next one begins? How appropriate is the term for Eastern chant? A different issue is the distinction sometimes made between ‘neumes’ in campo aperto and diastematically arranged ‘notes’. This again is problematic, although the point at which, in the development of notation (polyphonic as well as monophonic), the term neume becomes wholly inappropriate is not easy to decide. A final issue is the terminology currently employed to classify different types of (western) neume- notation. The use of
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