Hermannus Augiensis, the »Musica« of Hermannus Contractus

FranciaRecensio 2017/1 Mittelalter – Moyen Âge (500–1500)

Hermannus Augiensis, The »Musica« of Hermannus Contractus. Edited and Translated by Leonard Ellinwood. Revised with a New Introduction by John L. Snyder, Rochester, NY (University of Rochester Press) 2015, XVII–221 p. (Eastman Studies in Music, 128), ISBN 9781580463904, GBP 55,00. rezensiert von/compte rendu rédigé par Karen M. Cook, Hartford, CT

Hermann of Reichenau (1013–1054) was a famed historian, astronomer, poet, composer, and theorist. He played a crucial role in the introduction of the astrolabe to Western Europe and left behind a chronicle of world history, numerous poems, and several musical compositions. He is best known in music for his one theoretical treatise, a crucial work simply entitled »Musica«. Of noble birth, he was born into a wellplaced family in southeastern Germany, but he suffered grave health problems from early childhood; several sources describe him as being weak, unable to walk or even sit for long periods, and his speech was difficult to understand. These difficulties earned him the appellation »Hermannus Contractus«, or »Hermann the Lame« (of the contracting limbs). Modern scholars have suggested he might have been afflicted by cerebral palsy, spastic diplegia, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or spinal muscular atrophy, but such retrospective diagnoses hinge on vague descriptions and are speculative at best. He left his family at the age of seven, possibly for the Abbey of Reichenau, where he received his education and where he remained for the rest of his life, well known as one of the brightest intellects of his day. He was beatified in 1863; his feast day is on September 25.

»Musica« has long been considered, at least by some, to be one of the most important early medieval treatises on music. The present volume is a newly revised edition and facingpage translation. The standard text to date has been that of Leonard Ellinwood, originally published in 1936 and reprinted in 1952; this edition updates the latter to reflect both subsequent scholarship and more recent musicological approaches. A third, though fragmentary, source (Kassel, Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel, 4 Mss Math. 1) was discovered after Ellinwood’s publication and is included here. Also since the previous volume, several of Hermann’s works have been discredited (including the famed Marian antiphons »Alma redemptoris mater« and »Salve regina«) while others have been newly edited, all of which editor John L. Snyder (professor of music theory and musicology, Moores School of Music, University of Houston) takes into account here.

Ellinwood’s original preface is included alongside a new and illuminating introduction by Snyder. Drawing on existing scholarship, Snyder lays out all known biographical details of Hermann’s life and takes especial care to discuss modern evaluations of his physical condition. He includes new codicological descriptions of all three sources as well as an overview of possible stemmatic

»Musica« focuses primarily on the organization of pitch in plainchant, drawing heavily on both Germanic and newer Italian traditions along with the usual ancient Greek authorities. As the treatise is neither exclusively speculative nor practical, Hermann’s intended readers are not entirely clear, and he himself even wonders whom they might be, speaking to »my listener (whoever you are)« – Tu ergo quicumque es meus auditor (p. 118–119). His listeners would not have been novices, though; he assumes, for example, that his audience is fully familiar with the monochord. Snyder states that the central theme of the work, the relationship of the fourth, fifth, and octave to the ecclesiastical modes, is a fairly specialized topic that was probably of particular concern to Hermann. The treatise might, then, be linked to a specifically German tradition within the monastic choir schools, and might even have been a pedagogical aid, but it cannot be dated any more exactly than to the last twentyfive years of Hermann’s life.

Hermann draws on the traditional authority figures: Aristotle and Virgil on the one hand, Boethius and Ptolemy on the other, with substantial nods to Guido, PseudoOdo, and PseudoBernelinus. Within the treatise’s twentyodd chapters, he discusses four main topics: the monochord, tetrachords, the primary intervals of the fourth, fifth, and octave, and the modes; these topics are dispersed throughout the treatise rather than being presented in discrete sections. Hermann’s affinity for the numbers 4, 6, 7, and 8, which had symbolic and mystical resonance in addition to their musical importance, is clear throughout the treatise. His particular relationship with the number 4, for example, is demonstrated through his approach to the monochord and its divisions (into quarters here, instead of ninths), the four modal categories, his emphasis on the tetrachord (comprised of four notes), of which there were four species, and so forth. Hermann’s main emphasis, though, is on the correct understanding and recognition of the modes. He describes them in two groups, the four authentic modes separate from their plagal counterparts. Following PseudoBernelinus, Hermann labels the ambitus of each, along with their fundamental pitches: final, fourth, fifth, octave, and reciting tone, as appropriate. After his discussion of modes and intervals, Hermann moves more into the realm of practical music, citing twentyseven examples of plainchant, of which twenty are thus far identifiable.

As for the edition itself, the transcription and translation have also been updated from Ellinwood’s earlier work. Snyder notes that he adjusted Ellinwood’s layout in places and reorganized several chapter demarcations in order to better reflect the content. The translation is indeed more concise and makes use of modernized English words and phrases, largely to great effect.

Additional benefits to this new volume are Snyder’s updated indices, which are divided for ease of reference into Latin words, cited chants, and general terms. His appendices are also of great value to the student of medieval music, especially with regard to plainchant or notation. The first appendix

Lizenzhinweis: Dieser Beitrag unterliegt der CreativeCommonsLizenz NamensnennungKeine kommerzielle NutzungKeine Bearbeitung (CCBYNCND), darf also unter diesen Bedingungen elektronisch benutzt, übermittelt, ausgedruckt und zum Download bereitgestellt werden. Den Text der Lizenz erreichen Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncnd/4.0/ contains documents relevant to Hermann’s biography (here translated together into English for the first time): his obituary notice, a vita by fellow monk and pupil Berthold of Reichenau, and an anonymous legend about Hermann found in the manuscript GbCcc 111. The second is a detailed list of Hermann’s plainchant citations, including information about genre, mode, and feast or season. Perhaps most useful to modern scholars is the crossreferencing between modern service books, published facsimiles, and the CANTUS database. The last appendix contains a description of Hermann’s diastematic notation, alongside a didactic melody meant to illustrate his graphic symbols and a table displaying the similarities between his system and those used by a group of anonymous treatises, Johannes Cotto (Afflighemensis), Theinred of Dover, and Jacobus, author of the »Speculum musicae«.

In purely practical terms, the volume is well executed in both design and structure. The various charts, maps, images, and musical examples are clear to read and appropriate for the material. Snyder’s critical apparatus, which includes variants from all known manuscript sources as well as previous additions, is equally negotiable. Readers will find his thorough footnotes to the translation and appendices quite helpful, as he incorporates previous scholarship and loci paralleli to demonstrate the origins and contexts of Hermann’s ideas as well as his not inconsiderable influence on later theorists, and to help parse awkward or ambiguous material to boot. This new edition is a welcome addition to any library and will surely eclipse Ellinwood’s older edition as a standard reference for Hermann studies, and for medieval musicology, from this point forward.