Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

e. printed notations

H. Riemann: Notenschrift und Notendruck (Leipzig, 1896)

R. Molitor: Deutsche Choral-Wiegendrucke: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Chorals und des Notendruckes in Deutschland (Regensburg, 1904)

G.M. Suñol: Método completo para tres cursos de canto gregoriano segun la escuela de Solesmes (Montserrat, 1905; Eng. trans., 1930)

A. Mocquereau: Le nombre musical grégorien ou rythmique grégorienne: théorie et pratique, i (Tournai, 1908; Eng. trans., 1932); ii (Tournai, 1927)

L. David: ‘La restauration du chant grégorien et le mensuralisme’, Ephemerides liturgicae, xli (1927), 245–77, 349

J. Gajard: La méthode de Solesmes, ses principes constitutifs, ses règles pratiques d'interprétation (Tournai, 1951)

A.H. King: Four Hundred Years of Music Printing (London, 1964)

A.J. Bescond: Le chant grégorien (Paris, 1972)

Graduale triplex, seu Graduale romanum Pauli PP. VI cura recognitum & rhythimicis signis a Solesmensibus monachis ornatum, neumis laudunensibus (cod. 239) et sangallensibus (cod. San Gallensis 359 et Einsidlensis 121) nunc auctum (Solesmes, 1979)

Offertoriale triplex cum versiculis (Solesmes,1985) [with neumes of F-LA 239 and E 121]

Notation, §III: History of Western notation

2. Polyphony and secular monophony to c1260.

This section is devoted almost exclusively to the notation of rhythm, an emphasis borne out by the theoretical sources from later in this period. Apart from the Aquitanian manuscripts mentioned below, which display the neume dialect particular to this region, the music is notated in the square notation of plainchant (see above, §III, 1(vi)), which originally had no rhythmic significance, but acquired durational values for use in polyphony. Detailed descriptions of the sources of early polyphony discussed below may be found in Sources, MS, §IV; manuscripts containing secular monophony are treated in Sources, MS, §III.

(i) Neume patterns in Aquitanian polyphony, c1100–c1200.

(ii) Pre-modal rhythm.

(iii) The system of modal rhythm.

(iv) Coniuncturae, plicae and strokes.

(v) Modal rhythm in practice.

(vi) Organum purum, modus non rectus and irregular modes.

(vii) English practice.

(viii) Mensural notation before Franco.

(ix) The rhythmic interpretation of polyphonic and monophonic conductus.

(x) The rhythmic interpretation of secular monophony.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Notation, §III, 2: Polyphony and secular monophony to c1260

(i) Neume patterns in Aquitanian polyphony, c1100–c1200.

Several conspicuous features emerge in the notation of Aquitanian polyphony, including the Codex Calixtinus (E-SC, copied in central France c1150–80; see Huglo, 1995). One is a predilection for stronger consonance at the ends of neume-against-neume or note-against-neume units; another is the use of patterned melismas (e.g. strings of two- or three-note neumes). Stäblein (1963) and Karp (1992) proposed that rhythmic configurations akin to those of the later modal system may be present. Ex.5 is an example of Aquitanian/Compostelan polyphony with a hypothetical rhythmic transcription.

The preference for consonance at the ends of neumes is particularly striking in texted sections of conductus, versus and Benedicamus settings, where it belies the supposed pitch alignment and syllable placement implied by the sources; regular neumatic patternings are prominent in final melismas (or caudas), and also appear in organal voices of chant settings. A connection with Parisian polyphony is possible, although no theoretical witness supports such an association. One of the pieces in the Codex Calixtinus is attributed to Magister Albertus Parisiensis (d 1177), who has been identified with a cantor of Notre Dame; this ascription, however, is not certain.

Notation, §III, 2: Polyphony and secular monophony to c1260

(ii) Pre-modal rhythm.

As with interpretations of the Aquitanian repertory, the first manifestations of rhythmic indications in the Parisian corpus are difficult to construe (for a recent attempt, see Roesner, 1990). The period proposed for the musical activity is between about 1160 and 1250, while the surviving manuscript sources and theoretical testimony date from between about 1230 and 1300; this disjunction has meant that the historical picture is largely speculative and in dispute. It is evident, however, that at some point during the composition of the Notre Dame repertory certain portions of organa and conductus (discant passages, copulas, caudas and clausulas) were subject to rhythmic realization and recorded in a notation that conveyed the essence of this practice. Temporal durations were indicated by grouping the notes together as ligatures, rather than by discrete shapes.

The earliest evidence of this practice occurs in the opening portion of the anonymous treatise Discantus positio vulgaris (c1225–40), which advises that two-note ligatures represent a short–long (i.e. breve–long, or B–L) gesture, three-note groups signify long–breve–long (L–B–L) and those with four notes are all short; when more than four notes are found in a ligature they are executed at the discretion of the performer and not according to any specific criteria. The ratio of the long value to the short is 2:1, with greater or lesser durations described as ‘beyond measure’ (ultra mensuram). Although such lengths are strictly inexpressible as ‘long’ or ‘short’, they were not alien to the rhythmic practice. For example, single notes, such as those employed for a chant tenor in a discant passage or as a solitary figure within a ligatured portion, are described as having the duration of a long and a breve combined, that is, a ternary (later ‘perfect’) long value. In addition, the treatise implies that durations in ligatures are flexible; they may communicate different values depending on their position in a melodic phrase (e.g. a three-note ligature may have a value of B–B–L when preceded by a long). Such basic rules of thumb as given in the Discantus form the starting point for interpreting the rhythmic properties of Parisian polyphony. However, they neither suggest a fully developed system nor invoke the terminology of the rhythmic modes that was to be a staple of later theoretical works.

Notation, §III, 2: Polyphony and secular monophony to c1260