Mode V
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    I am confused about this.

    Writing the SEP accompaniments, I became accustomed to the frequent use of the "te" interval. Whatever the clef indicates as "do" could be heard as the 5th interval in a modern day major scale. This seems to be true perusing through latin propers of the same mode. The De Angelis Kyrie and Gloria are good examples of this too.

    Now, when writing for the PBP, I started off in this mindset but realized that it is not always so. See the attached selection. In the first line there is "ti" and in the second it is explicitly "te." However, using the "ti" interval on the first line grinds against modal sensibilities (it just screams V/V).


    I am curious how this should be approached. It significantly changes the way I'd go about harmonizing these ... and the pointing of the psalms as well. If "do" here is set to G as its pitch, should "whom should I be afraid" be A-F-F-G-E-E or A-F#-F#-G-E-E? The notation indicates the latter, but what I'm accustomed to hearing from mode V indicates the former.
    modev.pdf
    53K
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    Here's an example with accompaniment ... which is entirely off if I've misread the neumes. The notation in the PBP indicates that the F's ought all be sharped here.
    3rd Sunday A.pdf
    30K
    3rd.pdf
    54K
  • billmcjohn
    Posts: 14
    I'm used to singing & hearing (and seeing) the version of the psalm tone with the raised fourth (F-sharp in your description, taking the final as C). That's what appears in the old Antiphonale Monasticum and the Liber Usualis (and the verses of introits in the Graduale Romanum). The newer Antiphonale Romanum also gives an alternate termination using the lowered fourth scale degree.

    In the fifth mode, the fourth scale degree is unstable. Often, if it's associated with the fifth scale degree, it's raised; if it's melodically related to the final, it's lowered. Look at the introit Verba mea (Thursday of the 1st week of Lent; Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent in the 1961 GR) for an interesting example.

    Bill McJohn
    Thanked by 2ryand CHGiffen
  • ryandryand
    Posts: 1,640
    That's a good explanation, thank you. I've dealt with that in mode I (the 6th being variable depending on context), just never in mode V before.
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