Medicæan Chant in the Early 17th Century
  • edward.yong
    Posts: 30
    Hi!

    Would anyone here have any idea about how chant in the Medicæan editions would have been sung in early 17th c. Rome?
    'Badly' is not an ideal answer here :p

    Would it have been free rhythm the way most of us sing chant these days, or in fixed rhythm?
    Thanked by 2M. Jackson Osborn Jeffrey Quick
  • Protasius
    Posts: 468
    The Directorium chori by Guidetti seems to point in the direction of fixed rhythm. The last page of De modo utendi directorio explains the note values.
    Thanked by 2edward.yong Andris Amolins
  • StimsonInRehabStimsonInRehab
    Posts: 1,916
    Paging Nihil! And Incardination!
    Thanked by 2Carol edward.yong
  • a_f_hawkins
    Posts: 3,372
    Guidetti says there: Square is a breve counting one time unit often one syllable, lozenge is a semibreve counting half a time unit, and square with a tail is a breve and a half. But is this intended strictly, or just as a rough guide? The vertical bars do not always cut the music into a whole number of breves.
    Thanked by 1edward.yong
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    Schildknecht's accompaniment edition, with the melodies transcribed into whole, half, and quarter notes, corroborates what a_f_hawkins says. Is the rhythmic interpretation likely to have changed in two and a half centuries? Probably not.
    Thanked by 1edward.yong
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    I cannot speak on this authoritatively, but can offer the cursory observation that a degree of mensuralism was characteristic of Medicean practice, the various neumes being assigned metrical values. Some degree of long and short notes corresponded to the more and less important syllables in speech, 'more and less' meaning 1) syllables which are strong or longer in ordinary speech, and 2) the sort of syllables that are often carelessly skipped over.

    This is a very general observation, and is not the result of in depth study of this particular manifestation of western ritual chant.

    I do have Cyril Pocknee's French Diocesan Hymns and Their Melodies, which would confirm what observations I made above.
    Thanked by 2edward.yong Andris Amolins
  • edward.yong
    Posts: 30
    Wow, you folk are amazing, thank you so much! Would anyone know where to find the 1614 Graduale de Tempore in a pdf form online? All I can find is the Kyriale extract from IMSLP.
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Why are you seeking this information?
    Are you doing a 'period' organ recital with alternatim chant?
    A 'period' mass?
    A sacred concert featuring 'period' chant?
    Writing a paper or a thesis?
    ???.
    Thanked by 1edward.yong
  • edward.yong
    Posts: 30
    The group I'm directing is doing an Eastertide concert of the music of Animuccia, Palestrina, and F. Anerio. We thought to intersperse the pieces with chant of the period that the composers would have known, and the Medicaean Graduale is likely to have been what they knew and used, rather than the 'restored' versions.
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,368
    Fascinating!
    Wunderbar!
    Godspeed!
    Thanked by 1edward.yong
  • madorganist
    Posts: 906
    The 1871 Pustet Gradual might do the trick for you. If not, check the resources here.
    Thanked by 2edward.yong M. Jackson Osborn
  • edward.yong
    Posts: 30
    I have had a look at the 1871 Pustet Gradual, and I have a 1856 Ordo Hebdomadae Sanctae printed at Mechlin. There are some minor differences in the melodies, so I'd be really curious to see what the earliest versions from the 1600s would look like.
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