grier j. the musical world of a medieval monk

This page intentionally left blank THE MUSICAL WORLD OF AMEDIEVALMONK James Grier documents the musical activities of Ade ´ mar de Chabannes, eleventh-century monk, historian, homilist and tireless polemicist for the apostolic status of Saint Martial, patron saint of the abbey that bore his name in Limoges. Ade ´ mar left behind some 451 folios of music with notation in his autograph hand, a musical resource without equal before the seventeenth century. He introduced, at strategic moments, pieces familiar from the standard liturgy for an apostle and items of his own composition. These reveal Ade ´ mar to be a supremely able designer of liturgies and a highly original composer. This study analyses his accomplishments as a musical scribe, compiler of liturgies, editor of existing musical works and composer; it also offers a speculative consideration of his abilities as a singer; and, finally, it places Ade ´ mar’s musical activities in the context of liturgical, musical and political developments at the abbey of Saint Martial in Limoges. JAMES GRIER is Professor of Music History at the University of Western Ontario. He is the author of The Critical Editing of Music: History, Method, and Practice (Cambridge, 1996), and his work has appeared in many journals including Journal of the American Musicological Society, Early Music History, Acta Musicologica, Revue d’Histoire des Textes, Speculum and Scriptorium. THE MUSICAL WORLD OF AMEDIEVALMONK Ade ´ mar de Chabannes in Eleventh-Century Aquitaine JAMES GRIER CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK First published in print format ISBN-13 978-0-521-85628-7 ISBN-13 978-0-511-26881-6 © James Grier 2006 2006 Information on this title: www.cambrid g e.or g /9780521856287 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. ISBN-10 0-511-26881-5 ISBN-10 0-521-85628-0 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org hardback eBook (EBL) eBook (EBL) hardback For Sally Contents Preface page ix A note on the musical examples and the edition xv 1 Introduction: Ade ´ mar de Chabannes and Saint Martial de Limoges 1 Saint Martial de Limoges 4 The musical community at Saint Martial 6 The musical community in the eleventh century 11 Ade ´ mar de Chabannes (989 –1034) 17 Ade ´ mar and Pa 1121 20 Ade ´ mar, Pa 909 and the apostolicity of Saint Martial 25 2 Music scribe 37 The early history of notation in Aquitaine 40 The nature and function of music books produced at Saint Martial 45 A comparison with the use of musical notation at Saint Gall 49 The identification of Ade ´ mar’s music hand 52 The purpose of musical notation in Ade ´ mar’s music manuscripts 56 Ade ´ mar’s musical notation 67 Grouping and ligation 69 Special neumes: Quilisma, Inverted Virga, Oriscus, Pes Stratus, Tristropha 70 Liquescence 74 The notation of sequentiae 77 Ade ´ mar’s copying techniques 85 3 Compiler 97 Borrowing and adapting at Saint Martial 98 The apostolic Mass for Martial 105 The troped Masses for Austriclinian and Justinian 115 The apostolic Office for Martial 116 The apostolic Office for Martial: responsories and verses 123 The apostolic Office for Martial: textual revisions 126 vii Minor chants of the Office: versicles, short responsories and the Benedicamus domino 132 Responsorial tones 135 Responsory melismata 154 4 Editor 159 Texted pieces: liquescence 162 Texted pieces: repeated notes and differences in pitch 174 Untexted pieces: the commission and correction of error 182 Untexted pieces: editorial correction 190 Untexted pieces: editorial revision 195 Editing the Divine Office: Pa 909 201 Editing the Divine Office: Pa 1978 204 5 Composer 209 Identifying Ade ´ mar’s original compositions 212 The scope of Ade ´ mar’s original compositions 217 Offices for Saints Vale ´ rie, Austriclinian and Cybard 219 The texts 224 Musical images in the texts 231 Ade ´ mar’s compositional style: adaptations 234 Formulaic composition 240 Free compositions: Office chants 243 Sequence: Arce polorum 250 Procession on Montjovis: Ave pastor optime 256 Melodic revision: Principes populorum and Allelvia V/ Beati oculi 264 6 Singer 272 Benedictine monasticism and singing 273 Music in Ade ´ mar’s literary works 275 Ade ´ mar as music scribe and editor 280 Ade ´ mar and melismatic chant 290 7 Conclusion: The success of the apostolic campaign 296 Pa 1138 /1338 and the prosae for Saint Martial 299 Pa 5240 and the hymns for Martial 305 Pa 1119 : Ade ´ mar’s troped apostolic mass and prosae for Martial 308 Pa 1137 and 1132: The Cluniac adoption of the apostolicity 316 Appendix A Manuscripts with Ade ´ mar’s music hand 327 Appendix B Ade ´ mar’s original compositions 330 Bibliography 336 Index of chants 359 Index of manuscripts 363 General index 365 viii Contents [...]... about the musical activities of Ademar de Chabannes than of any other medieval musician, with the possible exception of Guillaume de Machaut This knowledge derives from a bizarre series of historical accidents that caused the abbey of Saint Martial de Limoges to become ´ the setting for the strange drama that became the latter phase of Ademar’s ´mar turned to Saint Martial, initially as the place of his... for the saints most im´ portant to the abbey (Martial above all, but also Valerie and others) and became a centre for the production, preservation and transmission of the relatively new liturgical repertories of tropes and sequences The monks of its scriptorium also significantly refined the Aquitanian dialect of musical notation and advanced the role of musical literacy in the pedagogy and ´ transmission... Martial, first bishop of Limoges and patron saint of the abbey that bears his name, was an apostle 3 Grier, “Roger de Chabannes.” 4 The musical world of a medieval monk SAINT MARTIAL DE LIMOGES Our best informant about the historical Martial and the early history of the abbey founded in Limoges on the site of his tomb remains Gregory of Tours Gregory places Martial in the third century among a group of. .. Tropes of the Proper of the Mass II Office for the Feast of Saint Martial III Prosae IV Seventy-Two Verses about Saint Martial V Alleluias ´ VI Office for the Feast of Saint Valerie VII Office for the Feast of Saint Austriclinian VIII Office for the Feast of Saint Cybard IXA Sequentiary IXB Appendix to the Sequentiary Appendix A Pieces Unique to Pa 1978 Appendix B Erased Responsorial Chants in the Untroped... provides a portion of Matins for a Feast of Saint Martial.22 These chants all form part of the complete patronal Offices for Martial in Pa 1085 and so were also probably composed at the abbey, again to create a more distinctive liturgy for the patron saint.23 The idea that musicians at Saint Martial could impose a personal or institutional stamp on the liturgy through the introduction of tropes and prosae... witnesses, then, we can characterize the musical environment at the abbey of Saint Martial around AD 1000 The abbey’s musicians embraced a wide variety of repertories that reflected the latest developments in liturgical music, on the one hand, and a retrospective fascination with lyric expression from the Carolingian era on the other The latter body of song also broadens the focus of the abbey’s musical practice... departure for pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1033 or 1 2 The musical world of a medieval monk early 1034, he deposited this material in the abbey library at Saint Martial There, it was safeguarded by those monks sympathetic to the apostolic ´ programme, who would eventually use Ademar’s documents to justify a return to the apostolic cult And sixth, perhaps strangest of all, the monks at Saint Martial preserved... entered after the corner was removed Similarly, the fragmentary processional in the lower text of the palimpsest in the last gathering of Pa 1085 was also left incomplete before it was appropriated for the completion of the abbey’s antiphoner Several of the items left unerased in the lower margin of the antiphoner lack musical notation even though ample space is given And the visible marks of erasure on the. .. 165; [Ademar], Commemoratio abbatum, ed Duples-Agier, pp 3–4; and Ademar, Epistola de apostolatu For modern commentary, see Castaigne, “Dissertation,” especially the genealogical 18 The musical world of a medieval monk Turpio coincidentally held the positions of abbot of Saint Martial and bishop of Limoges in the tenth century, and, in his father’s generation, his paternal uncles Adalbertus ({1007) and... of music manuscripts in the scriptorium of Saint Martial in Limoges, initially in ix x Preface the second half of 1027, in the aftermath of his disappointment at not securing the office of abbot at his home abbey of Saint Cybard in ˆ Angouleme, and then again a year later, after the death of Count William ˆ of Angouleme under mysterious circumstances in April 1028 and the subsequent deterioration of . on the musical examples and the edition CHAPTER 1 Introduction: Ade ´ mar de Chabannes and Saint Martial de Limoges We know more about the musical activities of Ade ´ mar de Chabannes than of any. become the setting for the strange drama that became the latter phase of Ade ´ mar’s life. First, Ade ´ mar turned to Saint Martial, initially as the place of his advanced education but later and. fraudulent tales of the apostolic status of Martial, patron saint of the abbey that bore his name in Limoges. His principal vehicle for the promulgation of the campaign to secure official acceptance of