According to my research conducted in the Netherlands, the authentic rhythm of Gregorian chant in the 10th century includes both proportional elements and elements that are in agreement with semiology (see Van Kampen, 1994, 2005).
Starting with the expectation that the rhythm of Gregorian chant (and thus the duration of the individual notes) anyway adds to the expressivity of the sacred Latin texts, several word-related variables were studied for their relationship with several neume-related variables, exploring these relationships in a sample of introit chants using such statistical methods as correlational analysis and multiple regression analysis.
Besides the length of the syllables (measured in tenths of seconds), each text syllable was evaluated in terms of its position within the word to which it belongs, defining such variables as ‘the syllable has (1) or hasn’t (0) the main accent’, ‘the syllable is (1) or isn’t (0) at the end of a word’, etc., and in terms of the particular sounds produced (for instance, the syllable does (1) or does not (0) contain the vowel ‘i’). The various neume elements were evaluated by attaching different duration values to them, both in terms of semiological propositions (nuanced durations according to the manner of neume writing in Chris Hakkennes’ Graduale Lagal, 1984), and in terms of fixed duration values that were based on mensuralistic notions, however with ratios between short and long notes ranging from 1 : 1, via 1 : 1.2, 1 : 1.4, etc. to 1 : 3. To distinguish short and long notes, tables were consulted that were established by me in an unpublished comparative study regarding the neume notations according to St Gallen and Laon codices. With some exceptions, these tables confirm the short vs. long distinctions in Cardine’s 'Semiologie Gregorienne'.
The lengths of the neumes were given values by adding up the duration values for the separate neume elements, each time following a particular hypothesis concerning the rhythm of Gregoriant chant. Both the syllable lengths and the neume lengths were also expressed in relation to the total duration of the syllables, resp. neumes for a word (contextual variables). Correlating the various word and neume variables, substantial correlations were found for the word variables 'accented syllable' and 'contextual syllable duration'. Moreover, it could be established that the multiple correlation (R) between the two types of variables reaches its maximum (R is about 0.80 !) if the neumatic elements are evaluated according to the following ‘rules of duration’:
(a) neume elements that represent short notes in neumes consisting of at least two notes have duration values of 1 time;
(b) neume elements that represent long notes in neumes consisting of at least two notes have duration values of 2 times;
(c) neumes consisting of only one note are characterized by flexible duration values (with an average value of 2 times), which take over the duration values of the syllables to match.
It is interesting that the distinction between the first two rules and the latter rule can also be found in early treatises on music, introducing the terms metrum and rhythmus (see, e.g., Wagner, 1916; Jeannin, 1930). As it could also be demonstrated by me (in fact confirming data published by Reese, 1940) that melodic peaks often coincide with the word accent, the conclusion seems warranted that the Gregorian melodies enhance the expressiveness of the Latin words by mimicking to some extent both the accentuation of the sacred words (pitch differences between neumes) and the relative duration of the word syllables (by paying attention to well-defined length differences between the individual notes of a neume).
Dr. Dirk van Kampen
- Dirk van Kampen (1994). Het oorspronkelijke ritme van het Gregoriaans: Een ‘semiologisch-mensuralistische’ studie. Landsmeer, the Netherlands.
- Dirk van Kampen (2005). Uitgangspunten voor de ritmiek van Gregoriaans. Tijdschrift voor Gregoriaans, 30, 89-94.
Replies
Thanks Manuel. I will have a look at your paper.
Best, Dirk van Kampen
May be what I wrote in 1991 (published 1993) supports the same "middle-road" direction. Only the fist part concerns Gregorian Chant. You can see the article or download it if you adhere to the site Academia.edu.
The link is:
http://unl-pt.academia.edu/ManuelPedroFerreira/Papers/1284201/Bases...
Dear Monsieur Jacques Viret,
It was a pleasure to see your present respons. Indeed, we seem to have arrived at similar conclusions, - you from studying all what you mentioned in your former and present messages, and I by combining my reading of the musical treatises from the Middle Ages and the results I obtained in my statistical investigations (correlation, regression, and factor analyses). Thus far, I didn't see any study that more or less confirmed my conclusions about the true authentic rhythm, except some lines in Cattin's 'Music of the Middle Ages', Peter Wagner's publications, a paper by Jeannin, and now of course YOUR explanations. If you can send me some further information about your investigations and the results you got, I would be very pleased. In June I will go for a short holiday, but after that I will try to translate what you will send to me. My email address is kampendf@xs4all.nl By the way, I'm not a musicologist, but very much interested in gregorian chant. I'm the conductor of small choir, called the 'Schola Rhythmust et Metrum'. That sounds familiar isn't it? If you want, I can send you a PDF of a small book of mine about my investigations. So, please, inform me about your email address too.
Cher Monsieur van Kampen,
Merci de votre sympathique réaction qui me fait bien plaisir ! Je vous réponds en français car je lis un peu l'anglais mais ne le parle et écris guère. Il y a longtemps que je publie sur ces questions - entre autres -, mais vous êtes la première personne avec qui je puisse en discuter, alors merci !
Comme vous, je pense que la vérité en cette matière n'est ni entièrement du côté de Dom Cardine (qui reste inféodé au style "équaliste" de Solesmes et refuse donc le mensuralisme), ni entièrement du côté du mensuralisme (qui méconnaît l'"élasticité" des durées enseignée par Dom Cardine), quoiqu'il y ait du vrai des deux côtés. Le mensuralisme est clairement énoncé au XIe siècle par Gui d'Arezzo et par son commentateur Aribon, juste avant l'évolution - déplorée par Aribon - vers le cantus planus. Il peut être métrique ou non métrique (rubato). La tradition du mensuralisme non métrique (parlando, accentuel) s'est perpétuée, pour la psalmodie et les récitatifs, jusqu'à la réforme de Solesmes et Pie X (1903), réforme qui était tributaire du "cécilianisme" romantique allemand du XIXe siècle. On entend le mensuralisme non métrique, par exemple, dans l'enregistrement de la Lamentation par Alessandro Moreschi (1904) et jusque chez certains chanteurs corses actuels (Nicole Casalonga). Le mensuralisme des hymnes et séquences est métrique (tempo giusto) ; il a été banni par Solesmes, sous prétexte qu'"il n'est pas dans le caractère de la musique liturgique" (Dom Pothier, Les mélodies grégoriennes, 1880, chapitre 14) !
Le rythme grégorien originel est fort bien restitué, à mon avis, par Damien Poisblaud. Voir en particulier son CD "Requiem grégorien" (Alphée, 1996, récemment réédité), où se juxtaposent les mensuralismes métrique (Kyrie, Dies irae) et non métrique (lectures, introït, graduel, trait, etc.).
Je connais le Graduale Lagal de Chris Hakkennes, mais il me semble que personne n'en parle car il a été très sévèrement (et injustement) condamné par Dom Cardine. La théorie rythmique de ce dernier ("temps syllabique moyen" ou "valeur syllabique moyenne") est fausse, je crois l'avoir démontré.
Si vous m'indiquez votre adresse e-mail, je puis vous envoyer quelques pages et éventuellement des enregistrements. Encore merci, bien à vous. JV
Dear Jacques Viret,
Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with your publications. But seeing what you wrote in response to my message (e.g., what you said about the role of accented syllables, the distinction made by Aurelianus Reomensis between 'metrum' and 'rhythmus', and Beda), I think we basically agree about the authentic rhythm in gregorian chant.
Please, mention some of your publications. I can't speak French very well, but I will try to understand. The two publications I mentioned in my former message are unfortunately only in Dutch.
Best wishes,
Dirk van Kampen
J'ai moi-même étudié très à fond la question du rythme grégorien primitif, sur la base de : a) la déclamation accentuée des paroles ; b) les neumes in campo aperto d'après la sémiologie de Dom Cardine ; b) les écrits des théoriciens (Scolica enchiriadis, Gui d'Arezzo, Micrologus, 15) ; c) les traditions orales vivantes ; d) les lois générales du rythme. Pour tous les chants sur textes en prose, il s'agit d'une déclamation chantée correspondant à ce que les folkloristes (Bartók) appellent parlando rubato. La dualité des traditions populaires parlando rubato / tempo giusto est analogue à ce qu'en plain-chant baroque (Dom Jumilhac, Dom Le Clerc) on dénommait "chant rythmique" / "chant métrique", et au Moyen Âge rhythmus/metrum (cf. Aurélien de Réôme reprenant l'explication de Bède dans son traité de métrique). Voir mes publications. Jacques Viret
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