Aspects of orality and formularity in Gregorian chant / Theodore Karp.

Author/creator Karp, Theodore
Format Book
Publication InfoEvanston, IL : Northwestern University Press, ©1998.
Descriptionxvii, 489 pages : music ; 26 cm
Subjects

Contents Essay I. Aspects of early Gregorian orality -- Essay II. Formulas that interrelate chants of different genres and modes -- Essay III. Formulaic usage in melismatic chant: a chronological approach to second-mode tracts -- Essay IV. The Alleluia Dies sanctificatus and its melody family: stability in melodic transmission -- Essay V. From the aural to the written tradition: the Coniunctae of the anonymous Berkeley theory MS -- Essay VI. Orality in the transmission of chants of unstable modality: the Cantus nobi introits of Regino of Prum -- Essay VII. Formulaic usage among neumatic chants: the construction of Gregorian introits -- Essay VIII. Formulas and orality in Roman and Gregorian Chant: a further look at second-mode tracts.
Abstract This book is a milestone publication in the study of medieval monophonic music. In its movement away from the concept of chants as products and toward the idea of chants as processes, it will markedly change accepted ways of thinking about this musical form. The essays are loosely connected through their bearing on one or more of three themes: the role of orality in the transmission of chant circa 700-1400; varying degrees of stability or instability in the transmission of chant; and the role of the formula in the construction of chant. Throughout, the author uses 202 musical examples. The first essay evaluates forms of evidence that may shed light on the nature of orality that led to the surviving notational records of Gregorian chant and assembles evidence that supports the conclusion that fidelity of transmission represented an important goal of the Franks. The second essay treats formulas that cross the boundaries of individual liturgical genres and modes. The third essay defines the varying kinds of musical formulas in chant and proposes a chronological ordering of the genre of second-mode tracts. The fourth essay treats the transmission of a stable melody and explores the ways in which one basic melody may be adapted to texts of widely differing structures and lengths. The fifth essay deals with a group of unstable melodies that furnished difficulties in modal classification. The sixth essay explores the problems faced by scribes seeking to represent in diastematic notation melodies employing tones not normally admitted into the medieval gamut. The seventh essay takes up the role of the formula in introits, a neumatic genre intended forchoral performance. The two final essays look at second-mode tracts and at the interrelationship between Roman and Gregorian chant.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 455-465) and indexes.
LCCN 98006031
ISBN0810112388 (alk. paper)

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML3082 .K27 1998 ✔ Available Place Hold