Fuller 2008 - Interpreting Hucbald On Mode

Interpreting Hucbald on Mode
Author(s): Sarah Fuller

Source: Journal of Music Theory , Spring 2008, Vol. 52, No. 1, Essays in Honor of Sarah
Fuller (Spring 2008), pp. 13-40
Published by: Duke University Press on behalf of the Yale University Department of
Music
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40607028
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms
Duke University Press and are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Journal of Music Theory
This content downloaded from

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Interpreting Hucbald on Mode
Sarah Fuller
Abstract Hucbald of St. Amand's treatise Musica took shape in the late Carolingian era in a time of intense
and independent music-theoretical activity. Hucbald has been recognized as a pioneer who brought elements from
Greek music theory to bear upon plainsong, but his view of mode has been considered rather routine. Through
scrutiny of modal references and explanatory rhetoric within the treatise, this study corrects some modern read-
ings of Hucbald's teaching on mode and offers a new assessment of .the relationship between modal lore and ven-
erable Boethian theory in Hucbald's theoretical universe. In Musica, a substratum of préexistent modal knowledge
replaces Boethian number relationships as the foundation underlying basic elements of music theory.
the treatise musica attributed το Hucbald of St. Amand (c. 840-930) is

regarded as a central document of late-ninth-century music theory.1 It stands
with the Musica Enchinadis, the Scolica Enchinadis, and the Alia Musica as
among the earliest efforts by Western European musicians to forge a written
music theory appropriate to plainchant, the cantus basic to religious ritual in
late Carolingian culture.2 Although Musica, the Enchinadis pair, and the Alia
Musica diverge substantially in nature and actual teachings, they manifest a
perceived need in northwestern Europe circa 850-900 for a reasoned peda-
gogy of music attuned to contemporary conditions and musical practices. A
variety of factors are thought to have prompted this surge in theoretical writ-
ings relevant to chant: the development of monastic and cathedral schools
with their mandate to train increasing numbers of clerics in chant; an emerg-
ing awareness that the high status of ecclesiastical song depended at least
1 The treatise was formerly referred to as De harmonica insti-Alia Musica as a compilation of three treatises, which he
tutione, its title in Gerbert 1784a. The title Musica adoptedplaces in arbitrary (his term) stages at circa 875, 880, and
here follows the informed designation of Yves Chartier, edi- 890 (1965, 59-60). Edmund Heard endorses Chailley's dis-
tor of the authoritative critical edition (1995, 46). The date oftinction among three layers but prefers to speak of the Alia
Musica is uncertain but has been estimated as c. 885 or the Musica as a work compiled around 890 (1966, 33). Lawrence
Gushee
late 890s on the basis of Hucbald's teaching activities. For a has pointed out that the Musica Enchiriadis, Scolica
conspectus of dating hypotheses, see Chartier 1995, 76-77, Enchiriadis, Alia Musica, Musica, and the Commemoratio
and Atkinson 2009, 149. Brevis (a tonary and manual on psalmody) often circulated
together in manuscripts and might collectively be consid-
2 Dieter Torkewitz believes that the Enchiriadis treatises
ered to constitute "a comprehensive program of studies"
originated in Werden and dates them approximately to the
or even a "superwork" (1973, 398). On this general point,
890s when Abbot Hoger (d. 906) was active (Torkewitz
see also Huglo 1969, 139.
1997, 175; 1999, 114-21). Jacques Chailley regards the
Journal of Music Theory 52:1, Spring 2008

DOI 10.121 5/00222909-2009-009 © 2009 by Yale University 1 3

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
14 JOURNAL of MUSIC THEORY
in part on demonstration that an orderly substructure of

anchored the melodies; and a corollary drive to connect p
music theory (circulating under the authority of Boethius an
liberal arts curriculum) to the contemporary situation a
cantors, teachers of chant, and ordinary clerics. These curren
earlier stages of Carolingian culture that emphasized prop
clerics, ordered domains of knowledge (particularly the s
and assimilation of antique learning.3
The eminent historian of music theory Claude Palisca regarded
Hucbald's treatise so highly as to select it for English translation in a collec-
tion of just three quintessential early medieval music treatises (1978) .4 Cur-
rent scholarly reference works assert the treatise's prime significance. In the
second edition of Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Karl-Werner Gümpel
hails Musica along with the Enchinadis treatises as "the most significant music
theoretical source of the second half of the ninth century" (2003, col. 458),
while in the millennial New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Powers
and Wiering describe Musica as "first and foremost" among "writings of later
9th-century theorists" (2001, 779) . Although the treatise was long available for
study in Martin Gerbert's flawed but relatively serviceable edition of 1784, a
new phase in its reception was opened with Yves Chartier's critical edition with
commentary of 1995. Befitting its perceived pivotal status, Musica has been
translated into English, French, and German.5
Hucbald's association of chant repertory with select Boethian theory is
widely recognized, and considerable scholarly attention has been given to his
inaugural focus on intervals and (perfect) consonances, his construction of a
diatonic pitch gamut, and his invention of a symbolic pitch-specific notation,
topics that occupy the major portion of Musica (Weakland 1956; Palisca 1978,
5-11; Cohen 2002, 318-23; Atkinson 2009, 149-62). Hucbald's approach to
the eightfold system of ecclesiastical modes has not, however, been subject to
careful scrutiny. Yet his perspective on mode is highly significant not only for
a historical understanding of his particular theoretical stance and pedagogi-
cal strategies, but also for an informed sense of the diversity of written modal
theory in a period before "the modal system" became codified in standard prin-
ciples of structure allied with monochord representation of the pitch system.
This study looks at modal thought in Musica from an internal perspective
that focuses on Hucbald's discourse about mode in the concluding section
3 See the essays collected in McKitterick 1994 and Bower 1990 gives an informative conspectus of the number of
2002, 149-53. On the connection between Carolingian cul- extant manuscripts of important medieval music treatises,
tural aims and early music writing, seeTreitler 1984, espe- including Musica (72-74). Chartier 1995 itemizes the extant
cially section I. sources (complete and partial) for Musica (83-113).
4 Although he acknowledges that Musica "did not enjoy 5 Chronologically, the translations are Babb 1978, Traub
wide diffusion in its time," Palisca deems it important for 1989, and Chartier 1995. The latter two are printed in paral-
"the solutions it proposed for contemporary problems and lel to a Latin edition. Traub 2000 lists corrections to his Latin
the authority with which the author . . . wrote about the text that are based on Chartier's critical edition.
tonal system underlying plainchant" (1978, 3). Bernhard

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Sarah Fuller ~ Interpreting Hucbald on Mode 15
and on critical functions of modal references within the work as a whole. On
the basis of the observations obtained, it reaches unorthodox conclusions not

only about Hucbald as a theorist of mode but also about how knowledge of
the ecclesiastical modes relates to the Boethian ars musica that constitutes the
point of departure for the treatise. The investigation unfolds in three phases:
(1) a review of Musicas final section that calls attention to puzzling and idio-
syncratic features of Hucbald's comments regarding mode, (2) problematic
aspects of modern scholarly assessments of Hucbald's teaching about mode,
and (3) an interpretation of mode within Hucbald's theoretical universe that
takes into consideration the treatise as a whole and addresses what seem, from
an ordinary pedagogical viewpoint, to be inadequacies in the concluding sec-
tion of Musica.
I. The Final Section of Musica
At the start of his treatise, Hucbald addresses himself to "anyone who wishes
enter into the rudiments of musica, and seeks to gain an understanding (ev
though provisional) of song [cantilena]" (Musica, 136) .6 He first itemizes in
vals from the unison through the major sixth, and then continues his expo
tion of rudiments with perfect consonances, a diatonic pitch spectrum
structed from diverse tetrachord replications, designation of individual pit
by tetrachordal string names, and a newly invented set of symbols designed
exact notation of those pitches. The announced purpose of these notati
symbols, which he derives from the Boethian signs for Lydian-mode pitche
so that with them "any notated melody . . . may be sung even without the
of a teacher" (Musica, 194). This is of prime significance in a culture where
neumes handed down by tradition are (as Hucbald notes) inadequate for
veying specific pitches and intervals in a melody.7 Reaching the final sectio
his treatise, he characterizes it with the striking metaphor of a harvest:
Now having reached the point toward which from the outset everything look
forward, it is time to declare more plainly what may be made out of these thing
and how great a harvest may arise from the seeds already sown ... it is now
place to reveal how these elements may be intermingled with each other, or h
they may behave (procédant) in diverse modes. (Musica, 200) 8
This concluding section is commonly taken to be an exposition or expl

tion of the ecclesiastical modes, but from that perspective, it is noticea
6 Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my

8 The own.cognate
English In "proceed" (which is used in Babb
ninth-century usage, musica has a sense akin
1978,
to38)
"music
probably does not quite capture the sense here.
How they
theory," in contrast to cantus, "song," sounding "behave
music. Thewith respect to" might be a better ren-
dering.
page numbers for Musica citations refer to the Latin Chartier's
edition"comment ils trouvent leur application
in Chartier 1995. dans le système modale" ("how they are applied within the
modal system"; 1995, 201) is well conceived, but in diver-
7 The "student" in the early-eleventh-century Dialogus de
sos modos seems looser and more evocative of repertory
musica, for example, is astounded that a properly marked
than "modal system." Traub 1989, 67, uses the straightfor-
monochord can teach melodies better than a person
ward German equivalent eingehen.
(Gerbert 1784b, 252-53; Strunk andTreitler 1998, 200-1).

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
unsatisfactory. Several problems with an "exposition" inter

apparent from a careful reading of the text, which will
English translation in Appendix 1. In order to clarify the
sage, I retain Hucbald's Greek string nomenclature for pit
inserting their Guidonian letter equivalents) and insert editor
in square brackets that identify the various stages of his comm
lowing comments on shortcomings of the "harvest" section of
consequent upon considering the section to be a basic expo
theory - are cued to that translation.
Hucbald introduces the subject of the ecclesiastical m
finals in the paragraph immediately following his announcem
harvest (labeled section [2] in my translation, Appendix
tifies four pitches - lichanos hypaton, hypate meson, parh
lichanos meson - as finals for four modal categories: protus, de
tetrardus. But he says nothing about the nature of the aural d
these four pitches and is unconcerned that the lowest of them
a different tetrachord from the others.10 He notes that each
"reigns over" a pair of modes - authentic and plagal - but o
tion of how authentic and plagal types differ from each othe
In sharp contrast to Hucbald, the Musica Enchinadis auth
length on differentiations in sound among the four finals, gro
a single finalis tetrachord, supplies model melodies for each t
and plagal, and refers specifically to the lower range of p
tive to authentics. An earlier brief treatise - De octo tonis of c. 840 tradition-
ally associated with Alcuin - explicitly describes authentic modes as higher

(altiores) and plagals as lower (inferiores), with a more "pressed down sound"
(sonus eorum pressior est) (Möller 1993, 276). 12 That is, in comparison to other
approximately coeval treatises that expound upon the eight ecclesiastical
modes, Hucbald's summary is deficient in important pedagogical respects.
The next two sections, [3] and [4] , deal with similarity relations between
the finals and the notes located either a fifth above or a fourth below them.
9 Appendix 2 shows the correspondence between the 11 Chartier has shown that a brief passage on modal ambi-
Greek tetrachordal pitch names adopted by Hucbald and the tus printed in Gerbert 1784a, 116a, is a later interpolation,
Latin letters that became standard on the Guidonian hand. not original to Musica (1995, 264). Nevertheless, he does
supply it in square brackets and small print in his edition
10 The tone-semitone-tone tetrachord is used as the basis
(186). This scribal interpolation is clearly misplaced, stand-
of Hucbald's third and fourth renderings of the double-
ing as it does within the discussion of diezeugmenon and
octave pitch system {Musica, 174-77), and in this final sec-
synemmenon tetrachords, nowhere near the final section
tion he does remark that the pattern of the four final notes
where mode comes to the fore.
is replicated in one tetrachord below and three above them
{Musica, 202). But he does not give this tetrachord a formal
12 See also the two compact mid-ninth-century treatises
name (when first introduced it is particularized as segments
associated with the Metz tonary, both of which refer to the
of two chants), and his Boethian pitch nomenclature with
"lesser" sound of plagals (Lipphardt 1965, 12-13, 62-63).
hypaton and meson tetrachord designations obscuresThese
the informal, brief tracts, which also predate Musica,
cohesion of the four finals within a unitary tetrachord. testify to a consistent early tradition of recognizing range
differentiation between authentic and plagal melodies.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
But these relationships are asserted rather than demonstrated, and the rea-
sons given do not stand up to close scrutiny. Hucbald links all four finals with
the pitches a fifth above them on the principle that "many melodies may be
found to close regularly on them [the upper fifths] without on that account
running counter to either reason or sense perception. Such melodies pro-
ceed perfectly under the same mode or trope" (Musica, 202; Appendix 1,
[3]). However, this unqualified declaration undercuts (even contradicts) his
original definition of the finals in the preceding section [2] as the pitches
on which "everything that is sung receives its ending."13 No other reason for
affiliation between finals and their upper fifths - which Hucbald in turn refers
to as socialitas or habitudo - is given (202). Moreover, Hucbald 's conspectus
associates the tetrardus final [lichanos meson, G] with its upper fifth [paranete
diezeugmenon, d] even though the former has above it a major third, and the
latter a minor third.14
Hucbald goes on to state that an associative relation obtains between

each final and the pitch a fourth below it because those lower pitches constitute
the lower boundary on which melodies of any particular modal category may
begin. "They [the four finals] also possess a somewhat similar condition (habi-
tudo) to the notes a fourth below, and in certain cases a fifth below, although
those notes are appointed for beginnings, not endings. [Beginnings] descend
down to these notes as the boundary of inception" (Musica, 202; Appendix
1, [4 a-b]). This "lower boundary principle" hardly seems a very convinc-
ing rationale for association, and Hucbald himself immediately exempts the
tetrardus final (lichanos meson) from it. "But in this one [lichanos meson, G,
as final] a descent sometimes as low as parhypate hypaton, that is, to the fifth
below" (Musica 202; Appendix 1, [4b]). Furthermore, in the arrays of initial
pitches with which the treatise ends, Hucbald gives no entries at the lower
fourth for deuterus or tntus melodies, while for tetrardus (as he had explicitly
13 Given an environment that had no fixed pitch notation,that he subscribes to octave equivalence, the most direct
such a statement has little force unless it were to refer sub statement of that principle being a remark that the upper
rosa to alternating or simultaneous singing at the fifth or
eight notes of the fifteen-pitch system duplicate the lower
to a few unusual melodies, such as the Cunctipotens geni-ones (166). Comments to similar effect occur in the section
on consonances when he speaks of men and boys singing
tor Kyrie, or the sequence Planctus cigni (edited in Rankin
"equally" ipariter) (148), when he says a propos of an octave
1994, 309-10), that end a fifth above the final posited in their
predominant melodic course. In defining the nature of the
descent [from d to D] in Undecim discipuli that the last note
(perfect) "consonances" (which include the fifth), Hucbald
of the scale sounds in the same way/mode (eodem modo)
does speak of the blending of sound produced when menas the first (150), or when he mentions that a pitch series
and boys sing together "in what is usually called organum"
extended upward to more than fifteen notes simply repeats
(Musica, 148). sounds from the lower register (164). Atkinson 2009 calls
Hucbald's declaration of a socialitas relationship between
14 Paranete diezeugmenon (d) is, of course, an octave
lichanos meson and paranete diezeugmenon "interesting"
above the protus final, lichanos hypaton (D), and so should,
but does not regard it as a theoretical flaw (161 n38). Note
in principle, share its protus quality, but Hucbald here nei-
that throughout this article Latin letter names for pitch con-
ther mentions any special, modally significant association of
form to the eleventh-century Guidonian convention. See
pitches at the octave nor notes a contradiction in modal cat-
Smits van Waesberghe 1955, 93-95; Babb 1978, 59-60;
egory between lichanos meson (G) and paranete diezeug-
and Appendix 2.
menon (d). Comments elsewhere in Musica make clear

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
noted) the fifth below is the lower boundary (Musica, 206

[4b, 5] ) . If in actuality no deuterus or tntus melodies begin low
below their respective finals, then the limit of a fourth below
legitimate basis for an associative link between those two fina
a fourth below them. Nor can that reasoning hold for tetrard
veritable lower boundary for its initial notes is a fifth. Another
with Hucbald's theory of association at the lower fourth is that
hypaton [D] with lichanos meson [G], despite the fact that, as
hypaton has already been identified as protus in quality,
tetrardus in quality. Other early theorists of mode - the Mast
and Guido of Arezzo, for example - explained relationships be
three finals and the notes distant by a fifth above or fourth
ence to similar configurations of tones and semitones around
reasoning is absent in Hucbald.15
The subject of initial notes of melodies introduced in
becomes the principal theme of the very final segment of th
202-1 2; Appendix 1 [5] ) . Here Hucbald states that initial not
odies may stand no more than a fifth above or a fifth below
"In general, no mode or trope has the possibility of beginn
fifth above its final or a fifth below it" (Musica, 202). 16 This
itly illustrated in four arrays that configure selected chants
final according to their initial pitches (Musica, 204-12). In
casual attitude toward authentic/plagal distinctions, Hucba
ates individual initial notes with authentic or plagal categories
specific chants in his arrays as one or the other. His focus on
melodic initiation arranged in a scalar pattern is idiosyncratic
with other modal theory of the ninth century and later. I
lated initial notes are not modal identifiers, for unlike finals
across modal categories. In addition, those early theorists w
on the usual initial notes in various modes regularly separate
to authentic and plagal categories.17
15 Christian Meyer has rightly cautioned against

special equat-
relationship with the fourth below it, but is a conces-
ing Hucbald's relationships at perfect intervals
sion to the(socialites,
actual situation in tetrardus where some melo-
habitudo) with Guidonian affinities enunciated in the
dies do begin early
a fifth below the final.
eleventh century (2000, 148-49). On those affinities, see
17 The author of the Dialogus de musica (late tenth or early
Cohen 2002, 347-51. Cohen gives a diagram of Hucbald's
socialites (322-23), but neither he nor Atkinson (2009,
eleventh century) mentions characteristic initial pitches
of modes, but in the context of making strict and clearly
160-61) sufficiently distinguishes them from the "affini-
defined distinctions between authentics and plagals (Ger-
ties." In contrast to the Boethian scale adopted by Hucbald,
bert 1784b, 259-63) and without arranging the selected
the Enchiriadis scale possesses built-in modal equivalence
pitches in a scale. In the tonary accompanying De Musica
at the fifths above and below any pitch, but at the cost of
(early twelfth century), John cites chants by initial notes
sacrificing some octave equivalence. (See Schmid 1981, 34
[Musica Enchiriadis] and 72-73 [Scolica Enchiriadis]; Cohen
but also strictly segregates authentics and plagals and
2002, 324.)
associates initial notes explicitly with psalm tone differen-
tiae (Smits van Waesberghe 1950, 163-200; Babb 1978,
16 Assertion of a fifth below as general lower initial limit 162-87). The general Dialogus principle that "no pitch may
conflicts with section [4]'s rationale for why each final hasbegin
a a chant unless it is the final itself or related to the final

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Despite their systematic appearance, Hucbald's arrays of initials appear

somewhat contrived in nature because of lacunae in a significant number of
slots. Gaps are especially conspicuous in tntus where three slots are blank, and
in protus where two are characterized as "rare" and rather feebly illustrated
not with initial but with internal phrases that (insofar as can be ascertained
from later chant sources) do not bring the selected pitch firmly to the fore
(see Appendix 1, [5]).18 As already noted, the postulated lowest boundary
pitches for deuterus and tntus have no entries. Some lacunae would seem due
to the particular character of a pitch. For instance, hypate meson (Guidonian
E), with its upper semitone, is really only enfranchised as an initial note in
deuterus. In tntus and tetrardus its slot is void, while in protus it is not only char-
acterized as "rare" but lacks a true citation of a chant beginning.19 With their
lacunae, lack of differentiation between authentic and plagal melodies, and
inattention to differences in frequency of specific initiavnùiïn various modes,
these concluding arrays seem puzzling as exemplifications of the four princi-
pal modal categories. Nor, indeed, does Hucbald claim them as exemplifica-
tions. His avowed point is simply to illustrate, through concrete citations, the
boundaries constraining initial melodic notes within each of the four basic
modal categories. This particular concern for depicting the boundaries of
initia is not shared by other early modal theorists and constitutes a distinctly
idiosyncratic feature of Hucbald's teaching.20
However well this final section might have suited Hucbald's stated pur-
pose of indicating significant ways in which the basic elements (intervals,
perfect consonances, pitches, pitch names, and notational symbols) that he
has previously set forth relate to mode (Musica, 200; Appendix 1, [1]), it can-
not be considered a satisfactory exposition of the nature of the ecclesiastical
modes. At the very least, a reader or listener not already instructed in the rudi-
ments of modal lore would be puzzled by the terms introduced.21 Someone
would have to explain to the uninitiated just how a deuterus final differs from
by one of the six intervals [semitone through fifth]" (Ger- view (2009, 162) that this concluding section
20 Atkinson's
bert 1784b, 257b; Strunk and Treitler 1998, 207) conforms "in fact, is a kind of tonary" seems off track due not only
broadly with Hucbald's stance on the span of initial notes but to the absence of any reference to psalm-tone differentiae
presents it in a very different way. Neither the Master of the but also to the concrete theoretical context within which it
Dialogue nor John recruits initial pitches that do not actually occurs and the blemishes in the lists. I speculate that these
occur within a specific modal class, nor do they point to any artificially systematic arrays of initials actually allow Hucbald
general patterns governing initials. to depict the tone/semitone configuration around each final
from a modal perspective, regardless of whether every
18 See, for example, in Appendix 1 under protus: hypate
pitch in each span actually exists as an initial in that modal
meson (E), illustrated with an internal phrase from the anti-
category. Such an interpretation would fit with this study's
phon "Volo pater" (CAO 5491), and hypate hypaton (B),
conclusion that Hucbald implicitly grounds musical verities
cited with an internal phrase from the antiphon "Circum- inherited from the Greeks in modal terrain.
dantes" (CAO 1809).
21 The locution "reader/listener" here simply reflects
19 Note also that some tonaries report authentic deuterusthe likelihood that Musica would have been read aloud to
melodies that begin on c, a half step above the fifth that
groups as well as read individually.
Hucbald posits as the upper limit for deuterus initial notes.
See, for example, the Metz Tonary of the mid-ninth cen-
tury (Lipphardt 1965, 35-36, 230), the Dialogus de musica
(Gerbert 1784b, 260a), and John's De Musica (Babb 1978,
171-72).

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
a protus final, or what concrete features differentiate plagal

modes.22 These difficulties might have been partially overcom
key terms and concepts with specific melodies. That strate
the earlier sections of the treatise where Hucbald does regula
crete substance to abstract concepts through explicit chan
section III below.) But, curiously, he abandons that practic
melodies clustered at the end of this last section merely displ
they are not presented as exemplifications or aural embodime
modal qualities. The shift in this final section of the treatise
usual methodology of illustrating abstract notions or terms t
chant examples calls for some considered reflection, espec
an ordinary pedagogical point of view, chant references co
helpful here.23
II. Interpretations of Hucbald's Theory of Mode
Modern scholarship has generally disregarded or glossed over the problems

posed by the last section of Musica and treated it as an ordinary exposition
of the ecclesiastical modes. This has been accomplished in part by imposing
upon or reading into it ideas about mode from other, basically later, strands of
teaching. The result has been not only to obscure distinctive and theoretically
significant aspects of Hucbald's approach to mode, but also to misrepresent to
varying degrees what he says about mode in the final section of Musica.
Rembert Weakland, one of the earliest scholars to explore Hucbald's
treatise, sees nothing unusual in this last section of Musica, which he charac-
terizes as "devoted to the modes" (1956, 82). He simply outlines the surface
content of this section in six sentences and concludes: "This explanation of
the modes is clear because of its brevity; it lacks the complexity found in later
theorists" (1956, 82). But, as already observed, the brevity - in the absence
of adequate explanation - scarcely results in clarity, while the "complexity"
shown by later (unnamed) theorists seems not inappropriate to formulation
of a theory capable of encompassing a large and diverse repertory of aurally
transmitted melodies but codified posterior to that repertory. The clarity
Weakland perceives in Hucbald's brief comments would seem to be a projec-
tion of his own considerable knowledge of modal melodies and theory.
22 In this regard, Gushee's observation about Musica 23 The authors of both the Musica Enchiriadis and the Scol-
sometimes circulating with other treatises seems relevant ica Enchiriadis employ numerous melodic citations when
(see n. 2), for treatises such as the Musica Enchiriadis explicating the four basic modal categories. The anonymous
and Scolica Enchiriadis do explain the rudiments of modalcommentator that Chailley identifies as the "first Quidam"
theory in detail. Chartier's inventory of the manuscript of the Alia Musica cites many chants in his glosses on the
sources that transmit the complete text of Musica (1995,
rather abstract treatise of the first author (1965, 121-64).
83-112) shows that when one of those sources also
includes the Enchiriadis treatises, Hucbald's treatise always
comes after them in the manuscript's order of contents.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Yves Chartier also alludes to the compact nature of this final section of
Musica but sees it as problematic, indicative of some degree of incomplete-
ness. In his extensive 1995 study, he rather cryptically characterizes Hucbald 's
"explication of the tones or tropes" as one that is "complete and exact in
itself, but leaves, through its laconic quality and density, an impression of
something incomplete and unfinished" (48). Perhaps in an effort to rectify
this incomplete quality, Chartier advances interpretations of this section at
odds with Hucbald's actual prose. Only a few primary misrepresentations are
addressed here. One is that Hucbald "calls his reader's attention" to the fact
that "the normal ambitus of a tone or mode is the octave" (1995, 63). But an
attentive reading of the final section (Appendix 1) or, indeed, of the entire
treatise, finds no statement on Hucbald's part about normal melodic ambitus
of any mode.24 Another is that Hucbald teaches that authentic melodies rise
no more than a fifth above their finals (Chartier 1995, 62). This the theo-
rist does not say, and the chant repertory of his time (which, by all indica-
tions, Hucbald knew well) would have provided ample contraindications to
such a declaration. Hucbald also does not state that the initials of plagals are
established {fixées) a fourth below the finals (Chartier 1995, 62). The lower
fourths are merely a limit below which initials do not descend (except in the
case of tetrardus) , and that limit is general to the four main modal categories,
not specifically associated with authentic or plagal types. Chartier writes also
that Hucbald defines characteristic modal octaves in terms of conjunctions of
fourths and fifths (1995, 62-65). This stands forth most clearly in his reading
of the final arrays of initials from their lowest notes upward, and his labeling
of their octave spans as composite plagal fourth and authentic fifth (1995,
63-64). But the manuscript copies of these arrays clearly mandate a read-
ing from the highest pitch down and indicate no subdivisions into fifths and
fourths.25 The subsequent claim that Musica shares the construction of modal
octaves with the "Nova Expositio" of the Alia Musica (Chartier 1995, 65) has,
then, no substance.
By imposing various elements of familiar modal theory (a normal limit
to the ambitus of authentics and plagals, component species of consonances)
in his reading of the last section of Musica, Chartier represents Hucbald as a
"standard" modal theorist, a position he explicitly promotes: "Aside from the
imposition of Greek notation upon liturgical pieces, Hucbald's account of
the modes, their classification by the initial or final note, their ambitus, and
the division of their octave, connect without difficulty up to this point to the
customary theory [la théone usuelle]" (1995, 64). Besides the vexed problem of
determining what might represent "customary theory" either in the middle
25 See Appendix 1, as well as the manuscript facsimiles

24 Chartier's own meticulous editorial scrutiny established
that a passage on ambitus printed in Gerbert 1784a was a
in Traub 1989, 85, and Chartier 1995, 457. Hucbald explic-
later interpolation; see n. 11, above. itly speaks of the tetrardus array as starting on the highest
note (212).

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
ages at large (the exposition by Guido, that by Hermannu

John of Afflighem, by Marchettus of Padua?) or in Hucbald's
Chartier's interpretation of this last section of Musica impose
prose concepts quite alien to it and in so doing badly warp
teaching about mode.26
Chartier's misreadings in turn seem to have misled other
comments on the last section of Musica in the second edition of Die Musik in
Geschichte und Gegenwart, Karl-Werner Gümpel repeats the claim that accord
ing to Hucbald authentics and plagals are characterized by octave ambitu
divided into constituent fourths and fifths. On his own he sees Hucbald as a
precursor to the teaching of Bern of Reichenau, an early-eleventh-century th

orist who emphasizes characteristic species of consonance as essential mod
attributes (2003, cols. 459-60). Similarly to Chartier's association of Hucbald
modal teaching with a strand in the Alia Musica, this association with Bern ha
the effect of projecting Hucbald as a "standard" theorist in the tradition of a
species theory of mode.27
The entry "Mode" in second edition of The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians theorizes mode in general as "either a 'particularized scale' o
a 'generalized tune' " (Powers and Wiering 2001, 776), but neither paradigm
fits the theoretical stance articulated in the final section of Musica. Hucbald
neither directly associates each of the eight modal categories with an abstract
scale structure nor represents each with a characteristic melody. The Grov
authors' actual discussion of the last section of his treatise comes across as
somewhat equivocal. They write: "The Boethian double octave plus the t
rachord synemmenon is now set forth as a descriptive foundation for moda
theory . . . and its systemic assumptions and properties endured for hundre
of years" (779). "Its" here should grammatically refer to the Boethian double
octave, but since what follows (after a colon) consists of quotes from the fin
section of Musica, a reader might well gather that "its" refers to the princi
ples of modal theory and that Hucbald was the first to enunciate central and
enduring modal principles. It would not make sense, in any case, to attribut
to Hucbald an enduring role in devising the diatonic double octave, since tha
was established in the well-known treatise of Boethius. However one mi
interpret the authors' intended perspective on Hucbald as a modal theor
their translations from Musica do somewhat skew the cited passages sim
26 A tradition of misrepresenting Hucbald's teachings

logus or Micrologus, treatises in which the monochord is a
goes back at least to the early twelfth century when the
foundational pedagogical instrument, introduced at the very
chronicler Sigebert de Gembloux wrote in his Catalogas de
beginning.
viris illustrious that Hucbald "wrote also a book on the art
27 On the pedagogical tradition of this group of "South
of music, marking off the strings of the monochord with
German" theorists, see Cohen 2002, 351-64. Historical
letters of the alphabet so that through them anyone could
evidence establishes Bern (rather than Berno) as the first
learn a chant unknown to him without any other master"
name of this important early Reichenau theorist (Borst 1990,
(Witte 1974, 82-83). Sigebert may have had in mind some
273n28).
other treatise misattributed to Hucbald, or may simply have
confused Hucbald's notational system with that in the Dia-

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
through the provision of eleventh-century Guidonian Latin letter names for

pitch identification. By leaving out the last part of a sentence on pitch similari-
ties, the authors also suppress the fact that Hucbald explicitly relates lichanos
meson [G] with its upper fifth paranete diezeugmenon [d], an association
that runs counter to the later doctrine of the affinities (Powers and Wiering
2001, 780). These maneuvers have the effect of making Hucbald's comments
seem more in line with later Italian theory (the Dialogus, Guido of Arezzo)
than his actual language of Greek string names and unqualified associations
of all finals with the pitches a fifth above and a fourth below them indicate.28
Perhaps because the Powers and Wiering "Mode" article includes a substantial
segment on Hucbald, Yves Chartier's (2001) entry "Hucbald of St. Amand" in
The New Grove Dictionary contains only a passing reference to modal theory in
Musica. Chartier does not reiterate the problematic aspects of his 1995 inter-
pretation of the last section of Musica.
In prefatory material to the English translation of Musica, Claude Palisca
essentially - and, it may be, prudently - bypasses the issue of Hucbald and
modal theory. His commentary on the contents of the treatise ends with
Hucbald's scheme of symbolic letter notation to specify pitch and does not
continue through to the final section (1978, 5-11). Whether or not the exclu-
sion of the final section from his commentary was influenced by an awareness
of its problematic aspects cannot now be determined.
Viewing the final section of Musica primarily as an exposition of the
modal system exposes its inadequacies in that role and has led to misrepre-
sentations of the theory stated within it. The thorny problems reviewed above
indicate the need for a more thorough inquiry into Hucbald's perspective
on mode, one that takes into consideration the entire treatise, not just its
final section. In terms of a well-grounded history of medieval music theory,
the question at hand is not "what does Hucbald teach about the modes?" but
rather "what is the role of mode within the theoretical realm of Musica?" A
considered response may be formulated from references to mode within the

body of the treatise.
III. Mode within the Conceptual Framework of Musica
Although Hucbald explicitly identifies the addressee of his treatise as "anyone

who wishes to enter into the rudiments of musica, and seeks to gain an under-
standing (even though provisional) of song [cantilena]" {Musica, 136), the
28 The provision of later tetrachord names (in brackets)

gives no description of the intervallic basis for such relation-
in Powers and Wiering's Table 2c as though this were ships. (See n. 15, above.) Note that the quoted passage on
"follow[ing] Hucbald's diagram" furthers this impression,the "uppermost degrees in the central tetrachords of his
as does the statement that Guido in Micrologus "describedsystem" (780) stems from the Gerbert 1784 edition (1784a,
again" the relationship of modal equivalence between finals119b) and is judged spurious in Chartier's critical edition
D, E, F, and their upper fifths (2001, 780). As noted, their(1995). Given the publication date of the Chartier, this prob-
quotation excises the tetrardus final that Hucbald includeslem might have been rectified for the second New Grove
in his account. Moreover, in contrast to Guido, Hucbald edition.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
nature of his intended audience has been variously assessed

land presented Musica as "a conscious effort to explain to begi
ments of melody" (1956, 83), an opinion echoed by Yves Ch
acterized the treatise as "a practical introduction to liturgi
toward beginners" (1995, 46, 62). In contrast, Claude Pali
school text, not so much for beginners as for monks who alre
repertory of chants" (1978, 4). Questioning the very notion of
"advanced" students within the musical culture of Hucbald'
Gushee viewed Musica (which he designates under the Gerbert
harmonica institutione) as an "introduction to harmonics" tha
wide command of the repertory on the listener's or reader's p
The numerous chant references within Musica confirm Palisca's and Gushee 's
impression of an audience steeped in the practice of liturgical chant, memo-

ries stocked with countless melodies. But scrutiny of the specifically modal ref-
erences and their contexts and purposes leads to a more pointed perception:
beyond easy recall of melodies, this audience already had some notion of a
theoretical apparatus pertaining to chant, specifically of modal categories and
characteristics. Their prior familiarity with this apparatus had a major impact
on Hucbald's theoretical discourse and affected the substance and configura-
tion of Musicas final section. Evidence for this viewpoint of an informed target
audience may be found in a systematic review of references to mode within the
body of the treatise and an assessment of their functions.
The seven references to modal phenomena internal to Musica are listed
in Example 1 . The majority of these references function to demonstrate abstract
entities drawn or derived from Boethian theory. They supply to those entities
not just a concrete aural presence (as any chant reference might do) but a
significant aura of modal propriety as well. Take, for example, the third modal
reference (Musica, 168). It occurs when Hucbald is explaining how Boethius
arranges the notes of his two-octave diatonic pitch system in a series of descend-
ing tone-tone-semitone tetrachords.29 After describing the disposition of the
four tetrachords, he specifies their model in a familiar chant phrase:
Starting from the upper notes, . . . [Boethius] sets out the tone-tone-semitone
tetrachords drawing them down so that the top two are linked by a common
tone and are separated by the space of a tone from the lower two, which are
similarly linked by one tone . . . The pattern for any of these tetrachords
appears in the first four notes of the authentic protus melodic formula.
(Musica, 168-70)
This verbal description is clearly illustrated with a diagram that shows the
series of Noeane (Noneno) syllables associated with the protus pattern melody
replicated to form the fifteen-note diatonic gamut.30
29 See Appendix 2 for the Boethian diatonic system. 30 For facsimiles showing the visual disposition of the
Noeane syllables across the page, see Chartier 1995, 448
(planche Vil); Traub 1989, 81, 90; Weakland 1956, 68.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
The columns give, from left to right: 1 ) page numbers in the edition Chartier 1995; 2) the topic in this sectio
treatise; 3) Hucbald's modal reference; 4) Hucbald's comment linking the modal reference with the topic
Page Topic Modal reference Hucbald's observation

150 The nine intervals Authentic tetrardus A seven-note scale span in this
and their location antiphon Undecim antiphon pertains to authentic
within a seven-pitch discipuli tetrardus with its plagal,
span but the series of notes can be found
in other modes as well.
164 Musical instruments with The various modes, such as Although Boethius sets a 15-note
more than the canonical protus authentic and the rest (two-octave) gamut, musical
15 strings or pipes instruments often have more
notes due to the variety of mode
and the extended registrai span
they require.
168 The Boethian descending The formula {melodia) The first four notes of the
tone-tone-semitone of authentic protus authentic protus formula
tetrachord exemplify the descending T-T-S
tetrachord from which Boethius
generates his 15-note pitch system.

180 Diezeugmenon and Songs in diverse modes These two tetrachords are found
synemmenon tetrachords in melodies of diverse modes; they
sometimes alternate within a
melody.
182 Diezeugmenon and Authentic and plagal The conjunct tetrachord is
synemmenon tritus; the authentic tritus particularly frequent in tritus
tetrachords formula; tritus antiphons melodies. Tritus chants often
Ecce iam venit and alternate between conjunct and
Paganorum multitudo disjunct tetrachords.
190 The sounds of the The formula of A reminder that the sounds of
pitches within each authentic protus the four notes within each
Boethian tetrachord tetrachord of Boethius's basic
system occur in the first

notes of the authentic pro
formula
194-96 Pitch-specific notational The formula of The sounds of the letter notation
symbols or letters protus authentic just placed above the word
"Alleluia" are easily recognizable
in the protus authentic melodia.
Example 1. Internal Modal References in Musica
Hucbald has neither a standard theoretical instrument such as a mono-
chord on which to locate the pitch system nor (at this point in the treatise) a sym-
bolic notation with which to designate specific pitches.31 To give aural substance
to the Boethian generative tetrachord, he turns to a melody familiar to those he
Proslambanomenos (Friedlein 1867, 314-17; Bower 1989,

31 In book 4, chapter 5 of De institutione musica, Boethius
does present a diatonic division of the monochord 126-31),
that but Hucbald does not appropriate this in Musica.
covers a full fifteen-note span from Nete Hyperboleon to

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
is addressing, the standard authentic protus melodia. This pro

indeed begins with four descending notes in a T-T-S inter
ple 2) , regularly heads the protus authentic entry in early ton
tion of this melodic formula is not merely a casual convenien
purposes. Hucbald's language - the authentic protus melodia -
audience is already familiar with the concepts of protus and
a sense of their meaning in relation to melody. In addition, h
authentic protus melodia to exemplify Boethius' tetrachord (
other chant beginning with the same intervallic structure) fir
chord within modal terrain. The reference not only assumes
possessed by his audience of singers but also assimilates the G
tone-tone-semitone tetrachord within a familiar modal arche
No - a - no - e - a - ne
Example 2. Authentic protus melodic formula from Commemoratio Brevis
Hucbald returns to this connection between Boethian tetrachord and
modal formula later in the treatise when he specifies the arrangement o

full pitch spectrum in tetrachords, beginning from the highest (hyperb
to lowest (hypaton) , and identifies each discrete pitch with a Greek string
The actual sounds of pitches within these tetrachords, he reminds his re
listener, were earlier exemplified when he set forth the first four notes o
authentic protus formula. The manuscripts here give a Noneno text with
dard neumes (indeterminate in pitch) inscribed above it (Musica, 190). 33
the earlier one, this second reference serves to reinforce the modal resona
of the descending T-T-S tetrachord and to confer modal authority upon
The discussion of alternative synemmenon and diezeugmenon tetrach
(conjunct and disjunct) in the Boethian diatonic system brings on an
encounter between unfamiliar Greek terminology and chant practices (M
1 78-80). M Again, mode figures as a framework for comprehension.
Everywhere, due to the modes of diverse songs, you will find melodies pro
ing now with this, now with that tetrachord [diezeugmenon or synemme
32 See the Commemoratio Brevis (c. 900, Schmid 1981, Scolica Enchiradis, where it serves to demonstrate modal
158; Bailey 1979, 30-31), as well as the two treatises that
transformation at successive transpositions.
accompany the Metz tonary (late ninth century), where
33 Facsimiles of these indeterminate neumes may be seen
Noeane syllables (without notation) invoke the pattern mel-
inTraub 1989, 83, 93.
odies (Lipphardt 1965, 12-13, 62-63). Example 2 follows
Bailey's transcription of the authentic protus formula. The 34 Appendix 2 shows the alternate diezeugmenon and
Commemoratio Brevis transmits the earliest set of Western
synemmenon tetrachords in the Boethian system. Palisca
echematic formulas in a pitch-specific notation that can has
be pointed out that Hucbald in this first mention of the
accurately transcribed. Its author describes the authentic
synemmenon tetrachord (Musica, 178) adjusts its position,
protus Noeane formula as the "regular neuma of the first
describing it as a T-S-T tetrachord conjunct with lichanos
tone." The first mode melodia is featured in both Musica and

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Sometimes one of them alone persists throughout the melody. Sometimes [the
melody] fluctuates in turn from one to the other, so that if perhaps synemmenon
were here, it presently glides into diezeugmenon, or if here diezeugmenon, then to
synemmenon. {Musica, 180)
This passage relates the alternative tetrachords above mese - in the later term
nology of Latin pitch letters fluctuation between the pitches round b (b'>) and
square b (h) - to the modal requirements of various chants. Hucbald furthe
insists on the modal neutrality of the choice between synemmenon and diezeug-
menon, given that melodies often fluctuate between the two. The two chants
Hucbald first cites to illustrate such pitch mobility - the responsory Nativitas
gloriosae virginis Mariae and the introït Statuit ei Dominus - happen both to b
authentic protus chants.
Common as this tetrachordal mixture may be within the chant repertory
as a whole, Hucbald notes that it is especially prevalent in one modal category,
tritus.
While examples of this tetrachord [the synemmenon] appear frequently in all

the modes or tones, they can be seen principally in the authentic and plagal
tritus, so that scarcely any melody in these modes may be found without a mix-
ture of these tetrachords, synemmenon and diezeugmenon. Any attentive person
will be able to perceive this in the melodia of the authentic tritus, which is
notated thus: Noeane syne[m]menon diezeugmenon. (Musica, 182)35
As with his reference to the authentic protus formula, so here with tutus
Hucbald relies on a paradigmatic modal melody to convey his point about
tetrachordal mixture within a modal realm. He expects his audience to be
familiar not just with the tutus mode in general but with "the formula of the
authentic tutus' in particular and to have an aural imprint of that melody that
embodies the shift between synemmenon and diezeugmenon tetrachords. To fur-
ther strengthen his point, Hucbald cites tetrachordal fluctuations in two tutus
antiphons, specifying the words or syllables where the shifts occur:
The same [tetrachordal mixture occurs] in the antiphon Ecce iam veniet [which
is] diezeugmenon, plenitudo is synemmenon. Again in the antiphon Paganorum mul-
titudowhere it is diezeugmenon only in the beginning up to the syllable "-tu-." The
rest up to the end is regulated by the flow of synemmenon. (Musica, 182)36
meson [G], instead of the Boethian S-T-T tetrachord con- scribed manifests the fluctuation that Hucbald describes.
junct with mese [a] (1978, 7). Later, when presenting the(See Bailey 1974, 70-71.) The daseian notation employed in
full array of Greek pitch names, he does correctly show the the earliest pitch-specific source for these melodies, Com-
Greek synemmenon tetrachord and places its lowest note memoratio B revis, cannot register such a shift.
upon mese (Musica, 184-86).
36 Much later diastematic sources for these melodies imper-
35 Hucbald gives no reason for this predominance in tritus fectly reflect Hucbald's descriptions, probably because they
but simply states it as a fact. He stands apart from some have been "regularized" to conform to later modal tenets.
later theorists who invoke avoidance of tritones to explain Variants between versions may however provide a trace
b-flats in melodies of the fifth and sixth modes. The Musica of earlier tri, b'> fluctuations. For these two melodies, see
scribes provide neumes of indeterminate pitch over the facsimiles of the Worcester and Lucca antiphoners, Paléo-
Noeane syllables (Traub 1989, 82, 91), but as it happens,graphie Musicale, volumes 12 (fols. 17, 276) and 9 (fols. 22,
no version of the authentic tritus melodia that can be tran- 364), respectively.

1:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff on Thu, 01 Jan 1976 12:34:56 UTC
Hucbald expects his audience not only to be familiar with t

but also to recognize them as tutus in quality. The melodies regi
crete presence of the Greek conjunct and disjunct tetracho
tetrachordal schema itself provides a way of explaining fluctuat
whole- and half-steps at one particular point in the pitch spectr
most common in tutus, such fluctuations may occur in melodies
and carry no hint of impropriety.
Some of Hucbald's modal references reinforce ideas of his own that
stem indirectly from Boethius. This is the case with his symbolic notation
letters by which a melody "can be sung even without a teacher" (Musica, 1
Having introduced a series of fifteen notational symbols, each represe
a pitch with a tetrachordal string name, Hucbald writes four symbols
the text "alleluia" in illustration of their power to represent a series of so
But those letters still seem abstract: simply a few arbitrary symbols attac
to named pitch positions on a grid. To convey the actual sounds meant
transmitted through the symbols, Hucbald matches the letter signs to a k
melody, the incipit of the authentic protus formula.
But in the customary melodia of the authentic protus this [i.e., the sounds of
letter notation] will shine out more clearly. We write above it the same sign
above [for the Alleluia].
I m pc pm pc f
No ne no e a ne
Whichever of these sign

not hesitate to perform
Hucbald might have

how his letter notatio
authentic protus form
to grasp experientiall
Enchinadis daseian not
associate pitches of sim
the opening of the auth
modal valence.
The first reference to mode in Musica occurs within the section on inter-
vals that initiates the main body of the treatise. Hucbald has described nin
intervals (semitone through major sixth) and exemplified each individuall
with one or more chant references, but has not yet developed the concept of
a background diatonic pitch system. He wants the reader/listener to under
stand that these intervals all occur within the span of a seventh and illustrates
this with a chant whose modal affiliation he explicitly designates.
All nine of these intervals are contained within precisely seven pitches, and
you have an example of them in this authentic tetrardus antiphon Undecim
37 For a manuscript facsimile of these symbols over both

the "Alleluia" and the Noeane cue, seeTraub 1989, 84.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Example 3a. Scale passage from Undecim discipuli in the Brussels manuscript of Musica.
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale Albert Premier, Cod. 10078/95, fol. 86. Reproduced by
permission.
jj (fa · m φ m · ' · * m φ é^· ·~^·

(fa φ φ #
8 Un - de - cim di - sei - pu - li in ga - li - le - a
Jj 9 · m m~ 9 -^ ^ ^ II
m 9 9 ******** _μμ***-Ά
"tf * »
* vi - den - tes Do - mi - num a - do - ra - ve - runt al - le - lu - ia.
Example 3b. Antiphon Undecim discipuli. Worcester, Cathedral Library, F. 160, f. 135
discipuli in Galileo, videntes Dominum adoraverunt, where these seven pitc

occur by the end of the syllable -ve- [Example 3a]. . . . Although as descr
here this example shows the middle series of sounds, which appears to pert
to authentic tetrardus with its plagal, these sounds can be found similarly,
the same intervallic distances, in any other series or also modes. Deferring
demonstration for the moment, the series of sounds will now be approac
{Musica, 150)38
Example 3a shows this antiphon fragment as represented graphically i

Brussels manuscript, with tone and semitone distances indicated abov
relevant text syllables.89 Example 3b confirms Hucbald's verbal descri
with staff notation of the phrase as transmitted in later antiphoner
passage from the second syllable of "videntes" to the penultimate syll
"adoraverunt" descends seven notes from d down to E. The last syllab
"adoraverunt" falls on D, completing an octave.
38 Chartier misrepresents this antiphon does enter a plagal

fragment as anrange. The "deferred demonstration" to
which Hucbald
ascending line, whereas according to Hucbald's refers occurs later in Musica (184-92) when
descrip-
tion, as in extant antiphoners, the melody he generates
clearly the fifteen-pitch diatonic gamut and gives a
descends
(1995, 151). Hucbald describes this diatonic name to each
seventh pitch.
span
from a fifth above the final to a third below it (d to Ε in
39 According to Chartier's editorial notes, three manuscripts
Guidonian letters) as pertaining to authentic and plagal
transmit a version of the diagram, while six provide only
tetrardus, without distinguishing between these two sub-
the text without the diagram. (Musica, 150, note to Fig.
categories. In the earliest antiphoners Undecim discipuli is
2.) Note that the scribe of the Brussels manuscript errs in
classified as authentic tetrardus, even though in its descent
placing a series of four whole tones where there should
to a third (and ultimately a fourth) below the final the melody

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
By specifying the tetrardus quality of Undecim discipuli

fixes the tone- semitone scale configuration that constitutes
which his nine intervals can be located. But having defin
terms of a particular modal domain, he is concerned les
think this scalar segment is exclusive to tetrardus. Thus, he
"middle series of sounds" (in terms of the fifteen-note pi
he will eventually unveil) and emphasizes that the same s
ing the same diverse types of intervals, may be found in any
references already discussed, Hucbald in this explanatory
familiarity with basic modal concepts and sound qualities. He
structure of an octave scale in terms of a melody in a specif
but immediately invokes other modes so that the modal neut
ment of the pitch spectrum will not be in doubt.
Another noteworthy appeal to knowledge of the modes i
conjunction with the total span of the background pitch spec
De institutione musica posits a diatonic pitch system of fifteen
and Hucbald faithfully reports this, attributing the arrangem
sagacious man, Boethius" {Musica, 154) .4() Despite the auth
fifteen-note system, Hucbald is concerned lest his contem
bled by encountering instruments capable of producing a gre
pitches. To explain this discrepancy between authoritative
contemporary reality, Hucbald appeals to the exigencies of
Let it cause you no uneasiness if by chance when inspecting

any other kind of musical instrument you find that its note
by this pattern [of tones and semitones] or that they are obse
number of pitches. For this disposition [the one he hasjust pre
ing to the arrangement of that most sagacious man, Boethi
all these things attentively and established them through r
mensurable concord of numbers. {Musica, 164)
Directly after this passage, Hucbald explains that instrument

a greater number of notes are intellectually legitimate becau
ported by long-standing tradition and have been approve
and intelligent individuals. But the deeper reason behin
pitch spans (expansions that, as he emphasizes, simply rep
from lower registers) resides in modal exigencies:
Further, this large number of pitches or pipes, as for instanc

more, is not appointed so that more than fifteen, or perhaps
be only three: T-S-T-T-T-S. The problem40arises because

Boethius, he
book I, chapter 20 (Friedlein 1867, 205-12;
places the Τ and S symbols above the individual
Bower 1989,text
29-39).syl-
The fifteen-pitch diatonic gamut leaves
lables rather than over the junction between
out the them. There
synemmenon tetrachord. With the synemmenon,
there are
are seven pitches (represented by text syllables) butsixteen
only sounding
six pitches, or eighteen based on
intervals between them. nomenclature (paranete synemmenon [c] would sound the
same as trite diezeugmenon but would be a different pitch
in name).

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
added, but rather the same sounds are just repeated from the lower register.
This is due to the variety of modes, which are now called "tones," such as the
authentic protus and the others. Since, obviously, all of them [modal melodies]
cannot commence from the same low positions, the [additional pitches] pro-
vide sufficient means for proceeding wherever the beginning [note] might be
located. (Musica, 164)
Mode here functions as a domain sufficiently powerful to explain and ratio

nalize discrepancies between the fifteen-note Greek diatonic system and
the more extensive spectrum of pitches available on instruments known to
Hucbald and his contemporaries. It is not simply that some melodies rang
quite high, but that the modal system as a whole requires a more spacious field
than two octaves to accommodate the heights and depths traversed in relation
to the total spectrum of melodic starting points. As with the other internal
modal references dispersed within Musica, this one relies upon the reader/
listener's familiarity with the ecclesiastical modes. The invocation of mod
here, as elsewhere, presupposes prior knowledge and requires no supplemen
tal explanation.
IV. Mode as an Unwritten Theoretical Premise in Musica
Given the number and nature of the references to mode and to melodies in
specific modes in the course of Musica, beginning with the first main section
on intervals, it is hardly surprising that the final section does not constitute a
primer of modal theory. No detailed explanation of the modes is necessary,
because Hucbald has been writing for an audience that is already familiar with
basic modal concepts, categories, melodies, and stock formulas of the modes.
This helps to explain the puzzling turn away from chant references that had
been so abundant earlier in Musica (see above). Whereas in the body of the
treatise frequent chant citations fulfill an essential purpose of giving concrete
aural substance to abstract theoretical entities - particular intervals, types of
tetrachord - in the final section this methodology can be abandoned because
the theoretical apparatus and terminology of mode are already known to the
ninth-century audience whom Hucbald addresses. Hucbald writes from a the-
oretical stance that assumes mode as a domain of previously attained, experi-
ential knowledge whose tenets are strong enough to validate formal theoreti-
cal elements imported from the master musicus, Boethius.41 As noted in the
above survey of internal modal references, the Boethian descending T-T-S
tetrachord can be grounded in the authentic protus formula; the alternative
synemmenon and diezeugmenon tetrachords are manifested in the authentic tn-
tus melodia as well as in ordinary chants of various modes; and a symbolic nota-
tional system (inspired by Boethian pitch symbols) can be certified through
41 Given that Hucbald refers to no other contemporaryintrea-

the Enchiriadis treatises), it seems likely that in his orbit
basic modal theory was transmitted orally to novices along
tises in Musica, and seems unaware of any other contem-
porary attempt to create a pitch-specific notation (e.g.,with
thatthe chant melodies themselves.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
the authentic protus formula and through alignment with

notes of chants in each modal category. The diatonic pitch
by Boethius is confirmed through the conformity of modal
their exigencies these melodies also justify expansion ofthat
fifteen pitches to twenty-one or more.
In the final section of the treatise, where his "harvest" e
continues forging close connections between formal theo
antiquity and the informal domain of préexistent modal und
foreign tetrachordal string names are allied with the modal
1, [2] ), while other pitches gain modal status through specia
fifth or fourth to those finals (Appendix 1, [3], [4a]). Her
revealed that the "second" tetrachord by which Hucbald assem
note gamut - the T-S-T tetrachord that appears, without
alternative to the Boethian descending T-T-S constructi
174-76)- is the tetrachord of the finals (202).
Even the concluding arrays of initial notes in the four m
marred though they are by internal gaps, serve to assimilate
of the Greek pitch spectrum (from paranete diezeugmenon d
banomenos) into a familiar modal sphere and to do the sa
tional symbols with which Hucbald identifies the initial note
of the newly minted notational symbols with the pitch slots
(either in actuality or conceptually) to antiphon beginnin
category indicates how those symbols can represent both ind
departure and the scalar sound space proximate to each fi
mode explicitly (but not at an elementary pedagogical lev
his treatise, Hucbald brings into the open what has been imp
Musica: that it is not merely chant repertory but the modal
anchors authoritative theoretical doctrines and shapes app
of selected Boethian teachings.
This is not an outcome that could have been predicted fr
of the treatise. There Hucbald advertises his preliminary
way into the inner core of the discipline, which deals wit
relationships:
So having worked at these matters [the topics just enumera

amount of time, as though lingering in an entryway, at lengt
be granted admission to the inner chambers of this discipline
dulled vision sharpened through gradual clearing of the per
is, [one may grasp] how all these things and the nature of con
this [discipline] treats are disposed according to the most fi
numbers and how all things are constituted and constructed a
pattern. (Musica, 136)
Given this opening gambit, one might expect to find in the

Musica references to numerical proportions, or possibly a dig
musico-numeric theory such as closes the Scolica Enchina

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Sarah Fuller ~ Appendix 1 33
115-47). Instead, on reaching the end of Musica one finds that mo

as the final phase of the treatise. Mode, not number, is brought f
a culminating musical reality. Within the rhetoric of the treatise as a
mode subtly functions as a basic background premise equivalent to th
role of number in Boethius's perspective on music. But whereas Bo
explicit and eloquent about the power of number, Hucbald is obl
inferential about the capacity of established modal elements to tin
certify theoretical constructs such as generative tetrachords and the
pitch system "that regulates all song" {Musica, 136).
From a scholarly perspective directed toward the issue of how
music theory was received in the later middle ages, beginning in Caro
times, it has seemed as though Boethian theory takes the dominan
tory role in Hucbald 's Musica and provides a structure for the am
realm of chant practices. In the Cambridge History of Western Music Th
example, Calvin Bower writes, "one of the principal tasks of his [H
highly original treatise was to explain chant in terms and concepts co
with the theory found in Boethius - the theory shaped by numbe
159). In a similar vein, David Cohen remarks that Musicas concludi
of initial notes in all the modes "would have been an impressive de
tion of Hucbald's primary thesis: the power of the theoretical con
constructs of the ancient ars musica to illuminate the principles o
ity" (2002, 323). In characterizing Hucbald's "new" theory as hav
weight of [Boethian] auctontas on its side," Charles Atkinson see
with that stance (2009, 162). Given the particular perspective of B
reception from which Bower and Cohen are writing, their comme
considerable weight. But close attention to Hucbald's actual lang
insistent modal references in Musica provides a reverse angle of inter
founded upon an internal view of the rhetorical orientation of Musica
that in Hucbald's theoretical universe the established ecclesiastical mod
tem, which governs the realm of chant, constitutes a primary founda
understanding and valuing the ars musica transmitted by Boethius. Hu
frequent references to chant and to modal categories, his reliance
for explanatory purposes, can be read as a celebration of an indigenou
lingian musical knowledge and practice that subtly validates select the
elements received from antiquity and guides comprehension of the di
ary principles of musica.
Appendix 1. Translation of the Final Section of Hucbald's Musica
Source edition: Musica, 200-212. Editorial subheadings in square brackets

indicate the main topical subdivisions within this section. The facsimile of
Hucbald's notation for the Finals in section [2] comes from Brussels, Bib-
liothèque Royale Albert Premier, Cod. 10078/95, folio 91v. Reproduced by
permission.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
[1. Harvest]
Now having reached the point toward which from the outset everything
looked forward, it is time to declare what may be made out of these things, and
how great a harvest may arise from the seeds already sown. With the spaces
between musical tones indeed established, first by intervals between notes,
then by division into tetrachords, then by the string [pitch] names [within
tetrachords] , and finally by simply setting forth their notational signs, it is now
the place to reveal how these elements may be intermingled with each other,
or how they may behave [lit.: proceed] in diverse modes.
[2. Finals and Modes/Tropes]
The four [pitches] after the first three (that is, lichanos hypaton, hypate
meson, parhypate meson, and lichanos meson) are suited for ending the four
modes or tropes that are now called "tones," that is, protus, deuterus, tritus,
and tetrardus. This is in such a way that each of these four notes reigns over
a pair of tropes subject to it: a principal one, which is called authentic, and a
collateral one, which is called plagal.
lichanos hypaton [rules over] the authentic protus and its plagal, that is,
the first and second modes,
hypate meson [rules over] the authentic deuterus and its plagal, that is,
the third and fourth modes,
parhypate meson [rules over] the authentic tritus and its plagal, that is,
the fifth and sixth modes,
lichanos meson rules over the authentic tetrardus and its plagal, that is,
the seventh and eighth modes.
Accordingly, all melody, of whatever kind, no matter how variously it may

roam around far or near [from its ending note] is necessarily led back to one
of these four [pitches] . Hence it is that they are called finals since everything
that is sung receives its ending on [one of] them. We notate these [pitches] in
this way, by placing the signs just introduced, descending and ascending.
Γ * * #1
1 A 1 A
In firttuortrn m 4

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Following their model, the other tetrachords - one below and thre
ing above - draw their intervals or nature of sounds. All this was show
ficiently in the examples provided above.
[3. Fifths above Finals: similarity relationships and closing functions]
Take notice of this, that with the synemmenon tetrachord removed, the notes
positioned in the fifth place above each one of the four [finals] are connected
with them in such a bond of similarity that many melodies may be found to
close regularly on them [the upper fifths] without on that account running
counter to either reason or sense perception. Such melodies proceed per-
fectly under the same mode or trope.
They [the finals with their upper fifths] maintain this association
lichanos hypaton with mese

hypate meson with paramese
parhypate meson with trite diezeugmenon
lichanos meson with paranete diezeugmenon.
These [paired] notes are individually disposed five places apart from each
other.
[4a. Fourths below Finals: relationship and initial functions]
They [the four finals] also possess a somewhat similar condition to the notes
a fourth below, and in certain cases a fifth below, although those notes are
appointed for beginnings, not endings. [Beginnings] descend down to these
notes as the boundary of inception. Thus related are:
proslambanomenos with lichanos hypaton

hypate hypaton with hypate meson (but this rarely)
parhypate hypaton with parhypate meson
lichanos hypaton with lichanos meson.
[4b. Exceptional Initia at a fifth below]
But in this one [lichanos meson as final] a descent sometimes as low as parhy-
pate hypaton, that is, to the fifth below, but this is extremely rare otherwise.
[5. Arrays showing the span of initial notes for each of the modal
categories]
In general, no mode or trope has the possibility of beginning more than a fifth
above its final or a fifth below it. Rather, endings and beginnings are confined
within these eight (or sometimes nine) notes, on the part of authentics and of
plagals. This may be clarified by examples in each mode.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
And you will see from this arrangement the eight notes from
begin that are appropriate for protus authentic and its plagal
Mese I Erunt primi novissimi.

Τ
Lichanos meson M Ave Maria.

Τ
Parhypate meson Ρ Volo pater.

S
Hypate meson C Scarcely any example starts on this note. But there is one of
this sort from the antiphon "Volo pater" [at] "et minister
meus."
Τ
Lichanos hypaton F Ecce nomen domini.

Τ
Parhypate hypaton Β Ductus est Jesus.

S
Hypate hypaton Γ Almost never [a beginning] from this [note]. But, similarly to
the above, from the antiphon "Circumdantes" [at] "vindica-
bor in eis."
Proslambanomenos ' Veni and ostende.
Next, these eight [notes] govern the authentic deuterus with its plag
Paramese Ε Vivo ego. Fili. Notam fecisti.

Τ
Mese I Reddet Deus. Ex [Aegypto] IIII.

Τ
Lichanos meson M Orietur in diebus Domini. Justi autem.

Τ
Parhypate meson Ρ Maria et flumina. Quae de terra est.

S
Hypate meson C Haec est quae nescivit. Vigilate [animo]. Sinite me inquit.
Τ
Lichanos hypaton F Rubum quern viderat.

Τ
Parhypate hypaton Β Iste cognovit.

S
Hypate hypaton Γ
By these [beginning notes] tri
Trite diezeugmenon Ε Ecce Dom

S
Paramese ΓΖ Aspice in me.

Τ
Mese I Solvite templum.

Τ
Lichanos meson M
42The second co
The symbols sup
textual incipits ar

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Parhypate meson Ρ Haurietis [aquas]. Puer Jesus.

S
Hypate meson C
Lichanos hypaton F Hodie scietis.

Τ
Parhypate hypaton Β
The boundaries of these nine notes bin

plagal.
Paranete diezeugmenon ω Ecce sacerdos.
Τ
Trite diezeugmenon Ε Beatus venter. Quomodo fiet.

S
Paramese Ε Dixit dominus Domino.

Τ
Mese I Erumpent montes. Beati [quos elegisti].

Τ
Lichanos meson M Disrupisti Domine. In ilia die.

Τ
Parhypate meson Ρ Vitam petit.

S
Hypate meson C
Lichanos hypaton F Spiritus Domini replevit.

Τ
Parhypate hypaton Β Stabuntjusti. Cum venerit [paraclitus].

Dum venerit [filius].
In this [category] , movement occurs from the first and highest pitch all the
way down to the ninth (pitch), and from the final, which is lichanos meson, it
[the space for initial notes] is extended a fifth in either direction.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Appendix 2. Boethian Double-Octave Diatonic Pitch System

with Guidonian Pitch Letters
Greek pitch names
Guidonian pitch letters with Diezeugmenon Tetrachord with Synemmenon Tetra
aa nete hyperboleon
g paranete hyperboleon
f trite hyperboleon
e nete diezeugmenon
d paranete diezeugmenon nete synemmenon
c trite diezeugmenon paranete synemmenon
b paramese
b trite synemmenon
a mese mese
G lichanos meson lichanos meson
F parhypate meson parhypate meson

Ε hypate meson hypate meson
D lichanos hypaton lichanos hypaton
C parhypate hypaton parhypate hypaton
Β hypate hypaton hypate hypaton
A proslambanomenos proslambanomenos
Γ [Not included in the Greek double-octave system.]
Works Cited
Medieval Treatises
Alia Musica, Anonymi. Edition: Chailley 1965. English translation: Heard 1966.
Commemoratio Brevis, Anonymous. Edition: Schmid 1981, 157-77. English translation: Baile
1979.
De institutione musica libn quinque, Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius. Edition: Friedlein 1867
English translation: Bower 1989.
De Musica, John [of Afflighem] '. Edition: Smits van Waesberghe 1950. English translation: Babb
1978.
Dialogas de musica, Anonymous (Master of the Dialogas). Edition: Gerbert 1784b, 252-64
English translation: Strunk and Treitler 1998, 198-210.
Micrologus, Guido of Arezzo. Edition: Smits van Waesberghe, 1955. English translation: Bab
1978.
Musica, Hucbald. Edition: Chartier 1995. See also Gerbert 1784a, 104-21. Translations: Babb
1978 (English); Chartier 1995 (French); Traub 1989 (German).
Musica Enchiriadis, Anonymous. Edition: Schmid 1981, 3-59. English translation: Erickson
1995, 1-32.
Scolica Enchinadis, Anonymous. Edition: Schmid 1981, 60-156. English translation: Erickson
1995, 33-93.
Secondary Literature
Atkinson, Charles. 2009. The Cntical Nexus: Tone-System, Mode, and Notation in Early Medieval
Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Babb, Warren, trans. 1978. Hucbald, Guido, and John on Music: Three Medieval Treatises, ed. Claude
Palisca. New Haven: Yale University Press.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Bailey, Terence. 1974. The Intonation Formulas of Western Chant. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of
Medieval Studies.
Ottawa Press.
Bernhard, Michael. 1990. "Das musikalische Fachschriftum im lateinischen Mittelalter." In

Rezeption des antiken Fachs im Mittelalter, ed. Frieder Zaminer, 37-103. Geschichte der
Musiktheorie 3. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Borst, Arno. 1990. "Rithmimachie und Musiktheorie." In Rezeption des antiken Fachs im Mit-
telalter, ed. Frieder Zaminer, 253-86. Geschichte der Musiktheorie 3. Darmstadt: Wis-
senschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Bower, Calvin, trans. 1989. Boethius, Fundamentals of Music. Edited by Claude V. Palisca. Music
Theory Translation Series. New Haven: Yale University Press.
bridge History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen,

bridge University Press.
Chailley, Jacques, ed. 1965. Alia Musica (Traité de Musique du IXe Si
de Musicologie de l'Université de Paris No. 6. Paris: Centre de
sitaire. Commentary cited as Chailley 1965.
Chartier, Yves. 1995. L'Oeuvre Musicale d'Hucbald de Saint-Amand: L
musique. Cahiers d'Études Médiévales No. 5. Saint-Laurent, Q
rial notes and commentary cited as Chartier 1995. Critical ed
ed., ed. Stanley Sadie, 11: 794-95. London: Macmillan/New York

Cohen, David. 2002. "Notes, Scales, and Modes in the Earlier Middle
History of Western Music Theory, ed. Thomas Christensen, 30
bridge University Press.
Erickson, Raymond, trans. 1995. Musica Enchiriadis and Scolica Enchi
Palisca. Music Theory Translation Series. New Haven: Yale Unive
Friedlein, Gottfried, ed. 1867. Boetii De Institutione musica libri quinq
furt am Main: Minerva G.M.B.H., 1966.
Gerbert, Martin, ed. 1784a. De harmonica institutione of Hucbald, Scriptores Ecclesiastici de Musica,
1: 104-21. St. Blasius. Reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1963.
Reprint, Hildesheim: Olms, 1963.

Gümpel, Karl-Werner. 2003. "Hucbald von Saint-Amand." In Die Musi
wart, 2nd ed., ed. Ludwig Finscher, Personenteil 9, cols. 458-61
Bärenreiter.
Gushee, Lawrence. 1973. "Questions of Genre in Medieval Treatises on Music." In Gattun-

gen der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen, ed. Wulf Arlt, Ernst Lichtenhahn, and Hans Oesch,
365-433. Bern and Munich: Francke.
Heard, Edmund. 1966. "Alia musica: A Chapter in the History of Medieval Music Theory.
Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin. University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan,
No. 66-13798.
Hesbert, René-Jean. 1963-79. Corpus Antiphonalium Officii, Rerum Ecclesiasticarum Docu-

menta, Series Major Fontes VII-XII, 6 vols. Rome: Herder. Cited as CAO.
Huglo, Michel. 1969. "L'auteur du 'Dialogue sur la Musique' attribué à Odon." Revue de
Musicologie 55/2: 119-71.
Lipphardt, Walther. 1965. Der Karolingische Tonar von Metz. Liturgiewissenschaftliche Quellen
und Forschungen 43. Münster: Aschendorffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung.
McKitterick, Rosamund, ed. 1994. Carolingian Culture: Emulation and Innovation. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC
Meyer, Christian. 2000. "Die Tonartenlehre im Mittelalter." In Die Lehre vo

gischen Gesang, ed. Thomas Ertelt and Frieder Zaminer, 137-215. Ges
theorie 4. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
Möller, Hartmut. 1993. "Zur Frage der musikgeschichtlichen Bedeutun
Hofe Karls des Grossen: Die Musica Albini" In Akademie und Musik, e
Nicole Schwindt-Gross, Ingeborg Maass, and Thomas Sick, 269-88.
dien zur Musikwissenschaft 7, Neue Folge. Saarbrücken: Saarbrück
Verlag.
Palisca, Claude. 1978. See Babb 1978. Palisca's commentary on the treatises is cited as Palisca
1978.
Powers, Harold S. and Frans Wiering. 2001. "Mode II. 2: Medieval Modal Theory, Carolingian
Synthesis, 9th-10th Centuries." In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd
ed., ed. Stanley Sadie, 16: 778-83. London: Macmillan/New York: Grove's Dictionaries.
Rankin, Susan. 1994. "Carolingian music." In Carolingian Culture: Emulation and Innovation, ed.
Rosamund McKitterick, 274-316. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmid, Hans, ed. 1981. Musica et Scolica enchinadis una cum aliquibus tractatulis adiunc-
tis. Veröffentlichungen der Musikhistorischen Kommission 3. Munich: Bayerische
Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Smits van Waesberghe, Joseph, ed. 1950 ■. Johannis Afßighemensis De Musica cum Τοηαήο. Cor
Scriptorum de Musica 1. Rome: American Institute of Musicology.
Institute of Musicology.
Strunk, Oliver and Leo Treitler, eds. 1998. Source Reading
Norton.
Torkewitz, Dieter. 1997. "Zur Entstehung der Musica und Scholica Enchiriadis." Acta Mus
logica 69: 156-81.
zum Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 44. Stuttgart: Steiner

Traub, Andreas, ed. and trans. 1989. "Hucbald von Saint-Amand, De harmonica institutione."
Beiträge zur Gregorianik 7: 5- 101 .
Corrections to the Latin text in Traub 1989 conse

edition.
Treitler, Leo. 1984. "Reading and Singing: On the Genesis of Occidental Music-Writing."
Early Music History 4: 135-208. Reprinted with new preface and postscript in With Voice
and Pen: Coming to Know Medieval Song and How It Was Made, 365-428. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2003.
Weakland, Rembert. 1956. "Hucbald as Musician and Theorist." Musical Quarterly 42: 66-84.
Witte, Robert. 1974. Catalogas Sigeberti Gemblacensis monachi de vins illustnbus. Lateini-
sche Sprache und Literatur des Mittelalters, 1. Bern and Frankfurt am Main: Lang
and Lang.
Sarah Fuller is professor of music at Stony Brook University. Her recent publications on medieval
music theory include chapters in The Cambridge History of Western Music Theory (2002) and The
Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music (forthcoming, 2010). Lm*

154.59.124.47 on Tue, 04 Aug 2020 13:38:38 UTC

Fuller 2008 - Interpreting Hucbald On Mode

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Fuller 2008 - Interpreting Hucbald On Mode

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Fuller 2008 - Interpreting Hucbald On Mode

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What is the main topic of the document?

What is the main topic of the document?

What time period does the document discuss?

What time period does the document discuss?

Interpreting Hucbald on Mode

Author(s): Sarah Fuller

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.com/stable/40607028

This content downloaded from

the treatise musica attributed το Hucbald of St. Amand (c. 840-930) is

Journal of Music Theory 52:1, Spring 2008

This content downloaded from

in part on demonstration that an orderly substructure of

This content downloaded from

and on critical functions of modal references within the work as a whole. On

the basis of the observations obtained, it reaches unorthodox conclusions not

I. The Final Section of Musica

This concluding section is commonly taken to be an exposition or expl

6 Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my

This content downloaded from

unsatisfactory. Several problems with an "exposition" inter

ally associated with Alcuin - explicitly describes authentic modes as higher

This content downloaded from

Hucbald goes on to state that an associative relation obtains between

This content downloaded from

noted) the fifth below is the lower boundary (Musica, 206

15 Christian Meyer has rightly cautioned against

This content downloaded from

Despite their systematic appearance, Hucbald's arrays of initials appear

This content downloaded from

a protus final, or what concrete features differentiate plagal

II. Interpretations of Hucbald's Theory of Mode

Modern scholarship has generally disregarded or glossed over the problems

This content downloaded from

25 See Appendix 1, as well as the manuscript facsimiles

This content downloaded from

ages at large (the exposition by Guido, that by Hermannu

precursor to the teaching of Bern of Reichenau, an early-eleventh-century th

26 A tradition of misrepresenting Hucbald's teachings

This content downloaded from

through the provision of eleventh-century Guidonian Latin letter names for

considered response may be formulated from references to mode within the

III. Mode within the Conceptual Framework of Musica

Although Hucbald explicitly identifies the addressee of his treatise as "anyone

28 The provision of later tetrachord names (in brackets)

This content downloaded from

nature of his intended audience has been variously assessed

impression of an audience steeped in the practice of liturgical chant, memo-

This content downloaded from

Page Topic Modal reference Hucbald's observation

generates his 15-note pitch system.

system occur in the first

Example 1. Internal Modal References in Musica

Hucbald has neither a standard theoretical instrument such as a mono-

Proslambanomenos (Friedlein 1867, 314-17; Bower 1989,

This content downloaded from

is addressing, the standard authentic protus melodia. This pro

Example 2. Authentic protus melodic formula from Commemoratio Brevis

Hucbald returns to this connection between Boethian tetrachord and

modal formula later in the treatise when he specifies the arrangement o