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Crocker - Hermanns Major Sixth
Crocker - Hermanns Major Sixth
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BY RICHARD L. CROCKER
To begin with, let us look at one rule for recognizing the modes which
has hitherto been dug out as a rough mass, so to speak, by previous writers, but
not fully worked clear of dross, and let us state it in such a way that it may
stand forth clear and pure for earnest students. This matter of recognition, to
be sure, though it may be reduced to a brief statement, is nevertheless ex-
tensive and notable in character, since that which is very elegantly indicated
in it finds a place among the proper and rightful foundations of the modes.
falls two tones and rises a second species Fourth, and which is found on the
principal pitches of deuterus, B, E, ? [b quadratumi], e, is exemplified by the
Antiphon Gloria haec est, and similar ones, whether authentic or plagal, which
do not exceed six pitches in range. The third pattern falls a third species Fourth
and rises two tones, as established on the principal pitches of tritus, C, F, c, f;
an example of this occurs in the Antiphon Modicum et non videbitis, and the
like. The fourth tonal pattern, which rises a tone and falls a fourth species
Fifth, we assign to tetrardus, since the principal pitches of that mode, D, G,
d, g, establish it; this can be recognized in the Antiphons Si vere fratres and
Multi venient, and the like. These, then, which have been described as com-
posed of six pitches, exhibit the perfection both of the number six and of the
largest interval, which consists of that number of pitches."
In spite of the fact that Hermann speaks of "recognition of the modes,"
what he has presented here is not a particularly useful description of the
eight modes as we usually think of them-or even of the four finals as
found in many pieces. Hermann has to go to some trouble to pick out
pieces that fall within the limits of a major sixth. And in the case of the
fourth tonal pattern, his scheme ascends only one whole tone from the
final (G), which will not take us far in working with most G-final pieces.
We might infer from the selection of Si vere fratres (range G up to e)
that in this case we are to locate the chant on the pitches G to e while
imagining a tetrardus final on d, so that the description of the pitch set
("rises a tone and falls a fourth species Fifth") corresponds exactly to that
of the chant; only then the final we have located is not in the same posi-
tion as the final of the chant, G. This confusion is, I believe, an indication
that Hermann's ultimate purpose is not a mere identification of individual
finals. This point will be pursued later in the article.
Why the limitation to a sixth-this particular sixth? Hermann says,
"Take any tetrachord you wish-say, that of the graves ..." and goes on
to say that a given tonal pattern can be found at each of the four "princi-
pal pitches" in each mode, for example A, D, a, d in protus. For Hermann,
a tetrachord is a first species fourth (one with a semitone in the middle)
and the tetrachord of the graves is A, B, C, D. The other tetrachords are
those of the finales (D, E, F, G) the superiores (a, b, c, d) and the
excellentes (d, e, f, g). (See Table ib.) In each of these locations, the
ascents and descents around each of the four finals are identical as long as
the range of the major sixth is not exceeded. For example, start on low A
and ascend through the fifth to E; that ascent is identical to the ascent
starting on D up though a. In each case the ascent has reached the top of
the range of the major sixth (r-E, C-a). To ascend further would bring
a semitone in one case (to F), but a whole tone in the other (to bk). A
bb would be required to preserve the identity in ascent. Only within the
TABLE I
HERMANN'S MAJOR SIXTH
E a e aa
D G d g tetrardus
C F c f tritus
B E e deuterus
A D a d protus J
r C G c
b.
"graves" "superiores"
I II III IV I II III IV
F A B C D E F G a c d e f g aa
I II III IV I II III IV
"finales" "excellentes"
l 1
TABLE 2
GUIDO'S MAJOR SIXTH
E a
D G tetrardus
tritus C F I
deuterus B E
protus A D
r C
I II III
I A B C D E F G a C
I II III
IV
major sixth are the ascents and descents around the four finals identical
at all locations of these finals. And the multiple locations of the finals
seem to play an essential role in the whole construction.
This, for the moment, seems to be the meaning of Hermann's major
sixth. It is obviously a complex, second-order concept; how and especially
why it should have been developed are questions not easily answered. We
can believe Hermann when he tells us it was the work of more than one
theorist. We should believe him, I think, when he expresses belief in its
value for music theory.
Is it possible to identify the other theorists Hermann has in mind? The
most immediate source for Hermann's sixth seems to be Guido's Micro-
logus. Hans Oesch, in his very useful book Berno und Hermann, finds no
direct evidence that Hermann knew the work of Guido; and yet even
Oesch points to several indications of a possible relationship.4 It seems to
me that if we consider Chapter 7 of the Micrologus in the light of the
passage quoted from Hermann, the connection becomes evident (see
Table 2).
Since, moreover, there are seven pitches (the others, as I said, being the
same) it suffices to explain in sevens what different modes and qualities
there are.
The first tonal pattern is down a tone, and up a tone, semitone, and two
tones, as from A or D.
SOesch, Berno und Hermann, p. 239-
The second tonal pattern is down two tones, and up a semitone and two
tones, as from B or E.
The third tonal pattern is down a semitone and two tones, and up two
tones, as from C and F.
The fourth tonal pattern is down a tone, and up two tones and a semitone,
as from G.
And note that these follow one another in order, for the first is on A, the
second on B, the third on C; then the first is on D again, the second on E, the
third on F, the fourth on G. Also note the affinities of the pitches arranged by
fourths and fifths: A is joined to D, B to E, and C to F, by a fourth below and
a fifth above, as shown here.5
In discussing ascents and descents around the four finals, Guido con-
tains three sets within a major sixth-the same sixth as Hermann-but
places the ascent and descent around the fourth final in a separate range
bounded by a fifth (F-c). The similarity between Guido's arrangement and
Hermann's is clear, and the difference between them seems to correspond
exactly to Hermann's words, "not fully worked clear of dross." And when
Hermann goes on to criticize his predecessor the connection becomes
even clearer.
Now these persons of whom we are speaking, ignorant of the fact that the
patterns we have spoken of consist most perfectly of six pitches, adopted seven
pitches, regularly laying out the three modes on A, B, C, but denying the
existence of the fourth mode; and seeking again a sequence of the above-
mentioned modes by similar rule on D, E, F, they fixed the fourth mode finally
on G alone, making it fall a tone and rise two tones and a semitone. Their error
was threefold as we have said because firstly they did not set this same mode
off against its opposite, i.e. protus, in the way we have described; secondly they
extended it beyond the pattern and exceeded the legitimate limit of six pitches
which begins on C and sretches to a; and finally they make this extension with
no established species.6
5 Guidonis Aretini Micrologus, ed. Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, Corpus scrip-
torum de musica, Vol. IV ([Rome], 1955), pp. 117-19. "Cum autem septem sint voces,
quia aliae ut diximus, sunt eaedem, septenas sufficit explicare, quae diversorum
modorum et diversarum sunt qualitatum. Primus modus vocum est, cum vox tono
deponitur et tono et semitonio duobusque tonis intenditur, ut .A. et .D. Secundus
modus est, cum vox duobus tonis remissa semitonio et duobus tonis intenditur, ut
.B. et .E. Tertius est qui semitonio et duobus tonis descendit, duobus vero tonis
ascendit, ut .C. et .F. Quartus vero deponitur tono, surgit autem per duos tonos
et semitonium, ut .G. Et nota quod se per ordinem sequuntur, ut primus in .A.,
secundus in .B., tertius in .C. Itemque primus in .D., secundus in .E., tertius in .F.,
quartus in .G. Itemque nota has vocum affinitates per diatessaron et diapente con-
structas: .A. enim ad .D., et .B. ad .E., et .C. ad .F., a gravibus diatessaron, ab
acutis vero diapente coniungitur hoc modo."
6Musica Hermanni Contracti, trans. Ellinwood, p. 60. "Hi ergo de quibus
loquimur, ignorantes ea quae dicta sunt in sex vocibus perfectissime constare, dum
exactis regulariter tribus tropis per A, B, C quartus secundum eos defuisset, assump-
serunt ad huc septem voces et ante dictorum troporum ordinem aequali regula per
D, E, F repetentes, quartum demum tropum per solum G tono remissum, duobus
tonis semitonioque intendebant, ter ut dictum est delinquentes, quia eundem tropum
contra oppositum suum, id est protum eo quo dictum est modo non converterunt,
deinde quod eum supra modum intendentes, legitimam sex vocum metam excesserunt,
quae a C incipiens in a porrigitur, postremo eandem intensionem nulla propria
specie confecerunt."
7 Guidonis Aretini Micrologus, ed. Sinits van Waesberghe, p. I29; cf. Handschin,
Der Toncharakter, pp. 324-25.
least in the diatonic system. But what is the purpose of limiting so drastic-
ally the range to be considered? Perhaps we might understand Guido a
little better if we called his first final "major," his second "minor," his third
"phrygian," recalling that those are the three principal cadences (from
some points of view, the only ones) in polyphony as used in either a two-
part system or a triadic one. None of that, of course, was in Guido's mind
in the early i ith century. But one could say that he wanted to express the
relationship of finals to the whole diatonic system as simply, as concisely,
as he could.
For the time being, however, Guido's suggestion of three finals was
not followed; and Hermann, at least, felt that instead of emphasizing three
finals it would be better to normalize the four within the major sixth.
From Guido to Hermann, then, we can follow the logic easily; but what
lay behind Guido?
Hans Oesch has shown convincingly that Guido's general approach
in the Micrologus proceeds directly from the Dialogus, known for con-
venience as Odo's-although certainly not by Odo of Cluny, but rather
written around 00ooo.8With its exclusive reliance on the monochord, the
Dialogus seems the most pragmatic of early treatises. At the end of the
Dialogus is a passage that is roughly analogous to Guido's Chapter 7, but
with a significant difference: in the Dialogus's account of the ascents and
descents, and also in the location of the finals, there is little or no system-
certainly no major sixth-only a carefully pragmatic response to the reali-
ties of the chant. (The Dialogus, for example, locates a deuterus on a with
bb directly above; and that location was indeed used for certain Antiphons
as they were fixed on staff notation during the I and I2th centuries.)
So while the Dialogus may be systematic in somelth other respects, it is not
so with respect to ascents and descents around the finals; if Guido's ar-
rangement is less systematic than Hermann's, it is vastly more so than that
of the Dialogus, which knows nothing of a common range of a major
sixth.
In spite of the scorn with which Guido (and Hermann too) refer to
the Musica enchiriadis and its erratic scale, there do seem to be points of
contact; Handschin was aware of them.9 From the MS representation, if
nothing else, it is clear that the Musica enchiriadis was not as isolated in
the Ioth and I th centuries as one might think.10 At any rate, Guido and
8 Oesch, Guido von Arezzo, pp. 41-53, 72-1ii. The question of authorship is
pursued in the very impressive study by Michel Huglo, "L'auteur du Dialogue sur
la musique," Revue de musicologie, LV (1969), 119-71; Huglo comes to the con-
clusion that the Dialogus remains anonymous. Text of the Dialogus in Martin
Gerbert, Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra, (San-Blasian, 1784), I, 252-64;
part translated in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings in Music History (New York,
1950), pp. 105-16.
9 Der Toncharakter,
pp. 323-24; see also Oesch, Berno und Hermann, pp. 239-40.
Text of the Musica enchiriadis in Gerbert, Scriptores, I,
i52-73.
10 See, for example, Joseph Smits van Waesberghe, ed., The Theory of Music,
Vol. I, RISM, B III1 (Munich, 196I), index s.v. "Enchirias."
TABLE 3
SCALEOF THE Musica enchiriadis
aa nete
hyperbolaion g paranete
f trite
Se nete
diezeugmenonnete
d nete d paranete
F parhypate
E hypate
hypaton D lichanos
C parhypate
B hypate
A proslambanomenos
(r)
about the tonal constructions Hucbald uses and does not use, and his methods
need to be set in a more specific historical context. See also Joseph Smits van
Waesberghe, "La place exceptionelle de l'ars musica dans le developpement des
sciences au siecle des carolingiens," Revue gregorienne, XXXI (1952), 81-104. Text
of Hucbald in Gerbert, Scriptores, I, io4-z1; corrections and observations by Weak-
land, loc. cit. Hucbald's remarks on the tetrachord of the finals on pp. 111-14.
It is extremely frustrating, in the context of this article, to be able to do no
more than point to the passage in which Hucbald apparently refers to a "cithara
of six strings"; he cites the two Antiphons Cure audisset populus (LU, p. 586)
and Hodie completi sunt (LU, p. 886), and shows in a diagram of another Antiphon,
Ecce vere Israhelita, that he has in mind the major sixth used by Hermann. See
Weakland, pp. 77-78; Gerbert, Scriptores, I, og9.
13 I continue to use the letter notation (r, A, . . . G, a . . .) for the convenience
of the modern reader. It must be remembered that-in spite of the habit of many
scholars to call it "the medieval letter notation"-this notation did not exist before
the Dialogus, ca. iooo, coming into general use only after that time. Before
Iooo
there was no standard letter notation or any standard way of naming pitches other
down and up the Greater Perfect System a second time using a different
tetrachord; this tetrachord is the tetrachord of the four finals, with the
semitone in the middle (lichanos hypaton, hypate, parhypate, lichainos,or
D, E, F, G). This tetrachord had no function (other than being one of the
three species of fourths) in Greek theory and is applied here by Hucbald
to the Greater Perfect System-apparently for the first time.
What could be the purpose of articulating the scale into smaller units
such as the tetrachord-as Hucbald did and as most other theorists did
after him? Why, when early theorists had a complete scale-the Greater
Perfect System-did they go through all this business with scale segments?
We should note, for another discussion, the fact that Hucbald also had at
his disposal pitch names (the Greek ones), various Roman-letter notations
as suggested in Boethius, as well as the traditional Greek-letter notations
that have been called "vocal" and "instrumental." Hucbald actually used
the Greek names and recommended an adaptation of one of the Greek-
letter notations; nevertheless, for reasons he himself set forth, the neumatic
notations prevailed, and the West did not settle on a letter notation until
after the Dialogus.14 The general lesson we can read out of this is that the
passing on of precept in the person of the teacher was at that time more
reliable than any graphic alternative for preserving the totality of a piece
of chant. It was not the case that alternatives were altogether lacking; only
that alternatives were inadequate-that is, not as good as personal instruc-
tion.15
But if that was true, why did the Frankish chant teachers bother to
create theory, to conceptualize and to systematize, in the first place? As
far as singers go, there is no theoretical problem: a singer could-and
probably did-learn the Gregorian repertory as a number of melodies to
be memorized by rote. Yet early medieval theorists diligently, enthusi-
astically pursued the construction of systematic concepts. Ultimately,
instead of specific answers we may have to be content with general ones:
these theorists were Franks, hence tended to make that characteristic
Frankish response of seeking order in things or imposing it on them. As
teachers they were in daily need of ways to communicate general con-
cepts as quickly and reliably as possible. Later on, Guido recommended
his methods for their speed and efficiency,1G and others made similar
claims. There was a great deal of chant to be sung; and if the Roman
schola cantorumn was content with rote memorization, the Frankish
monasteries clearly were not.
than the Greek names. In struggling with the Greek names without letters, we
would perhaps develop more patience and less scorn for the early medieval theorist
and what he was able to accomplish.
14 Hucbald, De harmonica institutione, Gerbert, Scriptores, I, 118.
15 Compare Guido's remark, "But such things as these are shown better by con-
ferring (colloquendo) than by writing." Micrologus, ed. Smits van Waesberghe,
p. 167.
16 Micrologus, ed. Smits van Waesberghe, Prologus, pp. 85-86.
The point is, I think, that the Frankish musician started with the
singing of the chant and worked his way toward theoretical constructions
such as the scale, rather than the other way around. He was singer,
teacher, theorist, in that order. Cantus, not musica disciplina, was his
starting point; his curriculum was that of the monastic school of the 7th
and 8th centuries, not the liberal arts curriculum of an earlier-or a later-
time.7 The Greater Perfect System itself was not a basic assumption but
rather a theoretical abstraction, relatively remote from practical experi-
ence.
In terms of that experience there was a clear need for a scalar module
of manageable size, such as a fourth or a fifth. The Greater Perfect System
presented itself as a two-octave string of nearly unintelligible names; there
was not even explicit in the Greater Perfect System an octave module, for
the names in the upper octave did not refer to those in the lower one. Nor
was an octave module itself especially appropriate; we are so accustomed
to thinking of the octave as the basic scalar module that we do not imme-
diately recognize the circumstances under which it is inappropriate. From
the Frankish point of view, the octave seemed too large a module. When
early theorists spoke of the octave, it was often in terms of its identity of
resonance-"as when men and boys sing the same note."'8 And in con-
sidering any extended scalar construction, we have to remember that there
was no handy mechanical embodiment-no keyboard-for a standard
reference. (It is in terms of this lack that we must read the enthusiastic
recommendations of the monochord in the Dialogus, where it is first em-
ployed for practical instruction.) Any tonal structure referred to must be
sung and held in the ear. Hence the obvious advantage of using repertory
pieces of chant to illustrate, or rather to embody, tonal constructions. We
saw Hermann provide carefully chosen examples for each instance of a
final within the major sixth; Hucbald has a chant illustration for every-
thing from unisons on up. This is a specific demonstration of the central
importance of chant repertory in the development of medieval theory.
The structure of the scalar module was as pressing a matter as its size.
17 C. W.
Jones, "An Early Medieval Licensing Examination," History of Educa-
tion Quarterly, III (1963), 19-29, sets forth the point that the early monastic
curriculum was a practical one devoted primarily to Latin grammar (for reading
Scripture), computus (for keeping track of the calendar), and music, or more
properly, singing (for the daily round of services). As far as the earlier centuries
(7th to IIth) went, the monastic curriculum was based on these subjects, not
the seven liberal arts. The difference between musica in the liberal arts curriculum
and cantus in the monastic one is very large and very important. See also Joseph
Smits van Waesberghe, Musikerziebung:Lehre und Theorie der Musik im Mittelalter,
Musikgeschichte in Bildern, ed. Heinrich Besseler and Werner Bachmann, Vol. III, 3
(Leipzig, 1969), pp. 5-14. There is a striking parallel between the problem of
establishing a standard calendar out of all the conflicting methods inherited from
antiquity and the problem of establishing a standard scale. In the 7th- and 8th-
century monastery, these problems lay on the desk of the same man-the cantor-
teacher-librarian.
18
Hucbald, De harmonica institutione, Gerbert, Scriptores, I, Io7.
In this case "protus" would have used the synemmenon tetrachord (with its
bb) consistently for the sake of the trite hyperbolaion (f) normally
occurring in the G-tetrardus.
As for the way the finals were in the end actually located, the authen-
tic forms of protus and tritus (tones i and 5), when placed on lichanos
hypaton (D) and parhypate meson (F) respectively, require very fre-
quent use of the synemmenon tetrachord for the bb; and the plagal forms of
protus and tritus (tones 2 and 6) always require it, so that as far as these
positions are concerned, they are not on the Greater Perfect System at all
but rather on the Lesser Perfect System. In addition there are enough
other accidentals even within the Liber usualis (the most obvious being
at the start of the Easter Gradual Haec dies) to indicate the extent of the
gap between the reality of the chant and the theoretical abstraction of a
diatonic system.
The reason there were alternative positions available for the finals
was the fact that the Greater Perfect System had built into it a limited
amount of duplication at the fourth and at the fifth. Duplication at the
fourth was found mainly between and within conjunct tetrachords
(parhypate hypaton, C, stood in similar relationship to its neighbors as
parhypate meson, F, did to its neighbors); duplication at the fifth mainly
between and within disjunct tetrachords (mese, a, stood in the same rela-
tionship to the pitches in the diezeugmenon tetrachord above the tone of
disjunction a-bk, as lichanos hypaton, D, to the pitches up to the tone of
disjunction).22 As a result, as soon as a final was located at lichanos
hypaton (D), taking into account the note below the final and the four
notes above it, that same final-that is, the same set of interval relationships
around the final-appeared automatically at mese (a) (and also at lichanos
meson, G, if the synemmenon tetrachord were to be used). It is a misun-
derstanding to think of such alternate locations as "transpositions": it
could not have been the case that the protus was first placed at one princi-
pal position and subsequently moved to another subsidiary one. The early
theorist would first have been aware of the several alternate positions; his
problem was, precisely, which of these was to be considered the principal
one?
The projection of the finals upon a common scale adapted or devised
for this purpose must have been a difficult process; it could well have
absorbed most of the Frankish theorists' attention during the time before
800. Once accomplished (at least in the rough), the next problem was
how to understand this common scale; it is at this point that the selection
of the module becomes important. And now we can see that Hucbald's
22 Aristoxenus expressed this in his law of fourths and fifths, referred to a number
of times in his three treatises on pitch: The Harmonics of Aristoxenus, ed. and trans.
H. S. Macran (Oxford, 1902); see Richard Crocker, "Aristoxenus and Greek Math-
ematics," Aspects of Medieval and Renaissance Music, ed. Jan LaRue (New York,
1966), p. Io5.
trary and whimsical that it cannot easily be assimilated to the rest of this
hard-headed theorist's reasoning. He sets limits at eighteen pitches;23since
this extends through a range of two octaves and an augmented fourth
(r to cc? in letter notation), not much theoretical rationale can be found
there, and one is thrown back to the explanation that eighteen is the num-
ber of pitches in the Greater and Lesser Perfect Systems combined, hence
purely as a number becomes a model for the Musica enchiriadis. Not a
very convincing reason, perhaps; and the author spends but little time
with it, for he seems more interested that his scalar construction proceeds
indefinitely in either direction. Hence it is not even necessary to know
where (that is, on "which tetrachord"-grave, finale,...) one is located,
for every tetrachord stands in the identical relationship to every other.
Not all theorists thought in these terms. Some-in fact most-theorists
inclined to some degree toward a scalar orientation in which range, octave
duplication, and general fixity of the scale as a referent played a greater
role. At this extreme stands the Dialogus; and one can grasp something of
the independence of early theorists from each other--as well as from
antique texts-by comparing the Dialogus to the Musica enchiriadis.
While we usually think of the Dialogus as an exponent of octave dupli-
cation, that is true only in a broader sense. We should note that taken
literally the Dialogus does not have complete octave duplication (bb is
not duplicated in the lower octave); that it presents a scale that is unlike
any classical model (it has bb and b? in a single series); that it has a use
of letters never encountered before. Ultimately, the Dialogus does not
rely on the rationale of a scalar construction but rather on a mechanical-
acoustical instrumentation-the monochord-on which the pitches were
fixed more firmly than on the Greater Perfect System. The Dialogus is
strikingly free of the systematic scalar constructions (such as species of
fourths and fifths) often found in other theorists. The Dialogus and the
Musica enchiriadis can be taken as a diptych, the one presenting an ex-
treme functi6nalism in its use of the relationship of the finals, the other an
extreme operationalism in its reliance on the measured steps on a string.
Against the background of Hucbald, the Musica enchiriadis, and the
Dialogus (see Table 5), it is easy to see Guido and Hermann as moderates,
interested in reconciling the various drastic solutions offered by their pred-
ecessors with each other and with the realities of musical practice (which,
by the IIth century, now included large repertories besides the Gre-
gorian). Guido, starting from the monochord scale of the Dialogus, laid
increasing stress on a seven-tone, octave-oriented, strictly diatonic scale
with octave duplication. At the same time he persistently explored the
affinities, that is, the relationships among the finals at their various alternate
locations, and eventually expressed these affinities in terms of the major
sixth that encloses the tetrachord of the finals. Hermann, starting from the
23 Gerbert, Scriptores, I,
152-53.
Aurelian 0
Scholicaenchiriadis
Regino -- Guido
"Alia musica" Dialogus
University of California,Berkeley
27 See my article, "Perche Zarlino diede una nuova numerazione ai
modi?"
Rivista italianadi musicologia, III (1968), 48-58.