The term _Hyper_ (above) was sometimes applied to the Authentic Scales.
In the Greek System the _Hyper_ Scales were the same distance _above_
the standard scales that the _Hypo_ Scales were _below_. Although
twelve modes were theoretically admitted in church music, it was for
the most part confined to the eight modes given above.
=The Dominant=.—In addition to the keynote there was another note
in every scale of almost equal importance, called the _Dominant_.
This name has been retained in the modern system, but with a total
_change_ of meaning. In the Church Scales it meant the _Reciting
Note_, that is, the note on which the principal part of the words was
chanted. In all the _Authentic_ Scales but the Phrygian, the _fifth_
of the scale is the _Dominant_; in the _Phrygian_ the _sixth_ is the
_Dominant_, because the B was a changeable note, that is, might be
natural or flat. The _Dominants_ of the _Plagal_ Scales are a _third
below_ the Dominants of the related Authentic Scales, except in the
Hypo-Mixo-Lydian, in which the Dominant is a second below that of its
related Authentic Scale. Therefore the _Dominant_ is the _sixth_ of all
the _Hypo_ Scales, but the _Hypo-Phrygian_ and _Hypo-Mixo-Lydian_, in
which it is the _seventh_.
=Hucbald’s Scale=.—Two attempts were made in the 10th century to
construct new scales, first by =Hucbald=, who founded his series of
sounds on a tetrachord, in which the halftone was between the second
and third, thus: A B C D. His object seems to have been to obtain a
series in which a succession of perfect fourths and fifths might be
secured, for which purpose he made use of the following series of
sounds:
[Music]
In the first tetrachord B was flat, in the third natural; in the
fourth, F was sharp. As to the use made of this scale, little or
nothing is known.
=Guido’s Scale=.—The other attempt, usually attributed to _Guido_, a
contemporary of Hucbald, resulted in the _Hexachord_ Scale (six-note
scale). This scale was formed by adding a whole tone above and below
the Hucbald tetrachord, thus: G, A, B, C, D, E. To complete the series
of Hexachord Scales, another sound was added, namely: the G below
the A on which the Greek scales and their derivatives, the Church
scales, began. The first seven letters of the Roman alphabet were
used to name the sounds already in use, hence to indicate this sound
the Greek letter, Gamma, was adopted. At the same time the syllables
_ut_—_re_—_mi_—_fa_—_sol_—_la_ were used to name the sounds of every
hexachord (precisely as the movable Do is used now); hence this lowest
sound was called _Gamma-ut_, corrupted into Gamut. The sounds in the
series were indicated by placing after the letter the syllables that
indicated its position in all the hexachords in which it was found,
thus:
G A B—C D E
C D E—F G A
1. _Gamma—ut_. 2. _A—re_. 3. _B—mi_. 4. _C—Fa—ut_, because C is _fa_
in the first, and _ut_ in the second hexachord. Consequently, to a
mediæval musician, _C—fa—ut_ meant what we would call C, second space
bass clef.
The following table gives all the Hexachord Scales with the names of
the sounds. It is of interest because this system of nomenclature
persisted long after the one which gave rise to it was obsolete.
{ E la
{ D la sol
Super { C sol fa
Acute { B♮ mi
{ B♭ fa
{ A la mi re
{ G sol re ut
{ F fa ut
{ E la mi
Acute { D la sol re
Octave { C sol fa ut
{ B♮ mi
{ B♭ fa
{ A la mi re
{ G sol re ut
{ F fa ut
{ E la mi
Grave { D sol re
Octave { C fa ut
{ B mi
{ A re
{ Γ ut
The Hexachords in which the B was flat were called Soft (_Mollis_);
those in which B was natural, Hard (_Dura_); the term _mollis_ has been
retained in the French word _Bemol_, a flat, and in the German name for
a minor key, _Moll_. The word _dura_ (hard) is also retained in the
German as a name for the major key _Dur_. When the letters were used
as a means of notation, the sound B-flat was indicated by the old form
of the letter b, which has been retained as the sign for a flat. This
was called B _rotundum_ (round B); when B natural was wanted, a stroke
was put on the right side of the ♭, called B _quadratum_ (squared B),
the sign to this day for a natural.