[G: a' f' c' {a (a')} c' a d' c' e' c' g' e']
Now all these lower, or derived modes, Hypodorian, Hypophrygian,
Hypolydian, etc., received the name Plagal modes, because
there was but one tonic or keynote in the scale; consequently
a melody starting on any degree of the scale would invariably
return to the same tonic or keynote. They differed from the
authentic modes, inasmuch as in the latter a melody might end
either on the upper or lower tonic or keynote. Thus the melody
itself was said to be either authentic or plagal, according
to whether it had one or two tonics. The theme of Schumann's
"Etudes symphoniques" is authentic, and the first variation
is plagal.
Between the sixth and tenth centuries there was much confusion
as to the placing of these modes, but they finally stood as
given above. The Greek names were definitely accepted in the
eleventh century, or thereabouts; previously, they were known
also as the first, second, third, etc., up to the twelfth,
church tones or Gregorian modes.
At this point it is necessary to refer again to Ambrose.
Apart from having brought the first four authentic modes
into church music, he composed many hymns which had this
peculiarity, namely, that they were modelled more on the actual
declamation of the words to be sung than had hitherto been
the case. We are told that his chants--to use the phrase of
his contemporary, Francis of Cologne--were "all for sweetness
and melodious sound"; and St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.),
speaks of them with ecstasy. The words in these hymns were
used in connection with small groups of notes; consequently
they could be understood as they were sung, thus returning
in a measure to the character of the music of the ancients,
in which the word and declamation were of greater importance
than the actual sounds which accompanied them. But now a
strange thing was to happen that was to give us a new art.
Now, at last, music was to be separated from language and dance
rhythms, and stand alone for the first time in the history of
civilization as _pure music_.
To appreciate the change made by Gregory (540-604 A.D.), it is
necessary to bear in mind the state of the church just before
his time. As the Ambrosian chant had brought something of the
old declamation and sweetness back into the church ceremonial,
so also in the church itself there was a tendency to sink
back into the golden shimmer that had surrounded the ancient
pagan rites. Already Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch (260
A.D.), had striven to bring a certain Oriental magnificence
into the church ceremonials. He had a canopied throne erected
for himself, from which he would address his congregation;
he introduced applause into the church, after the fashion of
the Roman theatres; he also had a chorus of women singers, who,
as Eusebius tells us, sang not the Christian hymns, but pagan
tunes. Later, in Constantinople, even this luxury and pomp
increased; the churches had domes of burnished gold, and had
become gigantic palaces, lit by thousands of lamps. The choir,
dressed in glittering robes, was placed in the middle of the
church, and these singers began to show the same fatal sign
of decadence that we saw before in Rome and Greece. According
to St. Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.), they used unguents on their
throats in order to make the voice flexible, for by this time
the singing had become a mere vehicle for virtuosity; when
they sang their _tours de force_, the people applauded and
waved their handkerchiefs, as they did also when the preaching
pleased them. The pagans pointed the finger of scorn at the
Christians, as being mere renegades from the old religion,
and said, plausibly enough, that their worship was merely
another form of the Dionysus tragedy. There was the same altar,
the same chorus, the priest who sang and was answered by the
chorus; and the resemblance had grown to such an extent that
St. Chrysostom (350 A.D.) complained that the church chorus
accompanied its singing with theatrical gestures, which,
as we know, is simply the first step towards the dance.
This was the state of things when Gregory became Pope in
590 A.D. His additions to the modes already in use have been
explained. His great reform lay in severing the connection
between the music of the church and that of the pagan world
before it. Casting aside the declamation and rhythm, which
up to now had always dominated pure sound, he abolished the
style of church singing in vogue, and substituted for it a
system of chanting in which every tie between the words and
music was severed.
The music was certainly primitive enough, for it consisted
merely of a rising and falling of the voice for the space of
many notes on one single syllable, as, for instance,
[F: (f g f g a a) a (a a a g a g g f a)]
[W: Gloria]
The difference between this and the Ambrosian chant is evident
if we look at the following; and we must also bear in mind
that the Ambrosian chants were very simple in comparison with
the florid _tours de force_ of the Byzantine church:
[F: d (d f) (d e) f | (g f) (g a) a | (a g) a c' d']
[W: Al me pater | Ambrosi, | nostras, preces,]
[F: (a b) a | a g a f e d]
[W: audi | Christe, exaudinos]
Now this reform could not be carried out at once; it was
only through the medium of Charlemagne (742-814 A.D.),
a hundred years later, that the Gregorian chant was firmly
established. Authorized by a synod of bishops, called together
from all parts of Europe by Pope Adrian I, Charlemagne, in
774, caused all the chant and hymn books of the Ambrosian
system throughout Italy to be burned. So completely was
this accomplished that only one Ambrosian missal was found
(by St. Eugenius at Milan), and from this work alone can we
form any idea as to the character of the music used by the
followers of Ambrose, who were much retarded by the lack of
a musical notation, which was the next factor needed to bring
music to an equality with the other arts.
[07] Imitating the sound of the thing signified. Poe's
"Raven" has much of this character.
[08] [over-dot]c, perfect pause; c[mid-dot], short; c., shortest;
breathings: [reverse-apostrophe] hard; ' soft.