The importance played by St. Gall in the development of the sequence has
given rise to the theory that it originated there. Present-day opinion,
as indicated above, concedes that sequences arose in France and that St.
Gall is not a place of origin but like St. Martial, a prominent center
for their composition and diffusion. Other centers were Metz, Murbach,
Fulda, Echternach, Kremünster and St. Florian. Reichenau, too, was
important in music and in the spread of sequence poetry.[23]
Notker Balbulus, (840?-912), was largely responsible for the enviable
reputation enjoyed by St. Gall. Born in Switzerland, Notker had entered
the Benedictine monastery at St. Gall as a child to be educated and
there he continued as a member of the Order until his death. A pupil and
later a teacher of the music school in the period of Louis the Pious and
Louis the German, he shared the life of the Abbey during the height of
its reputation, when its doors were open to travelers from every land
and every rank of society. Notker himself tells of the refugee from the
French monastery of Jumièges who brought with him his famous
Antiphonary. Tradition has it that Notker composed words to fit the
forms of the _alleluia-iubilus_, note for note, already in use in his
monastery, and thus originated the sequence, finding his inspiration,
not in the Ambrosian hymns but in the liturgy.[24] The Jumièges
Antiphonary reached St. Gall about 860, by which time _prosae_ were
already known in France. There is evidence, moreover, from manuscripts,
that texts existed before Notker’s time in St. Gall. He is not their
first composer nor are the sequences emanating from St. Gall necessarily
all Notker’s work. “Notkerian” means for sequences what “Ambrosian”
means for hymns.
The problem of the authentic Notkerian sequences was subjected to
critical study and variously solved by Schubiger in 1858, Wilmanns in
1872, and Werner in 1901. More recent students have re-examined the
evidence and expressed their critical opinions as to Notker’s poetical
and musical prestige: Singer in 1922, Van Doren in 1925 and Clark in
1926. Of more than 100 sequences attributed to Notker, 47 were judged to
be authentic and edited in volume 53 of the _Analecta Hymnica_. Notker’s
ability as a musician appears to be a matter of controversy. A new
review of the Notkerian problem and its literature has been offered by
the Swiss scholar, Wolfram von den Steinen, together with an edition of
the sequences of the St. Gall school.[25] What scholars in general have
taken away from Notker with one hand they return with the other, for if
not an originator he is conceded to be the leading agent in introducing
the sequence into Germany and setting a standard for this type of poetry
which included from Notker’s pen a notable group of sequences for the
festivals of the whole year. His sequence for Pentecost is
representative of the achievements of the German school.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XI. _Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia_, “The
grace of the Holy Ghost be present with us.”)
It is not surprising that scholars interested in the theory of Greek
influence upon sequence poetry should seek confirmation of their views
in Notker’s work. There is a majestic quality and a vigorous resounding
praise in these poems which has been thought a reflection of Byzantine
hymns. Reference has already been made to the Byzantine strophic system
and its probable influence upon Notker’s poetical technique. When one
considers that the monastery of St. Gall was always a port of call for
refugees and travelers from the east and in the preceding century may
have harbored many of them, it is reasonable to suppose that Notker was
acquainted with contemporary Greek hymnody. Whatever may be the
explanation of the metrical system employed by Notker, he undoubtedly
named his melodies in such a way as to suggest a Greek
identification.[26]
There remains another line of research, which is relatively unimportant,
yet should be noted when the question of Greek influence is raised. It
has been stated that Greek words are used in Latin sequences, thereby
proving contact with Greek-speaking contemporaries on the part of their
authors, or with Greek literary sources. Whenever this test is applied
to any medieval writing produced by churchmen it should not be forgotten
that the Vulgate was the one great continuous source, inspiration and
standard of the Latin language as employed in the Middle Ages.
Throughout the period, all Latin hymns which include a narrative element
or refer in any other way to biblical statements are greatly indebted to
the Vulgate. A considerable number of Greek words, naturally, appear in
the Vulgate. Applying the criterion of Greek words to Notker’s
sequences, one reaches no definitive results whatever. In the forty-one
sequences attributed to Notker by Wilmanns, some seven Greek words
appear which are not in the Vulgate.[27] If this proves anything in
Notker’s case, it is significant only in connection with other evidence
from Greek originals which has not been advanced.
Having considered the separate development of the musical and poetical
aspects of the sequence, as far as they can be sundered, it remains to
view certain factors which may have affected that development but have
not as yet been stated.
The history of medieval music, quite apart from the creation of the
_iubilus_ and the _sequentia_, should not be overlooked by the student
who is trying to understand liturgical music in this general period.
Perhaps during the eighth and certainly from the ninth century,
polyphonic and harmonic forms began to appear. New melodies for
sequences were in demand and were produced, which in turn were
influenced by popular and secular music, with an interaction of words
and music taking place, sometimes with words, sometimes with music
leading the way.[28] The history of the sequence, when complete, will
owe much to the studies of medieval music now in progress by
musicologists, some of whose conclusions have been noted above. The
history of musical instruments is relevant here but in any case it must
always be remembered that the church possessed the musical notation and
was able to dominate the field.
If the course of secular and ecclesiastical music accompanying the
sequence remains uncertain, so are the currents of medieval religious
and secular verse in Latin still uncharted. Which is the original
stream? Latin secular poetry existed contemporary with the early
sequence, the secular form of which was known as a _modus_,[29] which,
like the sequence, was inseparable from its musical accompaniment for
the minstrel both sang and played his unrhymed lay. Some have taken the
extreme point of view of the part played by secular influence and have
regarded the sequence as a popular lyric in worship, perhaps even a
_Volkslied_.[30] But the question as to the predominance of influence
whether religious or secular, remains open.
The argument for influence from vernacular verse upon the sequence is
equally weak. Prior to the ninth century vernacular lyrics in the
Germanic tongues are so rare as to be valueless in this discussion.
Celtic lyrics from the seventh and eighth centuries are also rare. It is
possible that they were known to Celtic teachers on the continent but
too much should not be assumed from this possibility or from the fact
that the oldest form of Celtic lyric exhibits rhythmic parallelism.[31]
French, Spanish and early English vernacular lyrics appear too late to
be significant in the problem of origins. In any case, the question
hinges upon metrical technique which can be adequately explained without
recourse to vernacular lyrics, which, insofar as they do exist, may be
regarded as themselves imitations of earlier Latin forms.
The evidence offered by secular lyrics, Latin or vernacular, in the
early Middles Ages points to an outstanding growth from the sequence
rather than a creative source for the sequence. As a matter of fact the
sequence breaks away from the church and itself becomes secular, as the
history of poetry in the later Middle Ages bears witness.
The above presentation of what is known as to the origin of the sequence
can scarcely be satisfactory to the scientific historian of medieval
culture. Full of inconvenient gaps and baffling inconsistencies the
evidence remains totally inadequate. One conclusion alone may be
advanced and that tentatively; the sequence appears to have been created
wholly within the liturgy of the mass. The _troparium_ or _tropary_,
later the gradual and missal contained the sequences for the annual
feasts just as the _hymnarium_ or _hymnary_, later the breviary had
contained the hymn cycles of the offices.
The appearance of the sequence in the history of medieval hymnody was an
episode of the greatest importance not only in the evolution of Latin
religious and secular poetry but in their vernacular counterparts. In
order to understand the extraordinary popularity and wide diffusion of
the sequence it must be emphasized that it is not just another hymn, but
an ornament to the mass, individually created for each and every
festival with a particular theme in mind. The seasons of Advent,
Nativity, the Passion, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, the Virgin
festivals of the Nativity, Annunciation, Visitation, Purification and
Assumption, the feasts of the Apostles and other biblical Saints, the
Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins formed a great series which challenged
the finest efforts of the clerical poets. Herein lies the essential
interest of this hymnody. The original Latin hymn was associated with
daily secular worship and then with the canonical hours of the
monastery. The sequence was associated with the celebration of the
divine sacrifice.
As a closing illustration for this chapter the Alleluiatic sequence has
been selected. Based upon the canticle, _Benedicite omnia opera_, and
often attributed to Notker, this superb sequence reaches a height of
expression comparable to the noblest hymns of the ninth century revival.
(See Illustrative Hymns, XII. _Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia_,
“The strain upraise of joy and praise.”)
CHAPTER FIVE
Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences
Beginning with the twelfth century the large number of new hymns and
sequences produced point to a degree of creative activity that continued
through the High Middle Ages. A recent historian of medieval literature,
De Ghellinck, sees the religious poetry of the twelfth century rivalling
the secular, and points out that ten thousand specimens of every type of
religious verse, from 1060 to 1220, are edited in the _Analecta
Hymnica_.[1] Maurice Hélin, whose attractive volume is available in
English translation, considers the poetic product of the twelfth century
the peak of Latin poetry and “its most original contribution to the
intellectual patrimony of the west.”[2]
It is easier to repeat such a statement than to present acceptably the
relevant evidence in the field with which this chapter is concerned. One
might expect a larger proportion of known authors but anonymity remains
the rule. The exceptions command recognition among the most notable
writers of hymns and sequences in any period of their production.