Published: 2020-03-26

Słowo podstawowym narzędziem gregoriańskiej techniki kompozytorskiej w adaptacji wzorców modalnych do nowych tekstów

Susi Ferfoglia
Liturgia Sacra. Liturgia - Musica - Ars
Section: Muzyka w liturgii
DOI https://doi.org/10.25167/ls.1842

Abstract

In the article the author asks how the Gregorian melodies were created? How were they written down? Is it possible that the notation may be a tool for a deeper understanding of the text? In this way the author explores the secrets of the Gregorian compositional technique – which is based on using the same formulas or even the whole melodies for different texts. It is clearly visible that the Gregorian composer “thought through the perspective of the word”. Each new text has a different verbal rhythm, resulting from the nature of the words, and this gives the same melody a new sense and a new meaning in a new verbal context. To convince oneself of the truthfulness of this statement and of the sophistication of the composer’s intervention, it is not enough to look only at the Vatican notation; one must reach for adiastematic notation, which conveys the rhythm of the intonation contour. Comparing the same melodies in different verbal contexts with divergent rhythms shows us that the same melody becomes for the composer a “pretext” to express something more. In the article, three melodies (graduals) based on the modal pattern of the fifth modus – plagal tritus – (Christus factus est, Exiit sermo, Ecce sacerdos magnus) were analysed. On their example, the author demonstrates how the modal pattern of plagal tritus has been adapted to the new text.

Keywords:

formula, “typic melody”, modal pattern, compositional technique, adopting melody to a new text

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Citation rules

Ferfoglia, S. (2020). Słowo podstawowym narzędziem gregoriańskiej techniki kompozytorskiej w adaptacji wzorców modalnych do nowych tekstów. Liturgia Sacra. Liturgia - Musica - Ars, 54(2), 543–572. https://doi.org/10.25167/ls.1842

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