Rhythmic mode

In medieval music, the rhythmic modes were set patterns of long

and short durations (or rhythms). The value of each note is not
determined by the form of the written note (as is the case with more
recent European musical notation), but rather by its position within
a group of notes written as a single figure called a ligature, and by
the position of the ligature relative to other ligatures. Modal
notation was developed by the composers of the Notre Dame
school from 1170 to 1250, replacing the even and unmeasured
rhythm of early polyphony and plainchant with patterns based on
the metric feet of classical poetry, and was the first step towards the
development of modern mensural notation.[1] The rhythmic modes
of Notre Dame Polyphony were the first coherent system of
rhythmic notation developed in Western music since antiquity.

History
Though the use of the rhythmic modes is the most characteristic
feature of the music of the late Notre Dame school, especially the Pérotin, "Alleluia nativitas", in the
compositions of Pérotin, they are also predominant in much of the third rhythmic mode.
rest of the music of the ars antiqua until about the middle of the
13th century. Composition types which were permeated by the
modal rhythm include Notre Dame organum (most famously, the organum triplum and organum
quadruplum of Pérotin), conductus, and discant clausulae. Later in the century, the motets by Petrus de
Cruce and the many anonymous composers, which were descended from discant clausulae, also used
modal rhythm, often with much greater complexity than was found earlier in the century: for example each
voice sometimes sang in a different mode, as well as a different language.

In most sources there were six rhythmic modes, as first explained in the anonymous treatise of about 1260,
De mensurabili musica (formerly attributed to Johannes de Garlandia, who is now believed merely to have
edited it in the late 13th century for Jerome of Moravia, who incorporated it into his own compilation).[2]
Each mode consisted of a short pattern of long and short note values ("longa" and "brevis") corresponding
to a metrical foot, as follows:[3]

1. Long-short (trochee)
2. Short-long (iamb)
3. Long-short-short (dactyl)
4. Short-short-long (anapaest)
5. Long-long (spondee)
6. Short-short-short (tribrach)
Although this system of six modes was recognized by medieval theorists, in practice only the first three and
fifth patterns were commonly used, with the first mode being by far the most frequent.[4] The fourth mode
is rarely encountered, an exception being the second clausula of Lux magna in MS Wolfenbüttel 677, fol.
44.[5] The fifth mode normally occurs in groups of three and is used only in the lowest voice (or tenor),
whereas the sixth mode is most often found in an upper part.[5]

Modern transcriptions of the six modes usually are as follows:

1. Quarter (crotchet), eighth (quaver) (generally barred, therefore, in 3

8 or, because the patterns
usually repeat an even number of times, in 8)6 [6]

2. Eighth, quarter (barred in 3 6

8 or 8)

3. Dotted quarter, eighth, quarter (barred in 6

8)

4. Eighth, quarter, dotted quarter (barred in 6

8)

5. Dotted quarters (barred in either 3 6

8 or 8)

6. Eighths (barred in 3 6
8 or 8)

Cooper gives the above but doubled in length, thus 1) is barred in 3 [7]
4, for example.
Riemann is another modern exception, who also gives the values twice as long, in 3 4 time,
but in addition holds that the third and fourth modes were really intended to represent the
modern , with duple rhythms ( and , respectively).[8]

Notation
Devised in the last half of the 12th century,[9] the notation of rhythmic modes used stereotyped
combinations of ligatures (joined noteheads) to indicate the patterns of long notes (longs) and short notes
(breves), enabling a performer to recognize which of the six rhythmic modes was intended for a given
passage.

Linked notes in groups of:[10]

3, 2, 2, 2, etc. indicate the first mode,

2, 2, 2, 2, … 3 the second mode,
1, 3, 3, 3, 3, etc. the third mode,
 3, 3, 3, … 1 the fourth mode,
3, 3, 3, 3, etc. the fifth mode,
and 4, 3, 3, 3, etc. the sixth mode

The reading and performance of the music notated using the

rhythmic modes was thus based on context. After recognizing
which of the six modes applied to a passage of neumes, a singer
would generally continue on in that same mode until the end of a
phrase, or a cadence. In modern editions of medieval music,
ligatures are represented by horizontal brackets over the notes
contained within it.
Pérotin, Viderunt omnes (Gradual for
All the modes adhere to a ternary principle of metre, meaning that Christmas Day), in the first rhythmic
mode. MS Florence, Biblioteca
each mode would have a number of beat subdivisions divisible by
Medicea-Laurenziana, Pluteo 29.1,
the number 3. Some medieval writers explained this as veneration
fol. 1 recto.
for the perfection of the Holy Trinity, but it appears that this was an
explanation made after the event, rather than a cause.[11] Less
speculatively, the flexibility of rhythm possible within the system allows for variety and avoids monotony.
Notes could be broken down into shorter units (called fractio modi by Anonymous IV) or two rhythmic
units of the same mode could be combined into one (extensio modi).[12] An alternative term used by
Garlandia for both types of alteration was "reduction".[13] These alterations may be accomplished in several
ways: extensio modi by the insertion of single (unligated) long notes or a smaller-than-usual ligature; fractio
modi by the insertion of a larger-than-usual ligature, or by special signs. These were of two types, the plica
and the climacus.[14]

The plica was adopted from the liquescent neumes (cephalicus) of chant notation, and receives its name
(Latin for "fold") from its form which, when written as a separate note, had the shape of a U or an inverted
U. In modal notation, however, the plica usually occurs as a vertical stroke added to the end of a ligature,
making it a ligatura plicata. The plica usually indicates an added breve on a weak beat.[14] The pitch
indicated by the plica depends on the pitches of the note it is attached to and the note following it. If both
notes are the same, then the plica tone is the upper or lower neighbor, depending on the direction of the
stem. If the interval between the main notes is a third, then the plica tone fills it in as a passing tone. If the
two main notes are a second apart, or at an interval of a fourth or larger, musical context must decide the
pitch of the plica tone.[15]

The climacus is a rapid descending scale figure, written as a single note or a ligature
followed by a series of two or more descending lozenges. Anonymous IV called these
currentes (Latin "running"), probably in reference to the similar figures found in pre-
modal Aquitanian and Parisian polyphony. Franco of Cologne called them coniunctura
(Latin for "joined [note]"). When consisting of just three notes (coniunctura ternaria) it The climacus.
is rhythmically identical with the ordinary three-note ligature, but when containing more
notes this figure may be rhythmically ambiguous and therefore difficult to interpret.[14]
The difficulty was compounded in the later half of the 13th century, when the lozenge
shape came also to be used for the semibreve. A general rule is that the last note is a climacus with
longa, the second-last note is a breve, and all the preceding notes taken together occupy ligature
the space of a longa. However, the exact internal rhythm of these first notes of the group
requires some interpretation according to context.[16]
It was also possible to change from one mode to another without a break, which was called "admixture" by
Anonymous IV, writing around 1280.[13]

Because a ligature cannot be used for more than one syllable of

text, the notational patterns can only occur in melismatic passages.
Where syllables change frequently or where pitches are to be
repeated, ligatures must be broken up into smaller ligatures or even
single notes in so-called "syllabic notation", often creating difficulty
for the singers, as was reported by Anonymous IV.[17][13]
Tenor from Motet "Homo,
luge!"/"Homo miserabilis"/"Brumans
An ordo (plural ordines) is a phrase constructed from one or more
e mors" (13th century). Third
statements of one modal pattern and ending in a rest. Ordines were rhythmic mode, syllabic notation.
described according to the number of repetitions and the position of
the concluding rest. "Perfect" ordines ended with the first note of
the pattern followed by a rest substituting for the second half of the pattern, and "imperfect" ordines ended
in the last note of the pattern followed by a rest equal to the first part. Imperfect ordines are mostly
theoretical and rare in practice, where perfect ordines predominate.[18]

Other writers who covered the topic of rhythmic modes include Anonymous IV, who mentions the names
of the composers Léonin and Pérotin as well as some of their major works, and Franco of Cologne, writing
around 1260, who recognized the limitations of the system and whose name became attached to the idea of
representing the duration of a note by particular notational shapes, though in fact the idea had been known
and used for some time before Franco.[19] Lambertus described nine modes, and Anonymus IV said that, in
England, a whole series of irregular modes was in use.[20]

References
Apel, Willi. 1961. The Notation of Polyphonic Music, 900–1600, fifth edition, revised and with
commentary. Publications of the Mediaeval Academy of America, no. 38. Cambridge, Mass.:
Mediaeval Academy of America.
Hoppin, Richard H. (1978). Medieval Music. New York City: W. W. Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-
09090-6.
Hughes, Dom Anselm. 1954a. "Music in Fixed Rhythm". In New Oxford History of Music,
vol. 2: "Early Medieval Music up to 1300", edited by Dom Anselm Hughes, 311–52. London,
New York City, & Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Hughes, Dom Anselm. 1954b. "The Motet and Allied Forms". In New Oxford History of Music,
vol. 2: "Early Medieval Music up to 1300", edited by Dom Anselm Hughes, 353–404. London
New York City, & Toronto: Oxford University Press.
Reese, Gustave. 1940. Music in the Middle Ages. New York City: W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN 0-393-09750-1.
Sadie, Stanley; Tyrrell, John, eds. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
(2nd ed.). London: Macmillan. ISBN 9780195170672.
Seay, Albert. 1975. Music in the Medieval World, second edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-608133-9 (cloth); ISBN 0-13-608125-8 (pbk).
Footnotes

1. Hoppin 1978, p. 221.

 2. New Grove Dict. 2001, "Johannes de Garlandia [Johannes Gallicus]" by Rebecca A. Baltzer.
3. Reese 1940, pp. 207–9.
4. Apel 1961, p. 223.
5. Hughes 1954a, p. 320.
6. Apel 1961, p. 221.
7. Cooper, Paul. 1973. Perspectives in Music Theory: An Historical-Analytical Approach. New
York: Dodd, Mead. p. 30. ISBN 0-396-06752-2.
8. Riemann, Hugo. 1962. History of Music Theory, Books I and II: Polyphonic Theory to the
Sixteenth Century, translated, with a preface, commentary, and notes by Raymond H.
Haggh. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 135. Corrected second printing, 1966.
Reprinted New York City: Da Capo Press, 1974. ISBN 0-306-70637-7.
9. Seay 1975, p. 97.
10. Hughes 1954a, pp. 323–4.
11. Reese 1940, p. 274; Hughes 1954a, pp. 319–20.
12. Seay 1975, pp. 98–9.
13. New Grove Dict. 2001, "Rhythmic Modes [Modal Rhythm]" by Edward. H. Roesner.
14. New Grove Dict. 2001, "Notation, §III, 2: Polyphony and Secular Monophony to c1260" by
David Hiley and Thomas B. Payne.
15. Apel 1961, p. 227.
16. Apel 1961, p. 240.
17. Apel 1961, p. 225.
18. Hoppin 1978, p. 223.
19. Hughes 1954b, pp. 379–80.
20. Reese 1940, p. 288.

Further reading
Articles. 1980. "Rhythmic Mode", "Johannes de Garlandia", "Franco of Cologne". The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie. 20 vols. London,
Macmillan Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1-56159-174-2.
Grout, Donald Jay, J. Peter Burkholder, and Claude V. Palisca. 2006. A History of Western
Music, seventh edition. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-97991-1.
Hiley, David. 1984. "The Plica and Liquescence". In Gordon Athol Anderson (1929–1981) in
memoriam: Von seinen Studenten, Freunden und Kollegen, 2 vols., 2:379–91.
Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen, no. 39. Henryville, PA: Institute of Mediæval Music.
Parrish, Carl. 1957. The Notation of Medieval Music. London: Faber & Faber.
Randel, Don Michael, and Willi Apel (eds.). 1986. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music.
Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-61525-
5.
Smith, Norman E. 1988. "The Notation of Fractio Modi". Current Musicology, nos. 45–47
(Fall: Studies in Medieval Music: Festschrift for Ernest H. Sanders, edited by Peter M.
Lefferts and Leeman L. Perkins): 283–304.
Wellesz, Egon (ed.). 1957. New Oxford History of Music, vol. 1: "Ancient and Oriental Music".
London & New York: Oxford University Press.

Retrieved from "[Link]