1.19 — Homo quidam

NotazioneDatazionesec. X 2° quarto - X 3° quarto
TipoGerman
NoteThis notation, now barely legible in places, is copied without indication of liturgical assignment after a versus for Pentecost in a Troper from the Benedictine monastery of St Alban at Mainz. The overall axis of the script is more upright than those of St Gall and several forms are modified: the virgae (1a) almost all end with a thickening at their head, the square version of the pes (2a) is most common and the upright clivis (2b) with its horizontal ending is similar to that found in French scripts.
TrascrizioneTrascrizioni
diplomatiche		 Homo-London19768-1   Homo-London19768-2
Trascrizione
alfanumerica		1b, 1a, 2a, "2b", 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, "3b", 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 2a, 1b | "2b", 1a, 2a, 1b, [ ], 1b, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1', 1b | 1a, 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1b, 1a, "2b", 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a || 1b, [ ], 2a, 1a, 1a, "3c", 3''D, 1b, 1a, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 2a, 1b | "2b", 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1', 1b | 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, "2b", 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a || 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1a, 2a, 3''D, 1a, "4c", 2b, 1a, 1a, 2a, 1a | 1a, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1b | 1a, 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, "3c", 2b, 1b, 1b, 2b, "2b", 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a || 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1a, "3c", 3''D, 1a, 1a, "2b", "2b", 1b, 2a, 1b | 1a, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1b, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1', 1b | 1a, 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1a, "2b", "2b", 2V, 1b, 1a, 1a || 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1a, 1a, 3''D, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b 1', 1b | 1a, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2c, 1b, 1b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1b, 1', 1b | 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1b, 1b, "2b", 1a, 2V, 1b, 1a, 1a || "1b", 2a, 1a, "3c", 3''D, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1a, 2a, 1a | "2b", 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1b, 1a, 1b, 1', 1b | 1b, 1a, 2a, 1a, 1b, 1a, 2b, 1a, 1b, 2b, 2b, 2V, 1b, 1b
Tavole
di confronto		 XHomoquidam-1   XHomoquidam-2   XHomoquidam-3   XHomoquidam-4
MelodiaThe four transcribed melodies (aligned in the book entry) appear almost identical in content and parsing. The only substantial difference between the versions occurs in the first line of the fifth strophe. In Ful Aa 62, Abraham is shifted to the melodic figures associated with syllables 6 to 8. In Bu 7, the word order found elsewhere is reversed (Patrem vocat Abraham becomes Abraham patrem vocat) with melodic outline for syllables 5 to 7 following the profile given in Ful Aa 62 for syllables 6 to 8.
The melodic articulation of verse structure can be examined in detail through the close correspondence between the neumes of Lo 19768 and the melody of Ful Aa 62 (see the parallel transcription). What is revealed are ways in which lines with an irregular number of syllables are adapted to a melodic shape that remains the same from the second strophe onwards. In strophes two to six, an association is retained between melodic gestures on odd-numbered syllables and accented syllables of the text. The unaccented upbeats in the third lines of strophes three, four and five are accommodated before the pitch associated with the first syllable. In the second line of each strophe, recitation on a monotone is extended to accommodate a varying number of syllables before the penultimate accent preceding the caesura at which point a cadence pattern is begun. In the first lines of each strophe, pitches are added or omitted to retain the overall alignment between melodic gesture and accent. In the fifth strophe, the pitch associated with the eighth syllable is omitted for this reason. In the sixth strophe, the pitch associated with the fourth syllable is likewise omitted, whereas extra pitches are added and a conjunct melodic figure broken up to retain an alignment at the end of the line. Two exceptions to the general principle may be noted. The alignment breaks down in the second half of the first line of the third strophe (nemo miseretur), possibly due to a reluctance to break up the melodic cadence to accommodate the paroxytone accent. No adjustment appears to have been made in the fifth strophe at flammis. The melody of the first strophe differs at various points from that of strophes two to six. Most notable are the differences in the first line which seem to be due to the decision to extend the melodic articulation of the opening line to eighteen syllables. Extension of the first half of the line to ten syllables is matched melodically by an extension up to a high 'd'. The next two half-lines (in deliciis purpura and et bisso induebatur) share an opening not found in later strophes, thereby forming a melodic association that complements their grammatical continuity, whilst retaining the distinct cadences associated with their position in the strophe. The remainder of the strophe follows the melodic shape and principles of adaptation observed in strophes two to six.
Edizioni musicali
Stäblein, Monumenta monodica I, nr. 1014; Sevestre, Du versus au conduit II, p. 103; Haug and Björkvall, Rhythmischer Vers, pp. 146-7.

The version of the melody that Stäblein takes as the basis for his edition is that recorded in a fourteenth-century Gradual (Fulda Aa 62). Pitches are easily recovered from the notation due to its four-line staff (with f and c marked). Stäblein edits only the refrain and first verse of the five recorded with notation, but notes variants in later strophes in the commentary; liquescences and quilismata, which are not indicated in the transcription, are similarly recorded in the commentary (Monumenta monodica I, p. 619). Text and melody are aligned in eight columns, with one or more syllables assigned to each column according to melodic adaptations made for omitted or supernumerary syllables. The edition is neutral with respect to rhythm in so far as it presents noteheads without stems.
Sevestre adds a transcription of the neumes in Wien 1888 above the melody from Fulda Aa 62 transcribed into modern notation with stemless noteheads. Her edition of the melody in Fulda Aa 62 silently corrects one error by Stäblein (V 3.5, single pitch), while introducing another (R 3.1-3, eC e g). The introduction of liquescences at R 1.9 and V 2.3 has no basis in the notation in the Fulda manuscript.
Haug and Björkvall in the course of presenting a version of Homo quidam for commentary also align a transcription of the neumes in Wien 1888 above a melody transcribed into modern notation with stemless noteheads, but in this case the melody is taken from Kassel theol. 4. As in Stäblein’s edition the neumes, pitches in modern notation and text are aligned in columns down the page in order to facilitate understanding of the adaptations. 
Unlike Stäblein, the adaptations of the first strophe and refrain are separated out (partly due to the demands of the analytical commentary) and in subsequent strophes where supernumerary syllables are accommodated melodically by the addition of pitches at the beginning of the line these are recorded in a column before the first syllable.
Trasmissione
Two of the early medieval notated versions of Homo quidam are transmitted in liturgical sources (London Add. 19768 and Wien 1888), in
which the versus is assigned to Easter or Pentecost, and take the form of six strophes with a refrain, thereby implying use as a processional song. This liturgical version of the versus is first recorded in tenth-century sources; in ninth-century non-liturgical collections, which include Paris lat. 1154, a verse collection that was later extensively notated and all of whose items may be presumed to have been sung, a longer version of the text is transmitted consisting of thirteen strophes with a final doxology but no refrain. Whether any relation obtained between the liturgical melody, which remained stable from at least the tenth-century onwards, and the melody used for the non-liturgical version of the text cannot be determined on the basis of the surviving evidence of the sources alone. The difficulties involved in projecting the fluctuating syllable count of the text would nevertheless suggest that any melodic rendering would have been idiosyncratic and thus more likely to remain associated with this particular text.