Notation | Date | 11th c. CE ineunte | |||
Type | Aquitanian | ||||
Notes | If an initial pitch and modality is assumed, the precise diastematy of the eleventh-century Aquitanian notation allows melodic reconstruction. | ||||
Transcript | Diplomatic Transcription | Quiquecupitis | |||
Alphanumeric transcript | 1c, 2a, 1b, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 4e, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 2b, 1c || 1c, 2a, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 1c, 1c, 4e, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 2b, 1c | ||||
Melody | As noted by Stäblein, the threefold opening on the upper fourth (1.1, 1.9 and 2.1) places the melody outside the hymnic style. A threefold repetition can also be traced in the second three half-lines (2.10, 3.1 and 3.10), which all open and cadence on the same pitch, rising and falling by step to different degrees and at different rates in between. The melody recorded for the second strophe uses the same melodic shapes as that of the first, with differences occuring for the most part due to supernumerary syllables. Comparison between and within strophes reveals the procedures of melodic accommodation. At the beginning of the second line of both strophes, an extra syllable was inserted before the regular pattern of alternating verbal accentuation. In both cases an extra melodic pitch, the same as that of the first accented syllable in the line, is supplied. A similar procedure was applied at the second syllable of the third line of the first strophe (èt | de ad- | vén-| tum), and at the tenth syllable of the second line of the second strophe (concép-| tus). A slightly different melodic procedure was used at the opening of line three in the second strophe. At this point the syllables are grouped melodically as follows: de trí-|bu| dán | [ ] |é-|rit| ór-|tus; in other words, in order to retain the association of accent and melodic unit an extra pitch was inserted to elide melodically de and tri- at the first syllable, while the succession of two accented syllables in the middle of the half-line led to an omission of one pitch. In all these cases, the underlying principle was to retain a correlation between the accented syllables and certain melodic gestures. A different principle of accommodation was used at the ninth to eleventh syllables of the first line of the first strophe and the third line of the second strophe. In both cases accented syllables were aligned with the pitches associated with the unaccented tenth syllable: i) ex | mé-|o ó|-re; and ii) ex | é-bre|ó-|rum. | ||||
Historical transcripts |
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Musical editions |