1.18 — Gratuletur omnis caro

NotationDate1336 CE
TypeLate Laon
NotesThis notated hymn forms part of a Hymnal of the regular canonesses of the Abbey of St Mary Magdalene in Klosterneuburg. The late Laon notation on coloured lines represents an advanced stage of the same script as the Gradual Graz, Universitätsbibliothek 807, probably also from Klosterneuburg, and the Klosterneuburg, Stiftsbibilothek Antiphoners 1010, 1012 and 1013, as well as a number of fragments from Austrian and South German libraries. The date and origin of the manuscript is signalled by notes on folios 1r and 123r. 
TranscriptDiplomatic
Transcription
 Gratuletur-Klosternuburg1000-1   Gratuletur-Klosterneuburg1000-2
Alphanumeric
transcript
1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 3b, 1c, 1c, "2b", 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c || 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 3b, 1c, 1c, "2b", 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c || 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, "2b", 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 3b, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, "2b", 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c || 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 3b, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c || 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c | 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 3b, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2a, 1c, 2b, 1c || 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 1c, 2b, 2b, 3c, 1c, 2a, 1c
Comparison
between neumes
 XGratuletur
MelodyThe melody of the first and third lines is identical, resulting in a melodic pattern that may be labelled as: A, B, A. The melodic movement is mostly by step, which sets into even sharper relief the rising fifth at the caesurae of the first and third lines. All lines open on the boundary pitch c, and close either on c or the final g. Within the line, the caesurae are all marked by relatively open cadences onto f. The overall C-c axis of the melody with g as a point of rest sets it apart from the modal system of Gregorian chant. With the exception of liquescences, no melodic adjustments are made between verses.
Historical transcripts
 Gratuletur-Staeblein Gratuletur_Staeblein506
Musical editions
Stäblein, Monumenta monodica I, nr. 506; Schmid, Musica enchiriadis, p. 217
Transcription of the melody transmitted in Klosterneuburg 1000 is straightforward due to the two-line stave (f and c) and precise heighting of the neumes in relation to the other letters written between the two lines as part of the stave (d and a). Stäblein regularises the spelling of the text and records liquescences only in the accompanying commentary (Monumenta monodica I, p. 569). His edition is also neutral with respect to rhythm in so far as it presents noteheads without stems.
Schmid reproduces the relevant diagram from the version of the Musica Enchiriadis transmitted in the so-called Bamberg organum treatise. The diagram features Daseian signs aligned vertically, from which strings are extended and on which are placed the syllables of the first line of Gratuletur omnis; the vertical alignment of syllables indicates simultaneously sounding pitches. A transcription of the pitches indicated in the Bamberg organum treatise into modern notation using stemless noteheads is provided in Stäblein (Monumenta monodica I, 569).
Transmission
The similarities between the three melodies given for Gratuletur omnis are strong for the opening half line (syllables 1-8). In the Naples and Klosterneuburg manuscripts this opening melodic contour is repeated for the first eight syllables of the third line and similar melodic contours are again traced. Elsewhere within the strophe correspondences in melodic contour are harder to identify.
Stäblein noted that the melody for Gratuletur omnis recorded in Klosterneuburg 1000, which was only ever transmitted East of the Rhine, is identical in its opening half-line to the upper voice of the polyphonic hymn recorded in the Bamberg manuscript. The neumed version of Gratletur omnis in Napoli IV. G. 68, which appears to have been unknown to Stäblein, is identical in its opening contour to the opening of the melody recorded in both the Bamberg and Klosterneuburg manuscripts. This might be taken to mean that the later medieval melody can be traced back as far as the first quarter of the tenth century, when it was used for both Gratuletur omnis and Alma vera at St. Gall. Although this proposal is attractive in its simplicity, it needs to be tempered by recognition of the differences between the early and later medieval melodies at all points other than the first halves of the first and third lines. A more cautious conclusion would be that an opening melodic contour was associated with this text and remained in circulation East of the Rhine from at least the tenth through to the fourteenth century. There is no evidence to suggest that two further melodies identified by Stäblein for Gratuletur omnis in later hymnals (one transmitted in Italian sources, no. 758, the other a widely disseminated melody more commonly associated with Pange lingua, no. 56) were in use before the eleventh century. In view of the paucity of hymn notations before the earliest notated hymnals at the beginning of the eleventh century, this lack of evidence cannot be taken as a sign of the primacy of the melody recorded in Napoli IV. G. 68. 
The Klosterneuburg manuscript assigns Gratuletur omnis to Lauds at Epiphany, a common position for this hymn in hymnals of the Middle  Ages. A shorter neumed version of Gratuletur omnis is assigned to the Mass for Epiphany with the rubric «ante episcopum» in Roma 123; for a discussion of the implications of this rubric, see the entry for Gloriam Deo. The melody recorded for Gratuletur omnis in this shortened version of the text is the one that Stäblein identified as transmitted only in Italian sources. The probability that this Italian melody entered into transmission before the mid eleventh century is high given its survival in later Italian manuscripts (for an alignment of the neumes of Roma 123 with a later version of the Italian melody that can be transcribed into modern notation, see Sevestre, Du versus au conduit II, p. 98).