JoAnn Udovich, Ph.D. 1985

Advisor: Howard E. Smither

Dissertation Title: Modality, Office Antiphons, and Psalmody: The Musical Authority of the Twelfth-Century Antiphonal from St.-Denis

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Dissertation Abstract:

The fame of the twelfth-century St.-Denis Antiphonal, F-Pn lat. 17296, rests on extra-musical factors: its origin at the Royal Abbey, its early date, the finished and complete nature of the book, and its inclusion as one of twelve manuscripts indexed in Hesbert’s Corpus antiphonalium officii. This study evaluates the authority of the musical text of this source. A distinctive feature is the consistent appearance of the ending formulas (differentiae) for the psalm recitations in the outside margins. Consideration of the physical structure, including page layout, proves that the antiphonal was planned as a totality, and that the marginal placement of the differentiae was part of the original design. A compilation of the antiphons assigned each formula shows that the differentiae used at St.-Denis in the twelfth century numbered twenty-six, ranging from a single appearance of the differentia for the Tonus peregrinus to more than 300 examples of one eighth-mode formula. Identification is made of formulas which have been erased or altered, antiphons lacking differentiae, and a small number of errors. With twenty-six formulas the repertory of F-Pn lat. 17296 is small, and possible explanations for the lack of certain differentiae are offered on the basis of comparison with two contemporary tonaries from Nevers and Sarum.

The system of musical notation (neumes placed on staves of four dry-point lines with clef), one of the earliest to communicate exact pitch, is also an important feature. The large quantity of variants among the neumatic forms used in the notation of the differentiae suggests that the neumes were not merely markers of pitch. Four classes of variants are identified, and each is explained on the basis of text setting. A tabulation of the finals of the antiphons compared with the models of the differentiae reveals that multiple finals were associated with eleven of the twenty-six differentiae. Transcriptions of seventy-five antiphons, including many with alternate finals, appear in the course of the discussion. The study concludes that the musical text of F-Pn lat. 17296 was thoughtfully prepared. The marginal placement of the differentiae, in particular, was an intelligent attempt to grapple with certain problems encountered in the writing-down of the entire office repertory in the “new” pitch-accurate notational system.

Dr. Udovich has worked as an independent scholar, publishing an article in the Sixteenth Century Journal. She has also taught music independently in Pennsylvania.