The Classical Music Book

25

Italian monk and music theorist

Guido d’Arezzo wears a laurel wreath

in a portrait painted by Antonio Maria

Crespi in the early 16th century, some

600 years after Guido’s death.

See also: Plainchant 22–23 ■ Ordo Virtutum 26–27 ■ Le jeu de Robin et de Marion 32–35 ■ Great Service 52–53 ■

Monteverdi’s Vespers 64–69 ■ St. Matthew Passion 98–105

EARLY MUSIC 1000–1400

say “middle C” (in the middle of

the keyboard). However, if that

is not the one they had in mind,

they might have to say clumsily,

“C, the octave above middle C.”

Guido, requiring only 2.5

octaves (20 notes) to cover the

vocal range of the chants, used

the same seven note names we use

today (A to G) for his singing aid.

The novice monk would point to

the tip of his left-hand thumb and

sing a low G. Sliding his finger to

his thumb’s middle joint, his voice

ascended to A, and so on up the

scale, spiraling his finger around

the joints and tips of his fingers to

indicate all 20 notes (going into

falsetto as the spiral tightened

and the octaves ascended).

Solmization syllables

Guido backed up these seven

letter names with six “solmization”

syllables—ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la—a

system of talking about melodies

in an abstract way. This was the

precursor to today’s more familiar

sol-fa (doh, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti), but

Guido’s syllables differ in that his

solmization did not use the note

ti, so it has only six notes—a

hexachord. As the range went

beyond the six notes, the hexachord

had to be repeated in overlapping

patterns over the extent of the

20 notes of Guido’s Hand. Each

note then ended up with both a

base letter name and a secondary

coordinate, derived from the

note’s unique position on the

hand, to designate the octave.

Modern “middle C” translates to

“C sol-fa-ut” on the Guidonian

Hand and the lowest G, using the

Greek letter name, was “gamma

ut,” hence the expression still in

use today “running the gamut.”

The monk could now easily

specify any of the 20 notes in

conversation, in writing, or by

simply pointing to his hand. ■

Western music inherited a

theoretical foundation based on

early church musical practices

in Greece, Syria, and Byzantium.

Sometime in the 10th century,

the principle of musical “modes”

(groupings or “scales” of notes)

developed, by which the various

melodies of plainchant (the basis

for “Gregorian” chants that

developed soon after) were

categorized. Modes helped

monks remember the many

liturgical works.

Modes can be played by

using only the white notes on

a piano. If you were to play six

complete seven-note scales,

starting on each of the following

notes, that would give an idea

of how each basic corresponding

church mode would sound: C

(Ionian mode, corresponding

with the major scale); D (Dorian);

E (Phrygian); F (Lydian); G

(Mixolydian); A (Aeolian,

corresponding with the natural

minor scale). (The mode on “B,”

sometimes called “Locrian”

mode, was not used in the

Western music of the Middle

Ages as it was too dissonant.)

Music was organized

according to this modal theory

until, by the time of 18th-

century Baroque composers,

such as Bach and Handel, the

“major” and “minor” principle

of tonal harmony essentially

reduced the number of scales

to just two. From then on,

music was considered to be

in a particular “key” and

not in any given “mode.”

The modes

I have determined to

notate this antiphoner,

so that any intelligent

and diligent person

can learn a chant.

Guido d’Arezzo

D E F G A B C D

US_024-025_Guido_d_Arezzo.indd 25 26/03/18 1:00 PM