Hiley, David

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39David Hiley (Regensburg)»Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancto Magno desHermannus Contractus (1013–1054)«An Anniversary DiscoveryThe title of this paper is adapted from that of a booklet published by Wilhelm Brambachin 1884: Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancta Afra und das Salve regina des HermannusContractus. This contained a facsimile of an important source of Hermannus’ cycle ofchants in honour of St Afra of Augsburg, manuscript Augiensis LX in the Badische Landes-bibliothek, Karlsruhe. Brambach transcribed the Latin text and provided a commentary. Ascholarly edition of the music had to wait until 2004, when Walter Berschin and I collabo-rated in a volume published in the series Historiae, a timely publication, in that Afra wasmartyred in the year 304, and Hermannus died in 1054.1For many years the Afra historia was the only one of Hermannus’ historiae generallyknown, at least by name. His disciple Berthold had, however, mentioned several others, inhis well-known obituary for his master:Cantus item historiales plenarios, utpote quo musicus peritior non erat, de sanctoGeorgio, sanctis Gordiano et Epimacho, sancta Afra martyre, sancto Magno con-fessore, et de sancto Wolfgango episcopo mira suavitate et elegantia euphonicos,praeter alia huiusmodi perplura, neumatizavit et composuit.(Being a musicus more expert than anyone else, he set to music and composed com-plete cycles of chants for historiae, for St George, SS Gordianus and Epimachus,St Afra the Martyr, St Magnus the Confessor and St Wolfgang the Bishop, harmo-nious in their wonderful sweetness and elegance, with very many others of this kind.)And in fact in 1894, the anniversary year of Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg, who died in994, Utto Kornmüller said he believed he had found the Wolfgang office. A transcriptionof it was published by Franz Stein in 1977, unfortunately more or less overlooked in thescholarly literature.2 A full critical, liturgical edition by myself then appeared in 2002, tocommemorate Wolfgang’s canonization in the year 1052.3Finally, by great good fortune, in 2004 I came across a previously unknown, transcribablesource of Hermannus’ cycle of chants for St Magnus of Füssen. His historiae for the other1 David Hiley and Walter Berschin, Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054): Historia sanctae Afrae martyrisAugustensis (= Wissenschaftliche Abhandlungen. Musicological Studies 65/10), Ottawa 2004.2 Franz A. Stein, »Das ältere Offizium des hl. Wolfgang in der Handschrift Clm 14872 aus St. Emmeramzu Regensburg in der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München«, in: Festschrift Ferdinand Haberl zum 70. Ge-burtstag: Sacerdos et cantus gregoriani magister, ed. by Franz A. Stein, Regensburg 1977, p. 279–302.3 David Hiley,Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054): Historia Sancti Wolfgangi Episcopi Ratisbonensis (= Wis-senschaftliche Abhandlungen. Musicological Studies 65/7), Ottawa 2002.brought to you by COREView metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.ukprovided by Sächsische Landesbibliothek - Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek...Musik bis ca. 170040saints named by Berthold have still not been found. This means that we have over 90 anti-phons and responsories by Hermannus, a very sizeable body of chant composition, whichdemands proper investigation alongside Hermannus’ other, better-known achievements.The SourcesThe Magnus historia is found in two sources: St Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Codex 388; andMünchen, Universitätsbibliothek, 2°166–167.St Gallen 388 (by no means as well known as the Hartker antiphoner of ca. 1000,St Gallen 390–391) dates from the late 11th century. The manuscript is notated with ele-gant neumes, but without the significative letters, episemata and other notational featuresof earlier St Gall sources. Two offices in the manuscript establish the terminus post quem.One is the office for St Remaclus, whose veneration in St Gallen was introduced by AbbotNortpert (1034 –1072), who had come to St Gallen from the monastery of Stablo (Stavelot)in the Ardennes, founded by Remaclus. The other is the office for St Fides; her venera-tion in St Gallen was introduced by Abbot Ulrich III (1077–1121), who brought her relicsfrom Agen in Aquitaine and built a church for her in St Gallen. The Magnus office ap-pears on p. 304. The neumes alone do not permit one to say much about the musical styleof the chants, but the typical St Gall letters in the margin of the antiphons (a, e, i, o, v, h,y, and w) which indicate the psalm-tone endings to be used, show that the chants followthe numerical order of the modes.The other source of the Magnus historia is a two-volume manuscript antiphoner fromthe second half of the 15th century, Universitätsbibliothek München 2°166–167. The Mag-nus office appears in the second volume. Both volumes employ square notation. Paleogra-phically they are not a pair, though they match liturgically without any problem as parshiemalis (MS 166) and pars aestivalis (MS 167). As Berthold Riehl pointed out, the styleof the decoration in MS 167 is similar to that of a psalter from Ebersberg, Universitäts-bibliothek München 2°158, written by one Frater Maurus in 1480.4 This date must be ap-proximately right for both volumes. But the antiphoner is difficult to localize. The onlyother local saint in the book, Afra of Augsburg, indicates that it comes from South Ger-many, while the secular or Roman cursus of the offices and the prominence given to Augus-tine should mean a house of Augustinian canons. This rules out both St Mang in Füssenand also Ebersberg, which were both Benedictine.5 The series of responsories for the fourSundays in Advent – a standard test of the affiliation of an antiphoner or breviary – is thatof a group of Premonstratensian monasteries including not only North France (centred onPrémontré) but also Schäftlarn in Bavaria, yet the saints characteristic of the Schäftlarnliturgy, Corbinian, Dionysius and Juliana, are not specially noticed, and nor do Schäftlarnbooks display any particular interest in Magnus.6 One might advance the hypothesis that4 Berthold Riehl, Studien zur Geschichte der bayerischen Malerei des 15. Jahrhunderts, München 1895,p. 110. There are no more recent art-historical studies of these manuscripts.5 The patron saint of Ebersberg, Sebastian, is not especially noticed in MSS 166–167. Ebersberg booksdo not pay any special attention to Magnus.Hiley: Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancto Magno 41one6or both of MSS 166–167 were written in Schäftlarn for another Augustinian house.St Mang at Stadtamhof by Regensburg comes immediately to mind, but no liturgical bookssurvive from that monastery to help further comparison.That Hermannus is the author of the chants is naturally not indicated in either source.7Their identification with the historia of which Berthold speaks is strongly supported bytheir musical style. The following remarks concern the structure of the office and the cha-racter of the melodies.StructureIt is a fair assumption that Hermannus would have composed the historia for the Benedictinemonastery of St Magnus at Füssen following the Benedictine cursus of the office, andwould moreover have arranged the chants in numerical modal order. This is the case withWolfgang of Regensburg.8 For the Afra historia Hermannus composed only nine respon-sories for the Night Office. The provision of nine instead of twelve was quite commonat this time: a majority of offices in the Sanctorale of the Hartker antiphoner (St Gallen,ca. 1000), for example, have only nine proper responsories. Others could be taken fromthe Commune Sanctorum if required. In extant monastic sources of the Afra office thenumber of twelve responsories is made up with the responsory from First Vespers and twofrom the Commune Virginum.9 The probable original structure of the Magnus historia isshown in Table 1.St Gallen 388 places the responsory of First Vespers, Magis magnorum, at the start ofthe Third Nocturn, making a group of four responsories in all for this nocturn. (It doesnot indicate if a fourth responsory should be taken from the Commune Sanctorum for theFirst or Second Nocturn.) More surprisingly, it gives three antiphons for each nocturn,as for the secular cursus, using up antiphons 1–9 for this purpose. The other antiphons(nos. 10–12 and the antiphona ad cantica) are assigned to the Little Hours, Prime, Terce,Sext and None. This is clearly not their original location, since the modal numerical orderrunning through the Nocturns and Lauds (modes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3) isthereby turned inside out (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1/6 7 8 1 2 3/2 3 4 5). It may be that the Magni-ficat antiphon of Second Vespers in St Gallen 388 is not the original one, since it is inmode 7 instead of mode 4, which would continue the numerical series from Lauds.6 In his description of the manuscript Clytus Gottwald suggested Diessen or Polling. See ClytusGottwald, Die Musikhandschriften der Universitätsbibliothek München (= Die Handschriften der Univer-sitätsbibliothek München 2), Wiesbaden 1968, p. 22–24. But none of the many breviaries from Diessenand Polling now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek pay any particular attention to Magnus. Nor do theyhave the Premonstratensian responsory series. Gottwald lists the Magnus office among the items of theSanctorale but does not identify it further (i. e. he does not mention Hermannus).7 The attribution of the Afra historia to him in Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek, Aug. LX isexceptional, and may be understood in connection with the scribe’s practice of indicating sources for allthe texts in the manuscript.8 See the edition in Hiley, Hermannus Contractus, Ottawa 2002.9 See the edition in Hiley and Berschin, Hermannus Contractus, Ottawa 2004.Musik bis ca. 170042Table 1 – Structure of the Magnus historiaIncipit ModeAd Primas VesperasResponsorium Miris magnorum 7Antiphona ad Magnificat Precelsi confessoris Christi 1Ad MatutinasInvitatorium Maximum regem cunctorum 7In Primo NocturnoAntiphona 1 Sanctus vir Magnoaldus 1Antiphona 2 Hic divino instinctus amore 2Antiphona 3 Ubi per vere lucis 3Antiphona 4 Sub sancto itaque patre degens 4Antiphona 5 Cumque virtute prepollens 5Antiphona 6 Nam ipsius ad vocem 6Responsorium 1 Felicissimum beati Magni 1Responsorium 2 Beatus Magnus cum sancto Gallo 2Responsorium 3 Post sancti patris obitum Columbani 3In Secundo NocturnoAntiphona 7 Iussione viri dei ursus poma 7Antiphona 8 Ad preces eius plurima convolans 8Antiphona 9 O vere mundum et purum 1Antiphona 10 In visione raptus divina 2Antiphona 11 Beatus Magnus in hac terra 3Antiphona 12 Cum Italiam periturus 4Responsorium 4 Triennio post beati Galli 4Responsorium 5 Veniens vir dei Brigancium 5Responsorium 6 Cum Campidonam sanctus venisset 6In Tertio NocturnoAntiphona ad Cantica O felicem et salutiferam 5Responsorium 7 Expulsus e Campidona demonibus 7Responsorium 8 Vir deo amabilis 8Responsorium 9 Confessor domini sanctissime 7Ad LaudesAntiphona 1 Comperta virtutum beati Magni 6Antiphona 2 Cum ad pontificem Wicterpum 7Antiphona 3 Accito ad Campidonam 8Antiphona 4 Deo dignus diaconus Wicterpi 1Antiphona 5 Divina donante clemencia 2Antiphona ad Benedictus Post transacta trium et septuaginta 3Ad Secundas VesperasAntiphona ad Magnificat Inter varias mundi temptationes (SGs 388)Magnificus tuus Christe confessor (Mu 167)74Hiley: Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancto Magno 43München 167 has the responsory Magis magnorum at First Vespers. Being an Augustinianmanuscript, it follows the secular cursus, as already noted. But the last four antiphons arenot assigned to the Little Hours, as in St Gallen 388, but simply omitted. There is thusa hiatus in the numerical order of the modes between the last antiphon of Night Office(mode 1) and the first of Lauds (mode 6).Musical StyleTurning to the musical style of the chants, we may observe features which are also very ob-vious in the Wolfgang and Afra offices. The Magnificat and Benedictus antiphons and theresponsories are almost extravagantly melismatic. Authentic chants touch the upper octaveor pass beyond it, plagal chants include both the lower fourth and the upper fifth and notesbeyond. Several chants encompass both authentic and plagal ranges together. Most impor-tant is the way in which nearly all chants use the fifth above the finalis, the fourth below(in plagal modes) and the octave above (in authentic modes) as melodic goals, or as pillarson which to hang the free-flowing melismatic lines. Furthermore, there are frequent leapsnot only between finalis and upper fifth but also between upper fifth and upper octave.I have analyzed this style in detail elsewhere, and also related it to Hermannus’ conceptof the modes as scale segments whose principle points are those same consonant notes ofthe modal octave – to be understood ultimately, no doubt, as an aural embodiment of theharmony of the whole created world.10 Example 1 gives the Magnificat antiphon of SecondVespers Magnificus tuus Christe confessor.München 167 has the responsory Magis magnorum at First Vespers. Being an Augus-tinian manuscript, it follows the secular cursus, as already noted. But the last four anti-phons are not assigned to the Little Hours, as in St Gallen 388, but simply omitted. Thereis thus a hiatus in the numerical order of the modes between the last antiphon of NightOffice (mode 1) and the first of Lauds (mode 6).The upper fifth of the modal scale, b, is here strongly accented, which would be unusualin older E-mode chants. While the finalis is naturally the most important note, other pos-sible cadence notes, such as one would find in a traditional office chant, are neglected. Aneasy way of testing this is to observe the notes on which each word ends, omitting mono-syllables, since they cannot be expected to attract much melodic weight. Many word-end-ings are strongly marked by means of the subtonal ending D-E-E or a-b-b (sometimescalled the ›Gallican‹ cadence). In all there are 19 endings on E, 6 on b, 2 on C, 2 on D and2 on G. That makes 25 endings on ›consonant‹ notes, only 4 on others. Half the endingson E (10) and b (3) are subtonal.10 David Hiley, »Das Wolfgang-Offizium des Hermannus Contractus – Zum Wechselspiel von Modus-theorie und Gesangspraxis in der Mitte des 11. Jahrhunderts«, in: Die Offizien des Mittelalters: Dichtungund Musik, ed. by Walter Berschin and David Hiley (= Regensburger Studien zur Musikgeschichte 1),Tutzing 1999, p. 129–142; »Die Afra-Gesänge des Hermannus Contractus. Liturgische Melodien unddie Harmonie des Universums«, in: Hl. Afra: Eine frühchristliche Märtyrerin in Geschichte, Kunst undKult, ed. by Manfred Weitlauff and Melanie Thierbach (= Jahrbuch des Vereins für Augsburger Bistums-geschichte 38, Ausstellungskatalog des Diözesanmuseums St. Afra), Augsburg 2004, p. 112–119.Musik bis ca. 170044Example 1: Antiphon Magnificus tuus Christe confessorThe style is not uncommon in chants of the 12th century and later, but Hermannus is theearliest composer to achieve such a high degree of ›consonance‹, if we may so call it, in hismelodies. Furthermore, very few later composers attempt so florid a melodic style. Perhapsit was the very boldness of Hermannus’ musical imagination which made it desirable toemphasize the consonant notes. For these notes are the fixed tonal spheres along whichthe music describes its celestial orbit, so that the rapturous melodic arc does not sweep outinto chaos but remains on the harmonious course ordained by the Creator.1111 A complete transcription of the Magnus historia from München 167, together with more extendeddiscussion of the office, in particular its Latin text, appears in my article »The Historia Sancti Magni byHermannus Contractus (1013–1054)«, in: Music in Medieval Europe: Essays in Honour of Bryan Gillingham,ed. by Terence Bailey and Alma Colk Santuosso, Aldershot 2007, p. 367–392.

»Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancto Magno des Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054)«. An Anniversary Discovery

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»Die verloren geglaubte Historia de sancto Magno des Hermannus Contractus (1013–1054)«. An Anniversary Discovery

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