[gothic-l] Re: Ostrogothic or Visigothic Music

[cstrohmier at YAHOO.COM]

--- In gothic-l at y..., kaoru666 at h... wrote:
> Heils!
> Another doubt is now clouding my mind; the question now is about
> music.
> I know that in their early times the goths used lyres, and
abviously
> nothing can be found or reconstructed from that period. But I guess
> it must be something lest from the ostrogothic and visigothic
> kingdoms, or at least from the visigothic one; I've heard the
> visigoths wrote their music using the "visigothic neumes"; I can't
> confirm that since it is very scarce information on that matters;
but
> I deduce that something must have survived. Also, in the surviving
> visigothic churches (both arian and catholic) there is always an
> elevated space for the chorus.
>
> What was that music like?
> what instruments apart from the voice they used? -Various sources
> affirm that visigoths produced and imported much of the organs that
> Bizantium utilized in the VI century-
>
> At least I want to know if there is any music preserved from that
> period that is played today.
>
> Thanks for taking the time.
> Alberto

Dear Alberto,
       	Here is a summary of some information that I gathered awhile
back on Gothic neums etc..
	Gothic neums were the notes used to write the chant of the
Gothic Rite of the Catholic Church:  It has a couple different types
of script:  horizontal and vertical.  The ancient musicians wrote
down the notes without using lines.  This meant that later musicians
who tried to decipher Gothic neums could tell how many notes there
were, and get a vague idea of how the piece sounded, but it was
almost impossible to judge the exact tonal height of notes and the
melodic relationship of a neum to the notes before and after.
	Fortunately about twenty musical pieces in a manuscript
called the Liber Ordinum were found; the Gothic neums had been
erased, and replaced with an Aquitanian system using diastematic
notation.  These melodies using the Aquitanian system were compared
with another manuscript of the Liber Ordinum which contained the same
melodies using the Gothic neums.    This made it possible to decode
the rest of the Gothic chants.
	[There is an English version of the "Our Father" available
which is authentically set to the "Mozarabic" (Gothic) chant in
modern musical notation; it is sometimes used  at Masses (of the
Roman Rite):  It might give you some idea of what the chant sounds
like.]
	St. Eugenius II, who was of Gothic ancestry and a Catholic
Bishop of Toledo (the Gothic capitol of  Spain), was a poet and
musician, and he is believed to have played a role in the development
of the Gothic chant.  St.  Ildephonsus,  who was also of  Gothic
ancestry  and Catholic Archbishop of Toledo and Doctor of the Church,
is believed to have written some of the texts of the Gothic liturgy.
(After Vatican Council II, the Gothic liturgy was revised, and its
use extended to all of Spain.)
	Also there was a  St. Gall (not the Apostle of Switzerland)
who was a cantor at the chapel of King Theodoric.  St. Gall later
became the Bishop of Clermont in France.  The church in France
followed the Gallican Rite, which was very similar to the Gothic
Rite.  The Gallican Rite used a chant called (not surprisingly) the
Gallican chant.  St. Gall may have had some influence on this chant.
(If you have a copy of the Liber Usualis, you  will find several
ancient Gallican chants in the Catholic liturgy for Good Friday:
the "Improperia", "Crux fidelis",  "Pange lingu... certaminis",
and "Vexilla regis".  It also gives the "Spanish Chant" for
the "Tantum Ergo Sacramentum.")
	I hope this information is of interest and help to you.
Cory




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