Brief Guide to Dom Cardine's Gregorian Semiology

I. Cardine's Presuppositions

• A. The Vatican Edition
• B. The Solesmes editions and the "Solesmes Method"
• C. Equalist vs. Mensuralist Theories of Chant Rhythm
• D. The limited value of the medieval theorists
• E. The pronunciation of Latin
• F. The origins of the neumes

II. The basic ideas

• A. melodic
  1. neumes indicate pitches that are
  • a. relatively high, or
  • b. relatively low
• 2. the scribe's choice of signs
  • a. ex parte ante - the intended pitch is higher or lower than the preceding pitch
  • b. ex parte post - the intended pitch is higher or lower than the following pitch
• B. rhythmic
  1. The regular or syllabic beat can be modified by
  • a. lengthening
  • b. shortening
• 2. Lengthening and shortening can be indicated by
  • a. letters that are abbreviations of words
  • b. episemata, which indicate lengthening
  • c. modifications in the way the neume is written

III. Gregorian notational signs in Cardine's semiology

• A. pitch signs
  1. basic symbols
  • a. virga (relatively higher)
  • b. signs for relatively lower
    • 1) tractulus (=Laon uncinus)
    • 2) punctum
    • 3) gravis
  2. combinations of the basic symbols
  • a. two-pitch signs
    • 1) clivis
    • 2) pes
  • b. three-pitch signs
    • 1) porrectus
    • 2) torculus
    • 3) climacus
    • 4) scandicus
  • c. more than three pitches
    • 1) porrectus flexus
    • 2) pes subbipunctis
    • 3) scandicus flexus
    • 4) torculus resupinus
• B. Signs that have both a pitch and a rhythmic (or expressive) signification
  1. signs derived from the apostrophe, indicating repercussions at the unison
  • a. apostropha
  • b. distropha
  • c. tristropha
  • d. trigon
  • e. bivirga
  • f. trivirga
  2. signs derived from the oriscus, indicating a strong pull towards the subsequent note (usually a descent following a repercussed unison)
  • a. oriscus
  • b. pressus
  • c. virga strata
  • d. salicus
  • e. pes quassus
  • f. pes stratus
  3. signs derived from the question mark, indicating a light ascending passing note, often at a half step
  • a. quilisma (or rather quilisma-pes)
  • b. quilismatic scandicus
  • c. quilismatic salicus
• C. Auxiliary signs
  1. episemata - indicate lengthening
  2. letters (alphabetical signs) may indicate
  • a. lengthening
  • b. shortening
  • c. information clarifying the pitch interval
    • 1) e(qualiter) - unison
    • 2) s(ursum), a(ltius), l(evate) - a larger upward skip
    • 3) i(nferius), i(usum), d(eprimatur) - a larger downward skip
• D. Modifications in the way the neume is written
  1. modifications with rhythmic significance
  • a. tractulus-punctum
  • b. quadratus 1
  • c. neumatic break
  2. modifications with intervallic significance
  3. modifications with phonetic significance - liquescence

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