Antiphonary of St. Benigne, Dijon

"Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier" redirects here. For information on the codex of polyphonic motets, see Montpellier Codex.

The Antiphonary of St. Benigne (also called Antiphonarium Codex Montpellier) is an 11th century musical manuscript in a codex that records antiphonal responses of Gregorian chant, one of the earliest surviving pieces of written music. There are few extant 11th century musical manuscripts, with which scholars debate the realization of Gregorian chant in modern liturgical use and performance.

An antiphonary, a song book for use in a liturgical choir in the Roman Catholic liturgy, was mainly used for either singing Mass or the canonical Hours (antiphonarium officii). This particular Antiphonary recorded the plainsong chant as it was performed in the Cathedral of St. Benigne, Dijon. It has been preserved in the library of the faculty of medicine at the University of Montpellier (ms. H159). It was issued as a facsimile in the series illustrating the relics of ancient musical notation, Paléographie Musicale, (first series, Solesmes, 1896; reprinted at Berne, Switzerland).

Until Guido of Arezzo invented the musical stave on which to place notes, their relative pitch could be recorded, and so their melodic configuration is given, but not the precise notes. The notation of rhythm and duration of the notes in this historical period is obscure. The earliest rhythmic notational system, as in the codex preserved at Montpellier, is made up of neumes, a writing style which some have theorised to derive from diacritic marks; others have suggested that they come from the choirmaster's hand gestures. As neumes did not provide exact pitch relationships, they would have functioned as an imprecise prompt for a melody that the choir already knew.

This manuscript is particularly notable for the fact that it contains musical works written in two forms of notation: the old system of neumes, and a newer system, based on the letter notation (from A-N) written below. While this alphabetical system differs from the modern system, its interpretation is clear with regard to pitch.

References

• F.E. Hansen H 159 Montpellier, Tonary of St.Bénigne of Dijon, Kopenhagen 1974.

External links

• R. John Blackley, director of the Schola Antiqua, "On Realizing Gregorian Chant" and "Rhythm and Nuance in Chant" gives the context of interpreting neumes.