Thursday 12 September 2024

Tenor and ambitus for each psalm

There are some parts of what ChatGPT indicated about modes that can be immediately applied to the Psalms, chapter by chapter.

First - the tenor - a slightly off label usage of the word for me. The tenor is the main reciting pitch of a plainsong section. And second the ambitus or range. The range is dependent on the reciting pitches that are used and the ornaments on it. But it's mostly the reciting note.

I have already remarked the use of f# (mercha) for Psalm 1. There are 40 other psalms for which the tenor is f#. In psalm 98 the f# is tied with A.

If I sort for the mercha, Psalm 29 stands out at the top of the list with 73 syllables (36%) on f#. This is a psalm where Haïk-Vantoura used the sharpened fourth in her mode. Should this also be used in Psalm 1 and others? Essentially creating a psalm lacking in an inner-verse rest point? 

But - the usual but, the Letteris edition which Suzanne used has a host of metegs masquerading as silluqs so her version, lovely though it is sung by Chanticleer, is not what the music is in the Leningrad codex. The f#'s have disappeared and been replaced by e's. My response is no. This psalm needs the inner rest points and works just fine in the default mode. The mode with the sharpened fourth does not sing well if the higher pitches are used since there are two consecutive semitones in it. That is my subjective opinion of course. And it is not suitable for zarqas even if those singers can sing them accurately and beautifully. There are no zarqas in any case in the WLC, but there are several in the Letteris.

I have replaced the table in the previous post with the one below, a wide pdf. The tenor is highlighted. (-(now automated to save eyes and prepare for additional data columns). The range is always similar but sometimes a 0 appears in the column for the lowest note d or the highest C and so the range is limited in some psalms.

There are several psalms where the percentage use of the main reciting tones are very similar. A listener or singer would not be able to distinguish percentage points. I think this shows the implications for understanding the accents of Haïk-Vantoura's deciphering of the distinction between the signs above and below the text. It does not help us decide what the 'mode' should be -- i.e. what the shape of the scale is in terms of tones, semitones, and augmented seconds.  Still, if I can add the clues from the first verse of a psalm and sort or filter on them, maybe some groupings and differences will appear -- maybe not.



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