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'A DESPERATE CONFUSION OF CLEFS'. THE USE OF CLEFS IN THE ST. EMMERAM CODEX IN THE LIGHT OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN MUSIC THEORY

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Schmid B.

Muzyka

2004

vol. 49

issue 2(193)

57-78

A wide variety of unusual clefs can be observed in the mensural codex from St. Emmeram, available in the Bavarian State Library (Clm 14274): Gamma-clefs, d-clefs, in combination within a single staff-system with clefs such as c1/g3/d5 or c1/gg3/dd5 , and double clef-letters as well, such as gg. Occasionally clefs are almost totally absent, or they occur only at the beginning of a voice-part, etc. The uses of clefs in this manner seldom occur in practical sources, yet such uses are well known in central European music theory of the fifteenth century, particularly in chant theory. Moreover they are described as such in theoretical treatises, and are used repeatedly in the musical examples. The present study will present the thesis that clefs employed in the St.Emmeram Codex are rooted in the tradition of music theory, and, at the same time, that they are corroborated by this very music theory. The Gamma-clef occurs frequently in a group of texts that are described as the 'Hollandrinus tradition', but it is found in other treatises as well. The Gamma-clef is most often cited within the context (i.e., theoretical context) of five frequently used clefs, and it is described as rarely occurring e.g. in the Musica Magistri Szydlovite. Moreover the clef is often used in theoretical treatises for musical examples (modal theory, hexachord theory, mutation theory). Even in the 17th century the Gamma-clef is encountered; on the one hand in texts that are based on theory of earlier epochs, and on the other in Michael Praetorius, one of the leading theorists of the early 17th century. Yet the context for the clef is transformed by Praetorius, for he employs it in figured-bass theory and for lower wind instruments - in combinations of Gamma and F within a single stave, a practice that one might encounter in late medieval theory. Combinations other than Gamma/F are found within a single system in theoretical sources. Now and then combinations appear, in which clef-letters stand in the spaces rather than on the lines. The usual interval of a fifth between clefs is thus laid aside, and the interval of a fourth takes its place e.g. gg/c/f with c in a space. The doubling of note-letters and clef-letters appears regularly from a-superacutae in the Guidonian system. In a number of texts, as well as in Guidonian hands, clefs with double letters are found from e-superacutae and higher. In the St. Emmeram Codex all of this occurs inconsistently, since clefs such as g and d, as well as gg and dd are found. (The occasional appearance of double-letters in the lower ambitus does not occur in the St. Emmeram Codex: for example, gg instead of G, and even in Praetorius, who uses CC under the G).The various scribes in the St. Emmeram Codex seem to work differently with respect to clefs. One can only assume that they represent different traditions. If one were able accurately to distinguish clefs from each other according to paleographical criteria and to assign them to definite scribes, then one would gain considerable knowledge concerning the division of work among the scribes, and, along with that, a much deeper knowledge concerning the historical origins of the St. Emmeram Codex.

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1 Muzyka

1 Schmid B.

1 2004

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'A DESPERATE CONFUSION OF CLEFS'. THE USE OF CLEFS IN THE ST. EMMERAM CODEX IN THE LIGHT OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN MUSIC THEORY