The Medieval Latin Hymn

by Ruth Ellis Messenger

II. Sequences of the German School

The importance played by St. Gall in the development of the sequence has given rise to the theory that it originated there. Present-day opinion, as indicated above, concedes that sequences arose in France and that St. Gall is not a place of origin but like St. Martial, a prominent center for their composition and diffusion. Other centers were Metz, Murbach, Fulda, Echternach, Kremünster and St. Florian. Reichenau, too, was important in music and in the spread of sequence poetry.[23]

Notker Balbulus, (840?-912), was largely responsible for the enviable reputation enjoyed by St. Gall. Born in Switzerland, Notker had entered the Benedictine monastery at St. Gall as a child to be educated and there he continued as a member of the Order until his death. A pupil and later a teacher of the music school in the period of Louis the Pious and Louis the German, he shared the life of the Abbey during the height of its reputation, when its doors were open to travelers from every land and every rank of society. Notker himself tells of the refugee from the French monastery of Jumièges who brought with him his famous Antiphonary. Tradition has it that Notker composed words to fit the forms of the alleluia-iubilus, note for note, already in use in his monastery, and thus originated the sequence, finding his inspiration, not in the Ambrosian hymns but in the liturgy.[24] The Jumièges Antiphonary reached St. Gall about 860, by which time prosae were already known in France. There is evidence, moreover, from manuscripts, that texts existed before Notker’s time in St. Gall. He is not their first composer nor are the sequences emanating from St. Gall necessarily all Notker’s work. “Notkerian” means for sequences what “Ambrosian” means for hymns.

The problem of the authentic Notkerian sequences was subjected to critical study and variously solved by Schubiger in 1858, Wilmanns in 1872, and Werner in 1901. More recent students have re-examined the evidence and expressed their critical opinions as to Notker’s poetical and musical prestige: Singer in 1922, Van Doren in 1925 and Clark in 1926. Of more than 100 sequences attributed to Notker, 47 were judged to be authentic and edited in volume 53 of the Analecta Hymnica. Notker’s ability as a musician appears to be a matter of controversy. A new review of the Notkerian problem and its literature has been offered by the Swiss scholar, Wolfram von den Steinen, together with an edition of the sequences of the St. Gall school.[25] What scholars in general have taken away from Notker with one hand they return with the other, for if not an originator he is conceded to be the leading agent in introducing the sequence into Germany and setting a standard for this type of poetry which included from Notker’s pen a notable group of sequences for the festivals of the whole year. His sequence for Pentecost is representative of the achievements of the German school.

(See [Illustrative Hymns, XI.] Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia, “The grace of the Holy Ghost be present with us.”)

It is not surprising that scholars interested in the theory of Greek influence upon sequence poetry should seek confirmation of their views in Notker’s work. There is a majestic quality and a vigorous resounding praise in these poems which has been thought a reflection of Byzantine hymns. Reference has already been made to the Byzantine strophic system and its probable influence upon Notker’s poetical technique. When one considers that the monastery of St. Gall was always a port of call for refugees and travelers from the east and in the preceding century may have harbored many of them, it is reasonable to suppose that Notker was acquainted with contemporary Greek hymnody. Whatever may be the explanation of the metrical system employed by Notker, he undoubtedly named his melodies in such a way as to suggest a Greek identification.[26]

There remains another line of research, which is relatively unimportant, yet should be noted when the question of Greek influence is raised. It has been stated that Greek words are used in Latin sequences, thereby proving contact with Greek-speaking contemporaries on the part of their authors, or with Greek literary sources. Whenever this test is applied to any medieval writing produced by churchmen it should not be forgotten that the Vulgate was the one great continuous source, inspiration and standard of the Latin language as employed in the Middle Ages. Throughout the period, all Latin hymns which include a narrative element or refer in any other way to biblical statements are greatly indebted to the Vulgate. A considerable number of Greek words, naturally, appear in the Vulgate. Applying the criterion of Greek words to Notker’s sequences, one reaches no definitive results whatever. In the forty-one sequences attributed to Notker by Wilmanns, some seven Greek words appear which are not in the Vulgate.[27] If this proves anything in Notker’s case, it is significant only in connection with other evidence from Greek originals which has not been advanced.

Having considered the separate development of the musical and poetical aspects of the sequence, as far as they can be sundered, it remains to view certain factors which may have affected that development but have not as yet been stated.

The history of medieval music, quite apart from the creation of the iubilus and the sequentia, should not be overlooked by the student who is trying to understand liturgical music in this general period. Perhaps during the eighth and certainly from the ninth century, polyphonic and harmonic forms began to appear. New melodies for sequences were in demand and were produced, which in turn were influenced by popular and secular music, with an interaction of words and music taking place, sometimes with words, sometimes with music leading the way.[28] The history of the sequence, when complete, will owe much to the studies of medieval music now in progress by musicologists, some of whose conclusions have been noted above. The history of musical instruments is relevant here but in any case it must always be remembered that the church possessed the musical notation and was able to dominate the field.

If the course of secular and ecclesiastical music accompanying the sequence remains uncertain, so are the currents of medieval religious and secular verse in Latin still uncharted. Which is the original stream? Latin secular poetry existed contemporary with the early sequence, the secular form of which was known as a modus,[29] which, like the sequence, was inseparable from its musical accompaniment for the minstrel both sang and played his unrhymed lay. Some have taken the extreme point of view of the part played by secular influence and have regarded the sequence as a popular lyric in worship, perhaps even a Volkslied.[30] But the question as to the predominance of influence whether religious or secular, remains open.

The argument for influence from vernacular verse upon the sequence is equally weak. Prior to the ninth century vernacular lyrics in the Germanic tongues are so rare as to be valueless in this discussion. Celtic lyrics from the seventh and eighth centuries are also rare. It is possible that they were known to Celtic teachers on the continent but too much should not be assumed from this possibility or from the fact that the oldest form of Celtic lyric exhibits rhythmic parallelism.[31] French, Spanish and early English vernacular lyrics appear too late to be significant in the problem of origins. In any case, the question hinges upon metrical technique which can be adequately explained without recourse to vernacular lyrics, which, insofar as they do exist, may be regarded as themselves imitations of earlier Latin forms.

The evidence offered by secular lyrics, Latin or vernacular, in the early Middles Ages points to an outstanding growth from the sequence rather than a creative source for the sequence. As a matter of fact the sequence breaks away from the church and itself becomes secular, as the history of poetry in the later Middle Ages bears witness.

The above presentation of what is known as to the origin of the sequence can scarcely be satisfactory to the scientific historian of medieval culture. Full of inconvenient gaps and baffling inconsistencies the evidence remains totally inadequate. One conclusion alone may be advanced and that tentatively; the sequence appears to have been created wholly within the liturgy of the mass. The troparium or tropary, later the gradual and missal contained the sequences for the annual feasts just as the hymnarium or hymnary, later the breviary had contained the hymn cycles of the offices.

The appearance of the sequence in the history of medieval hymnody was an episode of the greatest importance not only in the evolution of Latin religious and secular poetry but in their vernacular counterparts. In order to understand the extraordinary popularity and wide diffusion of the sequence it must be emphasized that it is not just another hymn, but an ornament to the mass, individually created for each and every festival with a particular theme in mind. The seasons of Advent, Nativity, the Passion, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Trinity, the Virgin festivals of the Nativity, Annunciation, Visitation, Purification and Assumption, the feasts of the Apostles and other biblical Saints, the Martyrs, Confessors and Virgins formed a great series which challenged the finest efforts of the clerical poets. Herein lies the essential interest of this hymnody. The original Latin hymn was associated with daily secular worship and then with the canonical hours of the monastery. The sequence was associated with the celebration of the divine sacrifice.

As a closing illustration for this chapter the Alleluiatic sequence has been selected. Based upon the canticle, Benedicite omnia opera, and often attributed to Notker, this superb sequence reaches a height of expression comparable to the noblest hymns of the ninth century revival.

(See [Illustrative Hymns, XII.] Cantemus cuncti melodum nunc Alleluia, “The strain upraise of joy and praise.”)

CHAPTER FIVE
Late Middle Ages: Hymns and Sequences

Beginning with the twelfth century the large number of new hymns and sequences produced point to a degree of creative activity that continued through the High Middle Ages. A recent historian of medieval literature, De Ghellinck, sees the religious poetry of the twelfth century rivalling the secular, and points out that ten thousand specimens of every type of religious verse, from 1060 to 1220, are edited in the Analecta Hymnica.[1] Maurice Hélin, whose attractive volume is available in English translation, considers the poetic product of the twelfth century the peak of Latin poetry and “its most original contribution to the intellectual patrimony of the west.”[2]

It is easier to repeat such a statement than to present acceptably the relevant evidence in the field with which this chapter is concerned. One might expect a larger proportion of known authors but anonymity remains the rule. The exceptions command recognition among the most notable writers of hymns and sequences in any period of their production.