Troped ordinarium missae in the Pauline Manuscript Gradual ms. R659/III-913

Abstract

Gregorian chant, formed in the 8th century, soon became inadequate for the needs of the liturgy of that time. When Gregorian chant was introduced into the Kingdom of the Franks, the local clergymen, accustomed to more sophisticated chants, considered it little useful. However, due to the administrative decisions which had been taken, the Roman ritual could not be abandoned. Roman chants, being too general, made the churchmen unwilling to adapt the new rites. Therefore, they were the first to add to the adopted chants the embellishments called tropes. They were very popular from the very beginning. They were used in the liturgy until the Council of Trent which ordered to remove them completely from the liturgy. Some of these additions were preserved in numerous manuscripts, for example, in the Pauline gradual from the end of the 16th century. The aim of this article is to extract these tropes, analyse their text and music and indicate their possible origins. It has been proved that they derive from the distribution of Gregorian melismas (Kyrie), from copying (Gloria) or from paraphrasing the melody of the main text (Sanctus). They neither introduce new musical elements nor depart from the style of Gregorian chants. They are adjusted to the context in which they appear. They were adopted from other earlier liturgical music codexes.