Melodies, Modulations, and Memory -- Some Reflections on Notker's Liber hymnorum

Professor Calvin Bower, Professor Emeritus, University of Notre Dame

When? Thursday April 18 2024, 5pm
Where? Heritage Hall, Catholic University of America

A catered reception will follow lecture.

Abstract:

In the opening sentences immediately following the Dedicatio his Liber ymnorum to Liutward –
Bishop of Vercelli and abbot of St. Columbanus – Notker writes the following rather personal
narrative:

When I was still a young man and the very long melodies [melodiae longissimae] repeatedly
committed to memory [sepius memoriae commendatae] escaped my fickle little heart, I
began quietly to contemplate how I might somehow tie them down. In the meantime it
happened that a certain priest from Jumièges, recently devastated by the Normans, came to
us, carrying his antiphoner with him, in which certain verses had been measured out to the
sequences [versus ad sequentias … modulati]; but even then they were very corrupted.
While I was delighted by the sight of them all the same they were bitter in my mouth.
Nevertheless in imitation of these I began to write …

Three fundamental themes emerge in these sentences: the melodies, the measured-out verses,
and the problem of memory. In my reflections I will examine each of these themes as
epitomized in Notker’s synthesis. What was the nature of these challenging melodies, what was
their liturgical function, and what were the bases of their musical structure? How did certain
verses measured out (the Latin word is modulati, literally ‘modulated’), articulate, and anchor
these melodies? Entangled within this initial pair of questions emerges the problem of musical
notation found in the margins of the earliest sources of Notker’s creation. And finally, the
challenging theme of musical memory – how do melodic structures and measured-out-verses
serve to ‘tie down’ musical structures within the heart and mind? Finally, I will attempt to draw
something of a synthesis between musical and poetic structures and explicate the unity
between musical and philological features. Two of Notker’s versus that exemplify his work will
be heard and examined: Natus ante saecula and Petre summe Christi pastor.

For questions or accommodations, please contact Paul Cooper: cooperp@cua.edu or (202) 319-5216