Berno
Speaking of chant in general in his Prologus in tonarium, Berno of Reichenau (c.978-1048)
advises against altering long notes into short notes or otherwise interfering with the received
rhythm of the melody. He does not state that his remarks only apply to metric chant.
Latin: Patrologia cursus completus, series latina, vol 142, pp1114-1115
English: Gregorian Rhythm in the Gregorian Centuries, Dom Gregory Murray, 1957
Speeding up and slowing down the musical feet of the rhythm is also criticised in 1274AD by
Elias Salomonis, a musically conservative cleric from the Dordogne. This is particularly
noteworthy as Elias was a user of strictae, vertical lines which often indicated musical pauses.
Latin: Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra potissimum, ed. Martin Gerbert Vol 3, p17
English: The Sound of Medieval Song, Timothy McGee, p26 & p31
This echoes an earlier statement by the Blessed Wilhelm von Hirsau (c.1030-1091).
Latin: Constitutiones Hirsaugienses, book XI, chapter XXIII, De armario
Patrologia Latina, Vol 150, column 1073A
In the neums it is necessary that you pay
close attention where the proportional
shorter duration is to be measured and
where, on the contrary, the longer
duration, lest you execute as quick and
short what the authority of the masters has
determined should be longer and more
extended. Nor should we heed those who
say there is no reason whatsoever for our
making now the quicker duration, now the
more prolonged one, in a chant with a
naturally disposed rhythm. Any grammarian
will reprove you if you shorten a syllable in
a line where you ought to lengthen it, no
other cause existing why you ought rather
to prolong the syllable than that the
authority of the ancients has so ordained.
Why should not the system of music, to
which the quite lawful measurement and
rhythm of sounds belongs, be outraged to
a greater degree by your unobservance of
the due quantity of held notes in their
relation to the context? . . .
Hence, as in metrical verse the strophe is
constructed with definite measurements of
feet, so the chant is composed of a fitting
and harmonious combination of long and
short sounds ...
Therefore let the melody of our music be
characterised by the proportional quantity
of the sounds.
... they scarcely deign at times to perform
plainchant at its proper pace [lit. perform
its feet] when they sing by anticipating,
accelerating, retarding, and improperly
phrasing [lit. joining] the notes ... because
they may happen to see the notes
arranged in such a way on the page. But
this [writing of notes] is done for the
ornament and beauty of the notes on the
page: for seeing, not for singing. Let them
know this for certain, not inquiring whether
the [practices] that they see are ours,
rather than God's, or proper to the art of
music (of which they are ignorant). ...
The infallible rule is that no plainchant in
any of its parts allows a faster tempo than
any other part, which is in accordance with
its nature. That is why it is called 'plain
chant', because it wishes to be sung in the
plainest way possible.
The same however should never neglect
when it is sung too gently, [or] when either
more hurried or more dragged out in any
place or time, but let him signify to the
brothers straight away with the hand
whatever is to be amended in the song.
... verum etiam pervigili observandum est
cura uti attendas in neumis, ubi rarae
sonorum morulae breviores, ubi vero
sint metiendae productiores, ne
raptim et minime diu proferas quod
diutius et productius praecinere statuit
magisterialis auctoritas. Neque audiendi
sunt qui dicunt sine ratione omnino
consistere quod in cantu aptae
numerositatis moram nunc velociorem,
nunc vero facimus productiorem, si
grammaticus quilibet te reprehendit, cum
in versu eo loci syllabam corripias ubi
producere debeas, nulla alia causa
naturaliter existente cur magis eam
producere debeas, nisi quia
antiquorum ita sanxit auctoritas; cur non
magis musicae ratio, ad quam ipsa
rationabilis vocum dimensio et
numerositas pertinet, succenseat
quodammodo, si non pro qualitate
locorum observes debitam quantitatem
morarum? ...
Idcirco ut in metro certa pedum
dimensione contexitur versus, ita apta et
concordabili brevium longorum
sonorum copulatione componitur cantus
...
Quocirca sit nostrae musicae cantilena
rata sonorum quantitate distincta ...
... vix dignantur aliquotiens pedem
suum facere de cantu plano,
anticipando, festinando, retardando,
et male copulando punctos, ... quia
fortassis vident punctos taliter paratos.
Hoc autem factum est ad decorem et
honestatem positionis punctorum, et
notae libri, non ad cantandum, ut
videntur. Hoc sciant pro certo, non
quaerentes, quae nostra sunt, quae
vident, nec Dei, nec debitum artis
musicae, quia illam ignorant ...
Regula infallibis, omnis cantus planus in
aliqua parte sui nullam festinationem in
uno loco patitur plusquam in alio, quam
est de natura sui: ideo dicitur cantus
planus, quia omnino planissime appetit
cantari.
Ipse autem nunquam debet negligere,
quando nimis submisse cantatur,
quando vel festinantius vel
protractius quocunque loco vel
tempore, quin statim fratribus innuat
manu quidquid emendandum est in
cantu.