Neume - Illustrations - Interpretive Marks

Interpretive Marks

These markings, although present in almost all early manuscripts, are subject to great dispute.

Vertical episema
(vertical stroke)
Seems to indicate a subsidiary accent when there are five or more notes in a neume group
Horizontal episema
(horizontal stroke)
Used over a single note or a group of notes (as shown), essentially ignored in the Solesmes interpretation; other scholars treat it as indicating a lengthening or stress on the note(s).
Liquescent neume
(small note)
Can occur on almost any type of neume; usually associated with certain letter combinations such as double consonants, consonant pairs, or diphthongs in the text
Quilisma
(squiggly note)
Always as part of a multi-note neume, usually a climacus, this sign is a matter of great dispute; the Solesmes interpretation is that the preceding note is to be lengthened slightly.

Other interpretations of the quilisma:

  • Shake or trill -- Prof. William Mahrt of Stanford University supports this interpretation. This interpretation is also put into practice by the Washington Cappella Antiqua, under the current direction of Dr. Patrick Jacobson.
  • Quarter-tone or accidental. The support for this interpretation lies in some early digraphic manuscripts which combine chironomic neumes with letter-names. In places where other manuscripts have quilismas these digraphs often have a strange symbol in place of a letter, suggesting to some scholars the use of a pitch outside the solmization system represented by the letter names. The trigon is a neume peculiar to St. Gall which may also have a microtonal meaning.

There are also litterae significativae in many manuscripts, usually interpreted to indicate variations in tempo, e.g. c = celeriter (fast), t = tenete (hold) (an early form of the tenuto), a = auge (lengthen, as in a tie). The Solesmes editions omit all such letters.

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