Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1968, Page 28
distinet from Romanesque. A characteristic of the Romanesque style is
the semicircular arch, and of the Gothic the pointed arch.
The difference between the two melody forms (or redactions) ap-
pears in the rise to, and descent from, a top note; if both are made by
steps, the melody in this place is Romanesque; if they are made by
leaps Gothic. According to Prof. Wagner, Romanesque melody redaction
has been observed in Italy, France, and England; and we may add Nor-
way, as well. And Gothic in Germany; and we may add also in Den-
mark, Sweden, and Iceland (although not fully adopted).
Let us compare the Norwegian and the Icelandic form (in the MS.
called a below) of the beginning of the melody of the great St. Olavus
sequence:
Norwegian:
å i»-
** Lux 11- lu- xlt
Icelandic:
^ Lux 11- lu- xlt
On “-luxit” the Norwegian redaction is Romanesque, and the Ice-
landic Gothic. And more differences of a similar kind appear later in
the two redactions, but not outside the first verse.
For a great part, however, this distinetion does not hold good; Nor-
wegian MSS. can sometimes show Gothic melody tops, and Icelandic
Romanesque. In the former instances we may see the belated Roman
Catholic (or Southern) influence spoken of above, and in the latter, a
result of imported stuff.
About the sequence texts printed in the Missale Nidrosiense some re-
marks may be added.
It comprises in all 42 texts — between a third and a fourth of the
number represented by our manuscripts. No doubt the redaetor of the
missal knew of more sequences in use in his archbishopric, and selected
these 42 as the more representative ones. But whether he knew all the
sequences that existed in the hooks of the several churches, chapels,
monasteries etc. throughout the Norwegian Church Province, we may
doubt, because the sequences were generally imported from abroad; and
something of this import might at first just as well have landed in a
remote place as in a more central one, and occasionally have stayed there
without becoming wide-spread.
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