The Codex Sangallensis 381 (Signature Cod. Sang. 381) is an early medieval music manuscript, produced in the abbey of St. Gallen and stored in the Abbey Library in St. Gallen. The manuscript is known for its exhaustive collection of so-called tropes, verses, and sequences. Together with the Cod. Sang. 484, this manuscript makes an important contribution to one of the most exhaustive collections of such compositions in the East Frankish kingdom and thus plays an important role in the history of music.
With a surface area of just 14.5cm x 11.5cm, the manuscript is of a smaller format than most of its contemporaries. Its contents are stretched to 500 pages, for which parchment was used as a writing material. Mainly the edges of either goat, sheep or rarely calf skins were used. The manuscript was rebound in the 15th century and was restored in 1992. The binding consists of two beech plates with dark-brown leather over the spine. The composition of the manuscript is attributed to one main scribe and collector of the 10th century, to whom the authorship of the codex is assigned, even though additional scribes added further material and corrections until the 13th century.[1] [2] [3]
The origins of the manuscript can be viewed as a part of a bigger process of trope writing as well as the extension of originally Roman liturgy, which was not only shaped by the three influential figures Tuotilo, Notker and Ratpert at the abbey in St. Gallen, but also occurred in the larger context of the entire Frankish empire.[4]
The initial composition of the manuscript by the main scribe is dated in the second quarter of the 10th century. Analyses of the scribe’s hand in the manuscript suggest that the main scribe was in fact a monk named Salomon, who was affiliated with the abbey of St. Gallen and who earlier on compiled the Cod. Sang. 484, an earlier tropary, as well. This assumption is based on a charter dated at 926-928 which was signed with the name “Salomon” and whose writing can be identified as that featured in the codex. In the literature, some doubts remain regarding the actual name of the scribe, which is why most publications use the neutral term Σ (sigma). Both manuscripts can thus be interpreted as a part of a larger process of trope collection that took place in the abbey at the same time.
The fact that the Cod. Sang. 484 is represented as a part of the Cod. Sang. 381 in its entirety suggests an underlying copying process that is involved in the production of codices at the abbey. It is assumed that the scribe of the much less corrected Cod. Sang. 381 oriented himself by his earlier creation and used the Cod. Sang. 484, characterised by frequent erasures and rearrangements or insertions of material, as a template for his second creation.[5]
The size as well as the simple realisation of the codex suggests that it was meant for the hand of a monastic cantor, whose role during the mass came close to that of a lead singer.[6] Contained in the manuscript are chants that were created for specific occasions and were thus only sung once.[7] Some chants, however, continued to be in use in the liturgical practice until the 13th century. Furthermore, the entire inventory of Notker’s Liber Ymnorum, a book dedicated to the bishop Liutward of Vercelli and consisting of roughly 40 sequences, is also present in the manuscript.[8]
The manuscript begins with a sequence, a litany (later additions) and lauds. The pages 6-9 contain a copy of the “Epistola Notkeri ad Lantbertum” – a letter of Notker to Lantbert – in which the meaning of the so-called significative letters is explained. More specifically, these significative letters were textual additions to the normal neumic notation in the form of letters, which contained additional information regarding the course of the melody, rhythm and pitch.[9]
Pages 10-12 contain a fragment titled “De sono singularum litterarum martiani” (On the sound of singular letters of Martianus) taken from “De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii” by Martianus Capella. It describes techniques of articulation for the correct pronunciation of the letters of the Latin (and partially the Greek and German) alphabet. The remaining manuscript contains a collection of versus (metric processional hymns, tropes, and sequences in the following order:
| Ordinary chants with Greek text | 13-22 | Chants that make up the invariable part of the mass | ||
| Versus | 23-50 | Processional hymns in metric diction, mainly used during specific celebrations. A portion of the versus composed at the abbey is attributed to Ratpert | ||
| Introit and Communion Verses | 50-141 | Additional psalm chants to the proper tropes used during the opening of the mass (introit) as well as the communion (communio) | ||
| Versus | 142-156 | Additional processional hymns | ||
| Computus | 167 | Detailed instructions regarding the calculation of the Easter date between the years 830 and 1008 | ||
| Proper Tropes | 195-294 | Tropes used in mass chants which vary depending on the ecclesiastical year or occasion. The arrangement and quantity of these tropes roughly corresponds to the inventory of proper tropes featured in the Cod. Sang. 484. The creation of the tropes at the abbey St. Gallen are mainly attributed to Tuotilo | ||
| Ordinary Chants and Tropes | 295-324 | These chants were part of the immutable sections of the mass, with corresponding tropes. Also correspond to the ordinary chants collected in the Cod. Sang. 484. | ||
| Sequences | 326-498 | Liturgical chants sung between the Hallelujah and the Gospel, part of the proper |
Particularly during the golden age of the abbey – during the time of Notker, Ratpert and Tuotilo – St. Gallen was known for the ingenuity as well as the quality of the produced chants. Consequently, individual tropes were received quite broadly within Europe: Tuotilo's trope “Hodie cantandus est” for the Introitus “Puer natus est”, for instance, can be found in over 100 European manuscripts, mostly concentrated in copies in German-speaking areas.[12] Simultaneously, a not insignificant number of copies from southern France, the Alsace as well as northern Italy have been recorded. Further tropes also appear in manuscripts in the same areas, but not to the same extent.[13]