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136 TROPE, SEQUENCE, AND CONDUCTUS
Gregorian Alleluia has precisely the same position as the final Alleluia
in the Ambrosian chant. (2) In Responsories it is also, in most cases,
the repetition of the main part after the verse or, more exactly, the
end of the main part in the repetition which has the long meKsma,
though sometimes this occurs on a syllable of the verse. In Gregorian
chant, however, the repetition after the verse is normally not extended ;
if it is extended, it is a 'trope'. (3) In the Offertory the long melisma
is generally connected with one syllable of the verse, though in some
cases it occurs at the end of the main part of the Offertory not, how
ever, as in Responsories, in the repetition after the verse, but in the
part preceding the verse; more curious still, where the melisma occurs
in the part preceding the verse there is no repetition: in all the large
repertory of Offertories in the Antiphonale Missarum there is only
one exception, '
Vidi speciosam', 1 which is treated like a Responsory,
with the melisma in the repetition of the end of the main part. In the
Gregorian Offertory, too, the principal melisma is regularly found in
one of the verses; it is, however, a constant, not an optional, feature,
and therefore, if provided with a syllabic text, would be a prosula
without being a trope. (4) In the Psalmellus the long melisma is placed
on one syllable of the verse. The Gradual of Gregorian chant, which
corresponds to the Psalmellus, also has melismata, but they are
included in the normal form of the Gradual or its verse and hence,
if provided with text, arefurther examples ofy?rayz//aeratherthan tropes.
This survey helps us to answer the question whether these melismata
are to be regarded as choral music or solo song. They are intended
for the choir, in so far as they are included in the repetition of the
main part of a Responsory, or the repetenda after the verse or again
in the Alleluia; but they are also solo song, in so far as they are
included in the verse. This is, at any rate, a reasonable assumption,
in view of what we know of the distribution of these forms of ecclesi
astical chant between soloists and choir. The distinction, however,
must not be exaggerated. The difference between choir and soloist
was less then than it is now, since the choir, or schola cantorum, con
sisted of a few trained singers (to which a boys' choir could be added),
while the solo parts were sometimes sung by two singers.
PROTOTYPES AT NONANTOLA
We may now turn to an interesting document first published in
1891, 2 of which the following is a transcription (with Roman numerals
added):
1 Antiphonale Missarum, p. 388,
a
Paleography musicale, ii, pi. 16,