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166 TROPE, SEQUENCE, AND CONDUCTUS
in time, in fact they may be said to belong to the same stratum. The
Ordinary is not represented in the Gregorian antiphonary as pro
indicate that its melodies
pagated in the eighth century, and this may
were considered to be the province of trained singers. We know that
the music of the Ordinary had been sung by all the clergy and even
the whole congregation before it became the preserve of the schola
cantorum. In the Middle Ages the Ordinary had its place as an
of available
appendix to the Gradual; it represented a repertory
melodies, but its position was different from that of the troper, since
its texts were obligatory.
The tropes to the Kyrie, the 'Ite missa est' and the 'Benedicamus
Domino' may also be considered as tropes of the Ordinary. They
differ, however, from the other tropes of this class in that there is no
simple melodic version to which the tropes can be added; there is
only a melodic version which may or may not have the text of a trope,
and though the melisma may be repeated in syllabic form with words,
or vice versa, there is no question of combining heterogeneous
material. There is some resemblance to those proses which are not
tropes, though in this case the melisma and the new text are practi
cally contemporary.
Within the two main categories of trope those for the antiphonal
chants and those belonging to the Ordinary we find that the melis-
matic form occurs in the earlier period as well as the syllabic; but it
disappears more quickly than it does in the case of the sequence. For
the sake of completeness mention should also be made of a form
which is really a prose without being a trope the Gregorian melisma
provided with a syllabic text. Examples of this are to be found mainly
in the Gradual, the Alleluia, and the Offertory ; melismata which are
treated in this way are found more often in the verse than in the main
part of the chant.
Our first example is an Introit trope found in a Nonantola troper
1 of the eleventh century, as well 2 as in other sources. It must be
admitted that it is a special type, which foreshadows the tropes of the
second period: the introductory section, preceding the first section
of the plainsong, is in verse form (the rhythm is iambic as in the
Ambrosian hymn); it is unlikely, therefore, that this section uses a
pre-existent melody without words indeed, introductory sections of
this kind never occur in melismatic form. The version of this trope in
the manuscripts other than the Nonantola troper is longer and may
1 Bologna Univ. 2824, fo. 30.
3 Vienna 1609, fo. 4V ; St. Gall 484, p. 36; 381, p. 212, &c.