DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

392 HEXACHORD HEYTHER
Fugue, in the Ecclesiastical Modes. "Without
the aid of Solmisation, it would sometimes be
impossible to demonstrate, in these modes, the
fitting answer to a given subject ; for, in order
that the answer may be a strict one, it is neces-
sary thatits solmisation shall correspond, exactly,
in one hexachord, with that of tl^e subject, in
another. Failing this characteristic, the passage
degenerates into cue of mere imitation. The
answer, therefore, given at b, in the following
example, to the subject at a, is, as Pietro Aron
justly teaches, an answer in appearance only,
and none at all in reality.
a. Sobject, in the Hexachord
of C.
Cantos.
Altts.
BASsra.
mm
n Subject in Hexach. of C.
m
&. Pretendecl Answer, in
the Hexachord of G.
mi /a mi
: -^ rsjf-^-=^
=rT^m
sol mi fa sol fa mi re mi
Answer in Hexach. of F.
liE^
As an instance of the strict method of treatment,
it would be difficult to find a more in-
structive example than the opening of Palestrina's
' Missa brevis,' in the Thirteenth Mode
transposed, where the solmisation of the answer,
in the hexachord of F, is identical with that of
the subject in the natural hexachord.
Now, this answer, though the only true one
possible, could never have been deduced by the
laws of modern Tonal Fugue : for, since the
subject begins on the second degree of the scale
—by no means an unusual arrangement in the
Thirteenth and Fourteenth Modes— the customary
reference to the Tonic and Dominant
would not only have failed to throw any light
upon the question, but would even have tended
to obscure it, by suggesting D as a not impossible
response to the initial G.
It would be easy to multiply examples : but
we trust enough has been said to prove that
those who would rightly understand the magnificent
real fugues of Palestrina and Anerio,
will not waste the time they devote to the study
of Guido's hexachords. To us, familiar with a
clearer system, their machinery may seem un-
necessarily cumbrous. We may wonder, that,
with the octave within his reach, the great
Benedictine should have gone so far out of the
way, in his search for the means of passing from
one group of sounds to another. But, we must
remember that he was patiently groping, in the
dark, for an as yet undiscovered truth. We
look down upon his Hexachords from the
sol
perfection of the Octave. He looked up to them
from the shortcomings of the Tetrachord. In
order fully to appreciate the value of his con-
tribution to musical science, we must try to
imagine ourselves in his place. Whatever may
be the defects of his system, it is immeasurably
superior to any that preceded it : and, so long
as the modes continued in general use, it ful-
filled its purpose perfectly. w. s. R.
HEY, or HAY. The name of a figure of a
dance frequently mentioned by Elizabethan
writers. Its derivation is unknown ; the w-ord
maj' come from the French haie, a hedge, the
dancers standing in two rows being compared to
hedges. Its first occurrence is Thoinot Arbeau's
description of the passages - at - arms in the
Bouffons, or Matassins, one of which is the
Passage de la haye. This was only danced by
Answer in Hexach. of F.
sol fa sol etc.
e -y- f^= e£
re ut re ut
rt ?=rr=^^
fa sol /o mi re mi re tU Tt vA
four men, in imitation of a combat. Chappell
(Popular MvHc, p. 629) remarks that 'dancing
a reel is but one of the ways of dancing the
hay. ... In the "Dancing Master" the hey
is one of the figures of most frequent occurrence.
In one country-dance " the women stand still,
the men going the hey between them." . This
is evidently winding in and out. In another,
two men and one woman dance the hey,—
like a reel. In a third, three men dance this
hey, and three women at the same time,—like
a double reel.' There is no special tune for the
hey, but in Playford's Musicks Hand -maid
(1678) the following air, entitled ' The Canaries
or the Hay, ' occurs :
l^^^^^^g^^fegg^g^
[See CAyARiEs.] w. b. s.
HEYTHER I or HEATHER, William,
Mus.D. , born at Harmondsworth, Middlesex,
about 1 5 S 4 , was
a lay vicar ofY'estminster Abbey,
and on March 27, 1615, was sworn a gentlematt
1 His own sp^Jling. In hia will it io Heather.