. In addition to the final, the note
f – the tenor of the corresponding 2nd psalm tone – was regarded as an
important melodic function in the 2nd church mode.The
common name for the second of the eight church modes, the plagal mode on D. In
the Middle Ages and Renaissance the Hypodorian mode was described in two ways:
as the diatonic octave species from A to a, divided at the Final d and composed of a
first species of 4th (tone–semitone–tone) plus a first species of 5th
(tone–semitone–tone–tone), thus A–B–c–d + d–e–f–g–a; and as a
mode whose final was d and whose Ambitus was G–b. In addition to the final, the note
f – the tenor of the corresponding 2nd psalm tone – was regarded as an
important melodic function in the 2nd church mode.
In the Renaissance the connotations of the term ‘Hypodorian’ as a church mode were extended to the polyphonic sphere. In modally ordered sets of pieces, by far the commonest pattern (though not the only one) was that both the authentic and plagal modes on D were set in the cantus mollis (i.e. with a one-flat signature); their finals were now G, and other modal functions were likewise transposed up a 4th. The distinction between the higher authentic and the lower plagal ranges is represented in Palestrina's second book of Madrigali spirituali (1594), in which nos.1–10 are set in cantus mollis ending on G, by the use of Chiavette: in nos.1–5, chiavette indicate the (authentic) Dorian mode, while nos.6–10 have normal soprano, alto, tenor and bass clefs representing the (plagal) Hypodorian mode.
‘Hypodorian mode’ is occasionally used to describe European folksongs in which the relationship of the most prominent scale degree (the final or the apparent tonic) to the scale type seems similar to that of the Hypodorian church mode.
For the early history of Greek-derived modal names see Dorian. See also Mode.
HAROLD S. POWERS