Sequence (i)

(Lat. sequentia).

A category of medieval Latin chant (also called Prosa or ‘prose’) which flourished from about 850 to 1150. Throughout that period both its musical and literary importance were great; and from about 850 to 1000, when the large repertories were firmly established, the sequence represented one of the most important kinds of music produced in the West – important because of its intrinsic musical values as well as its historical significance for the development of style in general.

1. General.

2. Sources.

3. Early repertory.

4. Style in early examples.

5. Sequence and alleluia.

6. The aparallel sequentiae.

7. Origins.

8. Form and performance.

9. Partial texting.

10. The later rhymed sequence.

11. The polyphonic sequence.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

RICHARD L. CROCKER (1–10), JOHN CALDWELL/ALEJANDRO E. PLANCHART (11)

Sequence (i)

1. General.

Since the sequence itself underwent profound structural modifications in its development, it is not possible to give a simple definition of its form that holds for the entire period; with that reservation, the sequence can be described as a piece of sacred chant of ample dimensions, in length as well as melodic range, set syllabically with a Latin text. The text consisted mostly of a series of couplets each having two isosyllabic lines sung to the same melody; each couplet was different from the preceding couplet in melody and usually in length. In earlier sequences the text was not governed by regular accent patterns or by end-rhyme, hence was indeed ‘prose’. After 1000 the texts scanned and rhymed to an increasing degree, finally becoming verse.

The texts were often associated with a particular season, feast or saint’s day, hence were ‘proper’ in the liturgical sense. Certainly by the end of the 10th century – and probably by the end of the 9th – they came to be sung at Mass, immediately after the alleluia, as a medieval addition to the Proper of the Mass. In this and in other ways the sequence is related to the alleluia, but the relationship is neither clear nor simple, and has been the subject of controversy (see §5). Also controversial is the problem of the genesis of the sequence (see §7). Much of the difficulty attending these questions may have been due to the inaccessibility of the materials, especially the music. It is still not possible, for example, to gain ready access to all the melodies used by Notker of St Gallen (c840–912), the most famous writer of early proses, even though his texts have been edited several times. In any case, discussion of the controversial aspects is not intelligible without a prior acquaintance with specific music examples representative of the early repertory, hence will be postponed until after some examples have been discussed.

The most important questions facing further research into the sequence concern (i) establishment of critical versions of texts and melodies, (ii) stylistic analysis of all phases of its history, (iii) delineation and chronological ordering – in so far as that is possible – of the development of the repertory as a whole.

Sequence (i)

2. Sources.

The history of the sequence is intimately bound up with the state of the sources in which it is preserved; an understanding of the sources and the problems they present is prerequisite to an appreciation of the sequence in general as well as of any given sequence encountered in modern publication.

Sequences appear singly or in small groups in manuscript sources from about 900 onwards: such sources are D-Mbs lat.14843, ff.94–104, from Toul; F-AUT 28 S, f.64; Pn lat.17436 (the gradual-antiphoner of Compiègne), ff.24, 29–30; I-VEcap XC (85); F-Pn lat.1154, ff.142–143v; CHRm 47, ff.60v–62; Pn lat.1240 (St Martial de Limoges, 923–36), ff.17–18v, 43–63v; and GB-Lbl Add.19768 (Mainz), ff.4–22v. Large systematic collections appear in increasing quantity and size between about 950 and 1000, standard repertory sources becoming common after about 1000. Representative manuscripts for the West Frankish repertory are those from the Aquitanian group – F-Pn lat.1084, 1118, 1120, 887, 1121, 1119, 1138–1338; for the East Frankish repertory – CH-SGs 484, 380, 381, 382; and the two Winchester manuscripts – GB-Ob 775, Ccc 473). After 1000 the number of manuscripts increased rapidly.

In this group of sources sequences are customarily notated in two different forms. In one form the melody is notated as a melisma (see fig.1) without the text (exceptions to this are discussed in §5(i) and §9); in the other form the text is given, usually with the melody entered over the text, a neume for each syllable (see fig.2); but the musical notation is occasionally lacking altogether. As a general principle, the melismatic notation of a given melody corresponds well to the syllabic notation. Many manuscripts place all their melodies in melismatic form together in a section called a sequentiarium, and the same melodies notated syllabically over their texts in a section called a prosarium. It needs to be stressed that sequentiaria and prosaria are alternative forms of notating one and the same repertory of music.

The musical notation of the Aquitanian manuscripts (the largest group among sources between about 950 and 1050) is sufficiently diastematic for melodies to be recovered, with certain limitations, directly from them; but melodies cannot be read directly out of other sources until much later – in the case of the St Gallen manuscripts, and others of the Swiss-Rhenish tradition, not before the 12th century. And given the continuing development of sequence style between 900 and 1200, the readings from a source in staff notation of the 12th or 13th century cannot be relied on to preserve in all details a melody as it was in the 9th century.

Sequence (i)

3. Early repertory.

The indispensable benchmark for dealing with the early repertory is the work of Notker: his collection of texts, entitled Liber hymnorum, is presumed to have been completed by 884. The Liber hymnorum is first found in the St Gallen manuscripts from after about 950, but the text tradition, both for words and neumes, is very firm. The value of Notker’s testimony is manifold. First and foremost, the melodies used by Notker can be placed definitely in the 9th century; almost all the other melodies in the large and confusing repertories preserved in the sources from about 1000 lack such a witness – some may date from the 9th century, but most probably do not, and there is no completely objective way to determine which are which. A reliable assessment of the characteristics of the early sequence can only be gained on the basis of the melodies used by Notker.

Secondly, even though the St Gallen melodic tradition cannot be completely deciphered until several centuries after Notker, his texts provide an invaluable tool for verifying the 9th-century plan of individual sequences. This is due to the fact that as a general rule in the early repertory any given text fits only one melody (while on the other hand a given melody may have several alternative texts). If the plan of a melody as expressed in the number and length of its phrases has been altered between the 9th century and the time it is first preserved in a readable version – usually not much before about 1000 – its 9th-century shape can perhaps be restored with the help of Notker’s 9th-century text. The value of this witness is particularly important for the West Frankish repertory: in the relatively stable St Gallen manuscript tradition, sequences show but little change between about 880 and 1000; but West Frankish sequences often did change in shape. Since the early West Frankish repertory shared its most important melodies with Notker’s Liber hymnorum, the value of Notker’s testimony for the early repertory as a whole is decisive.

Compared with these aspects of Notker’s Liber hymnorum, the historical value of its preface, often used as the only source of information about the early sequence, is much less. Designed to introduce and explain the sequence as a new kind of work, the content of Notker’s preface can be ascribed as much to rhetoric as to factual account. Its information may or may not be true, and in some cases may possess only verisimilitude; certain details remain obscure; nonetheless it is an essential document.

To Liutward, who for his great sanctity has been raised in honour to be a high priest, a most worthy successor to that incomparable man, Eusebius, Bishop of Vercelli; abbot of the monastery of the most holy Columbanus, and defender of the cell of his disciple, the most gentle Gallus; and also the arch-chaplain of the most glorious emperor Charles, from Notker, the least of the monks of St Gall.
When I was still young, and very long melodies – repeatedly entrusted to memory – escaped from my poor little head, I began to reason with myself how I could bind them fast.
In the meantime it happened that a certain priest from Jumièges (recently laid waste by the Normans) came to us, bringing with him his antiphoner, in which some verses had been set to sequences; but they were in a very corrupt state. Upon closer inspection I was as bitterly disappointed in them as I had been delighted at first glance.
Nevertheless, in imitation of them I began to write Laudes Deo concinat orbis universus, qui gratis est redemptus, and further on Coluber adae deceptor. When I took these lines to my teacher Iso, he, commending my industry while taking pity on my lack of experience, praised what was pleasing, and what was not he set about to improve, saying, ‘The individual motions of the melody should receive separate syllables’. Hearing that, I immediately corrected those which fell under ‘ia’; those under ‘le’ or ‘lu’, however, I left as too difficult; but later, with practice, I managed it easily – for example in ‘Dominus in Sina’ and ‘Mater’. Instructed in this manner, I soon composed my second piece, Psallat ecclesia mater illibata.
When I showed these little verses to my teacher Marcellus, he, filled with joy, had them copied as a group on a roll; and he gave out different pieces to different boys to be sung. And when he told me that I should collect them in a book and offer them as a gift to some eminent person, I shrank back in shame, thinking I would never be able to do that.
Recently, however, I was asked by my brother Othar to write something in your praise, and I considered myself – with good reason – unequal to the task; but finally I worked up my courage (still with great pain and difficulty) that I might presume to dedicate this worthless little book to your highness. If I were to learn that anything in it had pleased you – as good as you are – to the extent that you might be of assistance to my brother with our Lord the Emperor, I would hasten to send you the metrical life of St Gall which I am working hard to complete (although I had already promised it to my brother Salomon) for you to examine, to keep, and to comment upon.

The early repertory as defined by Notker’s output is set out in Table 1, with texts from the West Frankish repertory which use the same melody set side by side with them. The melodies fall into three groups. Those in group A lack a confirmed relationship to a melody of a Mass alleluia (as discussed in §5(iv)), although Husmann has proposed such relationships in some cases. The melodies in group B are related to specific alleluias, as indicated; but the relationships are not always free of ambiguities. Melodies in group C are shorter and lack a regular couplet structure; these melodies qualify as sequentiae, as discussed in §5, having in each case a clear relationship to a specific alleluia.

Besides the sequences listed in Table 1, only one other, Stans a longe, can claim a 9th-century witness (see §5); but a few others, including Nostra tuba, Eia recolamus and Gloriosa dies adest, are probably to be included in the early repertory from about 850 to 875.

Sequence (i)

4. Style in early examples.

A layout typical of the early sequence can be seen inex.1, Haec est sancta solempnitas, a West-Frankish saint’s day piece used for Stephen, John the Evangelist and – in the earliest source – Aper, venerated at Toul (west of Metz). The text consists mainly of pairs of lines (2a, b, 3a, b etc.), each pair being sung to a different phrase of melody; but lines 1, 6 and 7 are ‘singles’, having only one line of text. Singles are found regularly in the early sequence as first and last lines, and occasionally elsewhere as well.

After the long opening single (1), the phrase lengths grow gradually from the very short phrase 2 to the much longer phrase 5. Phrase lengths in the early sequence are typically disposed in some such easily perceptible plan, frequently leading to the longest phrase as a climax; even if a clear plan is not apparent, the use of phrases of markedly different lengths is an important feature of early sequences, one which distinguishes their prose texts from verse.

The melodic phrases differ among themselves in inner form and content as well as length, and thereby assume with each other clearly delineated relationships, which constitute the musical shape peculiar to each individual piece. In Haec est sancta solempnitas phrase 2 stands in sharp contrast to 1 by being short, concise, clearly etched; its rhythmic dimensions are easily perceptible, compared to the more abstruse contours of 1 (the melodic repetition within phrase 1, ‘solempnitas … beati …’ is not exact enough to make a ‘double’, and such inexact repetition is frequent in singles; it can be found also in phrase 6). Phrase 2 lies in a higher register, centred on C and ending on G, without a firm cadence; in its tonal locus (i.e. organization around a final) it brings a bright contrast to phrase 1, which is located on F. Phrase 3 lies lower, occupying the space around and below G, and ending on G with the short cadence pattern F–G–G that appears very frequently in the early repertory. The use of cadence and the disposition of melodic line in phrases 2 and 3 binds them together in the manner of antecedent and consequent to form a larger phrase group.

Phrase 4 has a different melodic character – more declamatory at the start – emphasizing the high C again, with a firm close on G through a longer cadence pattern, C–B–C–A–G–F–G–G, also frequent in the early repertory. Phrase 5, besides being the longest, is the highest of the phrases, descending in a long arc from the high E down to F, then entering the cadence pattern. The descent uses a melodic ‘sequence’, E–D–C–D–C–A, C–D–B–C–B–G – an occasional but not frequent device.

Phrase 6, like 3, lies lower, falling almost entirely into the area between G and D below. Its profile is less obvious than that of 4, circling as it does through the same few pitches rather than sweeping over many in a clear direction. Phrase 7 begins like 4, recalling it to suggest a structural frame; the melodic motion is not at all sweeping, but instead involute and encumbered with ornamental neumes. Its function (as in many early sequences) is to provide a peroration with ritardando to close the work. Closing phrases hardly ever use the cadence formulae, but regularly confirm the final established in the course of the work, in this case G, found at the end of every phrase except 1. Tonal locus is almost always extremely clear in early sequences, even in those cases involving a change of locus between beginning and ending. Often one or two interior phrases will end on a different pitch, usually a 5th above the final; such phrase endings are given clear structural differentiation so as to function as ‘open’ endings in contrast to the ‘closed’ endings of the final.

Dealing with the text as analogue to the music is more difficult but just as important: early sequences cannot adequately be appreciated on the basis of their melodies alone; the syntax, sonority and rhetoric of the text play decisive roles in shaping the piece.

As a general rule, each couplet – sometimes each line – is syntactically complete; but run-on is used frequently and with artistic purpose. The larger periods of the syntax tend to be aligned with larger phrase groups of the melody. In Haec est sancta the opening period extends through to line 3b, ‘premia’ marking the most important close up to that point. Lesser articulations occur at the end of 1 and 3a; the very short line 2a runs on into 2b, and the main clause begun in 2a (‘Ipse namque’) finds its verb and object at the end of 3a (‘secutus est vestigia’). In this way the melodic grouping of these shorter phrases is supported by the syntactic grouping.

That much (1–3) sets out the topic and reason for the celebration of the feast; phrase 4 begins an exhortation (‘Let us now, therefore … ’). Phrase 5, the lyrical high point of the melodic curve, brings in its text a luminous image of Christ in glory surrounded by saints. Lines 6 and 7, as post-climax, contain a petition (‘Therefore we beg …’) and – as the object of petition – an echo of the glory pictured in 5, but set to a melody that recalls 4. At higher levels of organization such avoidance of the most obvious symmetries is frequent and in keeping with the prose nature of the art form.

Being prose, the texts do not scan; yet they are highly rhythmic, governed by the disposition of accents and sonorities in artful flow. Line 5a is perhaps the most striking example:

Primary (´) and secondary (`) accents, and unstressed (^X) syllables, fall into an irregular but nonetheless smoothly attractive succession; sonorities of ‘-e-’ and ‘-m-’ or ‘-n-’ provide a continuum of assonance without being rhyme. Both factors continue to operate in line 5b, where the alignment of accent and sonority with melodic profile is even more intricate and artful. Text and music together create the long, unified line that carries the luminous image.

Such integration of text with music is different, of course, in every piece, although the same factors of syntax, sonority and rhetoric can be found everywhere at work. This particular text uses assonance in yet another way, shared by a number of other early texts (but by no means all). Each line ends in ‘-a-’ or ‘-ia’, and sometimes this end-assonance is heard in the interior of a line as well. The end-assonance – a striking feature – tends to throw emphasis at the ends of the lines (analogous to the cadence patterns) and to some degree works against the more subtle sonorities created by other textual means. Notker completely avoided end-assonance of this consistent type, relying instead on the less obvious techniques indigenous to his preferred models of classical Latin prose.

Notker’s Liber hymnorum contains two texts for the melody of Haec est sancta – an early one, Haec est sancta solemnitas solemnitatum, and a later one, Quid tu virgo. The early one indicates its provenance by using the incipit of the West Frankish model Haec est sancta solempnitas, then goes on to follow its rhetorical layout: phrases 1–3 form the opening period, 4 is exhortatory (Notker’s ‘ergo gratias agamus’ corresponds to the West Frankish ‘Iam nunc ergo ipsius petamus’); there is a full stop at the end of 5, with 6 and 7 forming the closing period. Such correspondence in plan (with little or none in content) is characteristic of the relationship of Notker’s texts to their West Frankish counterparts. Notker’s later text uses the same grouping or phrases, and exactly the same syllable count. This, too, is characteristic (while between his versions and the West Frankish version there are frequent small differences in syllable count), showing that once Notker decided how a melody should be laid out, he kept it that way.

The early text, Haec est sancta solemnitas solemnitatum, is an Easter piece with a reference to the Harrowing of Hell (lines 2a–b; 3a–b). It is cast in a Latin style more formal and elegant than that found in most West Frankish texts, which are by turns less formal and more exaggerated, coloured by a long tradition derived from so-called ‘Asian prose’ passed on to the Carolingians by the learned Irish monks. Notker’s choice of words is more fastidious, his use of word order – especially in early texts such as Haec est sancta solemnitas solemnitatum – more involute and artful (see especially lines 6–7). Notker’s texts tend to read better, but are less singable, than the West Frankish ones, whose diction seems designed to support and enhance the fluent, surging melodic progressions of the early sequence.

Notker’s later texts, while no less artful, sometimes show their maturity in a more direct, natural style of Latin, as well as a greater individuality of matter. Quid tu virgo, which contrasts the story of Rachel with a Christian viewpoint, illustrates Notker’s frequent concern for a moral as well as a striking poetic image. The rhetorical layout of Quid tu virgo, a dialogue between the Christian interlocutor and the weeping Rachel, throws into strong relief the original grouping of phrases, 1–3, 4–5, 6–7.

Ex.2 shows a much larger West Frankish sequence, Rex omnipotens, set by Notker as Sancti spiritus assit nobis gratia. Rex omnipotens begins with a topic sentence identifying the text with the feast of the Ascension (1–2), briefly recounts the events after the Resurrection (3–5), then describes the Ascension itself in words very close to those of Acts i, which is the Epistle for the day (6–10). The text concludes with invocations and petitions (11–13). It is one of several such narrative texts in the early repertory, which are not without the qualities of an epic. The adaptation of a scriptural text to sequence form affords opportunities for textual analysis.

While the melody of Rex omnipotens shows some signs of a sectional structure (1–4, 5–8, 9–12) such as is occasionally encountered in early sequences, considerable attention has been given to making the melody continuous through a long, arching shape. Phrases 1–7 establish G and C above as a central area, or explore the region below G as a relief; these phrases tend to be shorter and less active. Phrase 8 brings an upward surge, carried out in phrases 9 and 10 by a shift to the upper register with open endings of D a 5th above the final; phrase 11 returns to the G final, preceding it by the F–A–C realm used frequently in G melodies as a foil to the final. Phrase 12, by far the longest, lies high and is divided into subphrases with an internal cadence on the high D. Such phrases appear frequently in the early repertory, always carefully placed in the overall plan – here as a penultimate climax.

Notker’s Sancti spiritus assit nobit gratia, almost his only text to become popular in the later West Frankish repertory, more nearly approaches the directness and fluency of the West Frankish texts. Notker’s prose consists of an acclamatory series of attributes and petitions addressed to the Holy Spirit.

A sequence known as ‘Justus ut palma major’ and related to the alleluia with that incipit is provided with a number of early texts including two by Notker. (There is another early sequence called ‘Justus ut palma minor’: for alleluia relationships in general, see §5.) Ex.3 shows the melody with the text Haec dies est sancta, for Christ’s Nativity. Perhaps the most striking feature is the ending on G, a 4th above the D final clearly implied at the start. Analysis would be concerned more fruitfully, however, with the system of motifs that operates throughout the piece to bring continuity in spite of the change of locus. (Some versions of this melody substitute a d ending, which shows not that the G ending is incorrect, but only that it was problematic for some medieval musicians as well as for us.) The use of motifs is intimately connected with the departures from regular parallelism in the latter half of the piece. Such departures are more frequent in the earliest sequences than in later ones, and were often eliminated in later versions or retextings of earlier ones.

The short, lyrical phrases and irregular constructions found in ‘Justus ut palma major’ show up in other early sequences, especially in those related to alleluias (Haec est vera, Veniet rex, Pangat laudes in Table 1) but also in melodies used by Notker (Agni paschalis, Carmen suo dilecto) that are not related to an alleluia and not known in the West Frankish repertory. In general the early repertory presents a wide variety of styles and structures, permitting no easy generalities and requiring case-by-case consideration.

Sequence (i)

5. Sequence and alleluia.

The relationship of the early sequence to the alleluia of the Proper of the Mass has been one of the main problems of research. Complete, definite answers to all the questions raised cannot yet be provided. In general, the categorical – and hypothetical – assertion that the sequence is derived from the alleluia needs to be abandoned, and instead attention should be directed towards what can be established as fact. An approach to the problem, which is manifold, can be made through the following factual aspects.

(i) All sequences are related to ‘alleluia’ by the fact that the word ‘alleluia’ appears under phrase 1 of all melodies when they are notated in melismatic form in the sequentiaria. This purely nominal relationship, which has nothing to do either with the prose that goes with the sequence or with any musical relationship that may exist between phrase 1 and an actual alleluia from the Proper of the Mass (as described under (iv)), is a simple fact of the sources; it has never been adequately explained.

(ii) The category of the sequence is related to the alleluia of the Mass in that at some point in its development – just when it has never been precisely determined – the sequence came to be sung at Mass immediately after the alleluia (after the second alleluia on days when two were sung). This, again, is a general relationship – in this case a purely liturgical one; a specific melodic relationship is not necessarily involved.

(iii) Some proses (none of the early repertory as shown in Table 1, except possibly Notker’s Concentu parili and Natus ante secula) begin with a regular double, to which is to be prefixed in performance a ‘phrase 1’ with the text ‘alleluia’. This prefix is regularly provided in the sequentiaria and is occasionally supplied in the prosaria as well (sometimes as a marginal addition). This type of relationship is to be regarded as merely textual: the melodic phrase 1 sung to the text ‘alleluia’ may or may not be in fact related musically to a specific alleluia of the Mass. Early pieces such as those in group A of Table 1 were sometimes supplied with a new text that began in phrase 2, the first phrase to be sung to the text ‘alleluia’.

(iv) In certain melodies (as in group B of Table 1), phrase 1 shows a demonstrable melodic relationship to a specific alleluia of the Mass. In many cases this relationship is indicated by the melody’s name, as provided in one or another of the sources; but sometimes not, and such references are not free from ambiguity. In general the melodic relationship is clear only for phrase 1; relationships between subsequent phrases and the alleluia, though asserted by Husmann and others, are not so clear.

(v) Many melodies, especially earlier ones, strongly suggest by their melodic style that they are related to an alleluia; nevertheless, the specific alleluia that corresponds to phrase 1 cannot be found in the Gregorian repertory. In some cases elaborate arguments have been devised to substantiate a specific relationship, or to account for the discrepancies or lack of corresponding alleluias. On the other hand, there is an increasing tendency to accept the fact that not all sequences may be necessarily related to an alleluia. Not yet investigated is the question of why – when certain sequences are in fact not related to alleluias – they should nonetheless suggest a resemblance.

There is a strong tendency in sequences apparently dating from the 10th century for increased usage of alleluia quotations in phrase 1 as compared to usage in the early repertory. In the same period the style of incipit described under (iii) became popular, almost standard. Still from the same period comes the practice of organizing the sequence repertory into quasi-liturgical cycles, with consistent use of melody titles referring to feasts and Proper alleluias. All these developments point to a liturgical relationship with the alleluia closer than it had been before the 10th century.

The strongest argument for a generic relationship between alleluia and sequence is the well-documented existence in the early 9th century (Amalarius of Metz, Liber officialis) of a kind of melisma called sequentia, sung as a replacement for the jubilus at the repetition of alleluia after the verse (but it is not known which specific sequentiae existed in the early 9th century – perhaps some of the melodies listed in group C of Table 1, but very likely not any of those in group A or group B). Whatever its nature, Amalarius’s sequentia clearly provided the eventual name, and also the eventual liturgical locus, for the kind of piece Notker wrote texts for after 850. But it must be remembered that Notker called his pieces ‘hymns’. And against the witness of the sequentia stands the fact that one early important melody, Stans a longe, which is cited by Hucbald of St Amand in his De harmonica institutione and provided with numerous texts (though not by Notker), is demonstrably not derived from an alleluia of the Mass but rather draws its incipit from an antiphon at Lauds (tenth Sunday after Pentecost). It does unacceptable violence to the early repertory to require all or even most of these sequences to be sequentiae in origin. As an alternative to the theory of direct derivation from the alleluia to the sequentia, it can be suggested that the early repertory was the product of lively artistic imagination operating on a diverse stock of materials, textual as well as melodic – only one of which was the sequentia.

Sequence (i)

6. The aparallel sequentiae.

Certain texts in Notker’s Liber hymnorum (those in group C of Table 1), together with their West Frankish counterparts, do indeed go with melodies that can be understood as sequentiae in the strict sense just described. These works are distinct in almost every essential, structural aspect from the kind of piece represented by Haec est sancta, Rex omnipotens and ‘Justus ut palma major’. They are much shorter; they lack, as a general rule, the clear couplet structure that prevails in the larger works; they make little or no use of the cadence patterns that mark off the long phrases of the larger works; their texts lack the strong syntactical and rhetorical correspondence to melodic plans. Judged by the standards of, say, Rex omnipotens, these smaller sequentiae are amorphous and uninteresting; but the point is, they are not to be so judged, for as works of art they are in a different category, one which neither explains nor is explained by the larger kind, but simply co-exists with it in early collections such as Notker’s Liber hymnorum and some of the earliest West Frankish manuscript sources. Also in contrast to the larger works is the fact that the smaller sequentiae always show a clear, verifiable relationship to a specific alleluia of the Mass, and are apparently designed – in text as well as music – to be sung after the verse at the reprise of the alleluia.

Qui regis sceptra (ex.4) is a popular text for a sequentia to the Alleluia, Excita Domine for the third Sunday in Advent. Notker set it as Angelorum ordo, to go after the verse Laudate Dominum for the same alleluia when sung at the feast of St Michael and All Angels. The kind of melodic repetition found in this melody corresponds in structure and function to that found within singles of the larger kind of sequence, not to the regular couplet structure of doubles. Failure to make this distinction has resulted in needless confusion.

Sequence (i)

7. Origins.

Attempts to resolve the question of the sequence’s origins have occasioned fantasies of historical reconstruction, whose common premise is that either Notker or some immediate predecessor troped archaic melismas, thereby creating a new musical form. This is neither credible nor useful: the attribution of such an act to Notker would indicate a presumptive reading of his preface, and the identification of this act with the origin of the sequence is self-contradictory. It cannot be proved that the account in Notker’s preface is anything other than story-telling, whose purpose was to enable the author to introduce his ‘hymns’ to the Swiss-Rhenish monasteries. Further, if these melodies were indeed archaic in format and style, they could not be taken to represent any musical initiative on the part of the 9th-century Franks; and, in addition, no artistic value could be attributed to the words since they would have been merely underlaid. It has long been acknowledged that word underlay is not troping, so the sequence would not be a trope of the alleluia or of anything else, and none of what may be true of troping is relevant to the sequence. It is evident that not all melismas are archaic, for melisma is found in the work of Leoninus, Ockeghem and Handel – to name but a few. The idea that melismas per se are archaic is part of a mythic complex that was developed to explain medieval music in general and Gregorian chant in particular, there being no ready historical explanation and no possibility (for lack of sources) of finding one.

If it were necessary to imagine a model for the first sequences (i.e. musical compositions such as Notker claimed he saw in the antiphoner brought by the fugitive monk), then the melismas mentioned by Amalarius as sung after the verse of the alleluia at Mass would serve, since these could well be expanded and provided with words. Such ‘aparallel’ compositions do exist, including ones with words by Notker, but they are very inadequate models for the kind of compositions that make up the bulk of the sequence repertory from Notker onwards. For the latter, a model of much greater size and ambition would be required, one with a phrase structure at once more clearly articulated and more expansive, and with systematic use of couplets in words as well as melody. This last feature can be derived separately from the traditions of Latin art-prose, specifically the bicola. There is no obstacle to deriving the sequence from a combination of these models – unlikely as such a combination may seem – as long as the possibility of a large measure of creative originality on the part of the 9th-century Frankish cantors is accepted. But the only documented fact is that by 880 a repertory existed of a kind of musical composition that was not there before, a kind for which no firm evidence in the preceding centuries is to be found.

Once this repertory is present in the documents, its development can be traced, and the development shows many of the features familiar from the history of other, more recent forms of music. As Notker explained, and as subsequent documents show, sequence melodies were often adapted to new sets of words. The adaptation might involve only slight change, or more substantial change. Phrases from one or several melodies might be combined with new material to make new melodies. Generic features of plan or idiom might be gradually modified, and entirely new but still compatible features introduced.

Sequence (i)

8. Form and performance.

Not much is known about the ways in which sequences were performed in the 9th and 10th centuries. Much of what has been suggested depends upon the way the melodies are notated in 10th- and 11th-century manuscripts, where they appear in two forms – over the text in a syllabic relationship, and without the text as melismas. Some manuscripts (the minority) put both kinds of notation in the same fascicle, alternating more or less phrase by phrase. Husmann has argued that this manner of notation reflects the manner of performance and that in principle each phrase is sung in both syllabic and melismatic fashion in succession. This virtually doubles the length of the performed work. Such performance is attested later in the Middle Ages.

Another solution, offered by Smits van Waesberghe, envisages the sequence sung in melismatic and syllabic form simultaneously, the chorus singing the melisma while the cantor sings the text. This hypothesis has much to recommend it. There is, however, still the possibility that the principal reason for the double notation is the adiastematic nature of notation in the 9th and 10th centuries, and has nothing to do with performance.

Anyone who sets great store by Notker’s preface would be bound to clarify the roles of cantor and chorus in terms of their relative skills and the problem of memorizing, touched upon by Notker in a fashion that implies that the words helped him remember the melodies.

On quite different grounds – stylistic rather than notational – it has been assumed (especially by Von den Steinen) that sequences were regularly performed antiphonally between the boys of the monastic choir school and the men of the choir. This solution, supported by occasional references in the texts of certain sequences, is of course a perennial possibility in many kinds of medieval music. Whether it is to be applied categorically to the sequence is doubtful; in any case provision has to be made in individual cases involving singles and other irregularities.

Given the inconclusive nature of the evidence, and for other reasons as well, it seems advisable to consider the primary form of the work of art to be the singing of the melody with text, straight through, as found in the prosaria. This form, at least, gives a reliable base for stylistic judgments, which can then be modified to take into account other possible modes of performance.

Still another mode of performance concerns the use of some form of polyphony. Such forms extend from singing in parallel motion (for instance, according to the instructions in the Musica enchiriadis, c900), through the incipient oblique organum actually laid out for Rex caeli (not a sequence, but a versus, another 9th-century form) in the Musica enchiriadis, and also the sequences provided with organal voices in the Winchester Troper, right through to the polyphony in contrary motion provided by the St Martial repertory for the opening phrases only of certain celebrated sequences (including Rex omnipotens). Here again, some evidence can be extracted from the texts of certain 10th-century sequences (Waite, 1961); but little that is definite can be concluded. Singing in parallel motion, however, could be assumed for the sequences as for any other kind of chant in the 10th or 11th century (see §11).

Sequence (i)

9. Partial texting.

Still another peculiar feature of the manuscript sources has given rise to frequent speculation – the so-called ‘partial texting’. Certain sequences are provided in the sequentiaria (which in general have no text) with text set more or less syllabically under certain phrases. (This same text also appears in the version in the prosaria, as part of the complete prose.) The sequences in question have been listed (there are nine of them) and studied; one of the most striking aspects is that the ‘partial texts’ appear in phrases 5, 8 or 9 and in longer sequences 11 or 13 (Stäblein, 1961).

Another striking feature is that the ‘partial texts’ tend to be verse-like in structure, as for example those from phrase 9 of Celebranda:

Nobis det ut omnia/quae sunt patris et sua/premia aeterna
Salus et victoria/illi sit et gratia/omnia per secla

Two distinct hypotheses have been advanced to account for these ‘partial texts’. One, represented among studies by Stäblein, takes these texts to be a first stage in the composition of a sequence – a layer of archaic material around which the sequence was built. The opposing hypothesis, represented by Husmann, understands the partial texts to be later interpolations – ‘tropes’ – into existing proses. Thus both hypotheses make use of long-standing morphological assumptions – that of accretion on the one hand, of troping on the other.

More important, neither hypothesis takes sufficient account of the structural procedures common in the early repertory as a whole. The location of these acclamatory verses in the overall plan of a sequence performs a very specific function – that of accenting and highlighting the shape brought about by the melodic and rhythmic disposition of phrases. In this respect, the acclamatory verses are not isolated phenomena, but quite analogous to other features, such as phrase-endings on non-final pitches, or the longer phrases that contain short lyrical subphrases marked off with internal cadences.

In other words, the acclamatory verses need to be explained as composer’s choices within the individual sequences in which they occur, not as part of a single morphological principle that holds for all instances. In general, the sequences involved seem all to be later than, say, 875 (none of the melodies used by Notker involves these verses). It can be tentatively suggested that Celebranda (Christmas), Celsa polorum (St Stephen) and Fulgens praeclara (Easter) were the first and most famous instances; these in each case supplanted earlier sequences to become the principal ones for their feasts. And in these cases it would seem that the acclamatory verses were conceived as an integral element in the original design of the work. On the other hand, it seems as though Husmann was correct in taking the verses in Exultet elegantis to be a subsequent addition; this sequence exists in alternative versions with and without the verses.

Sequence (i)

10. The later rhymed sequence.

Of all the many developments that took place within the sequence repertory after 1000, the most obvious were the regularization of accent and the influx of rhyme. Both elements increased in use gradually from the 10th century onwards, to become widespread and dominant in the 12th century. Mane prima sabbati (ex.5), a well-known Easter piece from the late 11th century or 12th, shows the consistent application of scansion and rhyme that makes the later prose seem more like verse.

In general, stressed syllables (including those accents identified as ‘secondary’ by modern observers, as in ‘rèsurgéntis’) alternate with unstressed syllables throughout, providing a regular rhythm at the lowest level. Each phrase ends, however, ‘proparoxytone’, that is, with two unstressed syllables (‘glória’). Furthermore, each phrase falls into subphrases of seven or eight syllables; each subphrase (with important exceptions in phrase 7) begins with a primary or secondary stress; each seven-syllabled subphrase ends proparoxytone, while each eight-syllabled subphrase (again, with exceptions in phrase 7) ends ‘paroxytone’, that is, with one unstressed syllable. The subphrases in each line are usually linked by internal rhyme, the lines of each couplet by end rhyme.

2a Víctor régis scéleris/rédiit ab inferis/cum súmma victória
2b Cújus rèsurréctio/ómni pléna gáudio/cònsolátur ómnia

Occasional irregularities of accent within the line, as at ‘cum summa’, are normal, merely enhancing rather than disturbing the overall scheme. The general regularity created by scansion and rhyme gives the impression that this and many such pieces consist in principle of a series of seven-syllable verses, alternating occasionally with eight-syllable ones. For this reason, apparently, all proses, including the early ones, are printed in short lines in the Analecta Hymnica; but in the case of the early ones – those before about 1100 – the subdivision is in most cases entirely arbitrary, without basis either in the sources or in the style. And in the later ones – such as Mane prima sabbati – the seven- or eight-syllable ‘verses’ are only the smallest units: much more important are the groupings at the higher levels – important not just for the shape of the individual piece but also for showing the continuity of the later sequence with the earlier kind.

The grouping in Mane prima sabbati shows the same progression and expansion towards a climax, the same sense of departure and return, found in sequences from the early repertory – as long as attention is focussed on the nine long phrases and their interrelationships. Phrases 1 to 3 each have three seven-syllable subphrases, with principal cadences on D (the final) and internal cadences on either side – C, G or A. Phrase 4 has four seven-syllable subphrases and establishes a locus on A a 5th above the final. Phrases 5 and 6 introduce eight-syllabled subphrases in the pattern 8 8 7; in line 5a the eights are broken each into 4 4 by rhyme and motivic structure, but this subdivision is only occasional. Phrases 5 and 6 cadence on D, which together with the accelerando ‘diminution’ in the 4 4 gives a curious combination of a fresh start and a return. Phrase 7 is all eight-syllable subphrases, the last two beginning with unstressed syllables so that the phrase endings can be proparoxytone. Phrase 8, while not the longest (8 8 8 7), is melodically the most far-flung, making the same overall point as phrase 12 of Rex omnipotens.

In plan as well as melody, then, Mane prima sabbati and other later sequences reproduce the principles of the early repertory. Just as rhyme and scansion regularize the plan at the lower levels, so does the use of melodic motifs of three or four notes tend to control the inflection of the melody, helping to set off closed from open endings, for example, in phrase 6. Indeed, a wealth of detailed relationships can be worked out within the larger plan of Mane prima sabbati, revealing the developing symmetries, modal and hierarchical structures associated with 12th- and 13th-century polyphony and also with architecture. Yet during this period the sequence is an older, conservative form, merely reflecting trends pursued more vigorously elsewhere.

Of the five sequences remaining in standard 20th-century chant books, none is from the early repertory. Victimae paschali laudes (attributed to Wipo), a modest 11th-century German sequence that also became popular in the West, most closely resembles the early style. Lauda Sion (attributed to St Thomas Aquinas) is a 13th-century text to a French melody that became popular about 1100 to the text Laudes crucis; very large, and brilliant, it represents the whole spectrum of things possible in G melodies, cast in the new rhyme and scansion. Veni Sancte Spiritus (attributed to Innocent III), an 11th- or 12th-century piece on a D final, uses the rhyme and scansion in a very regular way, as does also Stabat mater dolorosa (attributed to Jacopone da Todi). The Dies irae (attributed to Thomas da Celano) is so regular at its highest levels that it is probably to be considered a versus. The attributions may be merely honoris causa; the last two have not been accepted for some time. Such attributions to famous personages were also made earlier in the history of the sequence. Perhaps their greatest value is the indication that to create a famous sequence was considered a sufficiently noble act to add to the glory of a king or pope. More reliable attributions occur throughout the history of the sequence, beginning with Notker, and including Waldram (St Gallen, c900), Ekkehard I ‘Decanus’ (d 973), Hermannus Contractus (d 1054), Gottschalk of Aachen (d 1098) and Hildegard of Bingen (d 1179). The best-known author of sequence texts – after Notker – isAdam of St Victor (d ?1177).

Sequence (i)

11. The polyphonic sequence.

(i) The Middle Ages.

Not only liturgical settings but also non-liturgical settings such as votive antiphons, motets and cantatas come within the general field of the polyphonic sequence, as do settings of other texts intended as substitutes for the liturgical sequence.

Almost from its inception the sequence was considered suitable for polyphonic elaboration. Textless sequentiae appear to have arisen shortly after 800, and by 848 the use of fully texted sequences was sufficiently widespread to merit a censure by the Council of Meaux. By about 900 a sequence-like versus, Rex caeli Domine, was used in Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis as an example of organum at the fourth below moving from and to unison cadences. Furthermore, a number of the earliest sequences contain within their texts references to polyphonic performance. Typical of these is the opening of Prome casta contio in the earliest of the Aquitanian tropers (F-Pn lat.1240, c930): ‘Prome, casta contio, carmina, organa subenctens hypodorica’. The earliest extended source of European polyphony, one of the two Winchester tropers (GB-Ccc 473, c1000), transmits in ff.153v–154v seven organa to seven textless or partially texted sequentiae for Christmas Day ([Musa]), St Stephen (Beatus vir), St John (Iustus ut palma) the octave of Christmas (Multifariae), Epiphany (Chorus sive Bavverisca), Purification (Adorabo) and Easter (Fulgens praeclara). An eighth, Cythara, for Ascension, has only the word ‘Alleluia’ and no neumes. The cycle was obviously intended to be completed since ff.155v–161v were originally left blank and only later filled with plainchant sequences. Two further organa to textless sequentiae, the plainchant melodies of which are unknown, Planctus sterilis and Simon oboediens, were added on f.198r. The transcription of this repertory is fraught with uncertainties, but Holschneider (1968, pp.156–7) provides a convincing reconstruction of Beatus vir. The setting is in general note-against-note, following largely the rules of the Musica enchiriadis for organum at the fourth below but with considerably more freedom of movement between the parts.

The next important source for polyphonic sequences is the cluster of Aquitanian versaria containing polyphony (F-Pn lat.1139, 3549, 3719 and GB-Lbl Add.36881). These sources transmit 12 polyphonic sequences, although in several cases only the first few verses are set. The organal part is now above the plainchant and the counterpoint is largely governed by contrary motion. The settings range from note-against-note with modest cadential flourishes (Veri soli radius) to moderately florid settings (Rex omnipotens and Laude iocunda). The texts used include not only those with a long Aquitanian tradition, such as Prome casta contio and Alle– Caeleste necnon et perenne –luia, but also newer proses and pieces from the East Frankish region, such as Victimae paschali laudes and Sancti spiritus adsit nobis gratia.

Similar in style to the Aquitanian settings are those in the roughly contemporary collection in the 11th fascicle of W₁ (D-W 677, facs. in Baxter, 1931, and Staehelin, 1995), which contains exclusively music composed in the British Isles for the votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin. It includes 15 two-voice sequences on ff.200v–209v (old foliation). The style is largely note-against-note with occasional ornamentation in a manner comparable to that of the Aquitanian settings, but unlike the Aquitanian polyphonic sequences those in W₁ set the entire piece, with the text of the second of each pair of versicles given in the margins. Sequences in this style are found in nine manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries and are listed by Ludwig (1910); several others are also listed by von Fischer and Lütolf (1972). The majority of these pieces are in a style similar to that of the sequences in W₁ or in an even simpler style referred to as ‘primitive polyphony’ or cantus planus binatim. They include not only sequences but tropes to the Office responsories, often labeled ‘prosa’, analogous in structure to the sequence and sometimes used as such.

The performing practice history of the sequence is ambiguous. It apparently began as a solo chant but became a choral one in a large number of establishments, and thus did not develop beyond a simple two-voice discant style during the 13th and 14th centuries, when the more complex forms of polyphony were the province of soloists. Nonetheless, phrases from sequences began to appear as motet tenors in the late 13th century in F-MOf H.196 and D-BAs lit.115, and later in the Roman de Fauvel and up to the early 15th century. The absence of elaborate polyphonic settings of the sequence might have prompted the rise in some centres of polyphonic cantus loco sequentia, substitutes which were often polyphonic antiphon settings. One such collection may be the series of 15 Marian antiphons copied between the Gloria and the Credo settings in the Old Hall Manuscript (GB-Lbl Add.57950).

(ii) The Renaissance.

The early 15th century saw a modest revival of the sequence as a polyphonic form. There are seven securely ascribed settings by Du Fay and three more that are most likely his. All are chant paraphrase alternatim settings that begin almost invariably with the plainchant. Among the three anonymous sequences that may be by Du Fay one is probably an addition to his own Veni Sancte Spiritus (CMM, i/5, 18) to make it conform to the use of the papal chapel. A distinction should be made between sequence settings and compositions using sequence-like texts which were also found as rhymed prayers in orationals and which composers set sometimes as sequences and sometimes as free cantilena motets, as in Du Fay’s Gaude virgo mater Christi (CMM, i/5, 1) and Ave virgo que de celis (CMM, i/1, 8) (see Planchart, 1988). Most of the remaining early 15th-century polyphonic sequences are anonymous, but they follow with remarkable consistency the stylistic traits seen in those of Du Fay.

Mid-15th-century settings are less common. There are three settings in I-TRmp 88 and five each in I-TRmp 89 and 90; some are four-part settings and some show an abandonment of chant paraphrase procedure. English settings of prosae probably date from the middle decades of the century too. The term ‘prosa’ was reserved in England for tropes of the Office responsory analogous in structure and position to the sequence that was often sung at Vespers. Examples include the five settings of Sospitati dedit aegros for St Nicholas in the Pepys Manuscript (GB-Cmc 1236), one of them by Walter Frye.

Late 15th- and early 16th-century English sequence settings are a special case in that many were intended not as part of the Mass but as votive antiphons. This is true of 26 of the surviving complete or fragmentary sequence settings in the Eton Choirbook (GB-WRec 178), and of settings by Sheppard and Taverner. A number of these texts, particularly the ‘Gaude’ poems, had been set since the early 15th century not as sequences but as Marian motets (as in the pieces by Du Fay mentioned above). Settings of sequence texts for use in the Mass are found in the Lady Masses of Ludford and in the alternatim setting by Taverner copied by John Baldwin. The composition of sequences increased once more on the Continent in the later 15th century. Busnoys, Obrecht, Josquin and Isaac contributed to the genre and to its stylistic expansion. Busnoys’s Victimae paschali laudes, a cantus firmus setting with plainchant mainly in the alto but occasionally in other parts as well, seems to reflect the influence of Du Fay’s Ave regina celorum and Ockeghem’s Alma redemptoris mater in its use of plainchant to generate the motivic material. Obrecht’s Salve crux arbor vitae is a complex cantus firmus and chant paraphrase work, in which four voices paraphrase some of the plainchant of that sequence while the fifth voice has the seventh stanza of Laudes crucis attollamus as a cantus firmus with its own text, which eventually supplants the Salve crux text. The reason for this is probably liturgical, since the seventh stanza of Laudes crucis was assigned as the sequence for the feasts of the Exaltation of the Cross in churches in Bruges. Isaac’s settings are all part of his Choralis constantinus and are alternatim settings in a variety of textures, typically ranging from two to six voices in any one setting. Isaac uses the plainchant melody as a source of motifs for the polyphony, and in at least one versicle he also sets the plainchant as a cantus firmus moving in long, even note values. In this he is following a specifically German tradition of polyphonic sequences exemplified most clearly by the nine anonymous sequences in I-TRmp 93, which reflect the tradition of the Austrian Hofkapelle at Wiener Neustadt (Peck Leverett, 1990). These sequences, like the later Victimae paschali laudes of Verdelot or the alternatim setting by Brumel, were most likely intended to be used in place of the sequence, if not during the Mass then during Vespers, where a sequence sometimes replaced the hymn.

With Josquin’s settings the sequence moves firmly into the realm of the new motet repertory that was to dominate the first half of the 16th century. Five of his six sequences are complete; Ave mundi spes, Maria, possibly spurious, is missing the Superius part (it is reconstructed in Godt, 1976), and the six-voice Veni Sancte Spiritus and Victimae paschali laudes are almost certainly spurious. Josquin’s authentic sequences use the plainchant as a cantus firmus, treating the second setting of each melodic segment as a variation of the first (‘variation-chain’ technique), and on occasion the motivic substance of the chant permeates the entire texture of a section. Typical of these procedures are the six-voice settings Praeter rerum series and the very late Benedicta es celorum regina. In the four-voice Victimae paschali laudes additional cantus firmi appear, the superius of Ockeghem’s D'un aultre amer in the first part and that of Hayne’s De tous biens plaine in the second. The Stabat mater uses as a cantus firmus the tenor of Binchois’s Comme femme desconfortée. Mouton’s four sequence settings use also variation-chain procedures.

The tradition of Josquin and Mouton is continued in the ten sequences of Willaert (probably the most prolific sequence composer of his generation), notably the early Veni Sancte Spiritus and Verbum bonum et suave, which are among his best works. Virtually all Willaert’s sequences are variation-chain pieces based on the plainchant and are thus true polyphonic sequences rather than motets setting a sequence text. Other composers either avoided the sequence or, like Gombert, Morales, Sermisy and Clemens non Papa, left only one or two settings.

With the virtual elimination of the sequence from the Roman Mass by the Council of Trent (1543–63), sequence composition became rare. Palestrina wrote multiple settings of Lauda Sion, Veni Sancte Spiritus and Victimae paschali laudes as well as of the Stabat mater, which was not always considered a sequence. Lassus also set Lauda Sion, Veni Sancte Spiritus and the Stabat mater, and isolated settings of one or other of the four sequences admitted by the Council of Trent and of the Stabat mater appear in the works of Monteverdi (Lauda Sion, 1582), Felice and G.F. Anerio, Victoria and other Roman composers. At the end of the 16th century a tradition arose of setting sequences for an eight-voice double choir, so that, in the case of Palestrina, the eight-voice settings of the Stabat mater might have been intended as true sequences, and the other settings as free motets. In his Gradualia Byrd included a retrospective setting of Victimae paschali laudes, whose structure recalls the votive antiphon tradition, and a compact setting of Veni Sancte Spiritus, in which the long text is declaimed almost homophonically throughout.

(iii) After 1600.

The sequence texts spared by the Council of Trent have continued to attract composers until the present day. The sombre Dies irae received hundreds of settings, both as part of the Requiem Mass, for example by Michael Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini, Berlioz and Verdi, and as a self-contained work, as in settings by Caldara, Legrenzi, Charpentier, J.C. Bach and Reger, as well as the instrumental paraphrase in Liszt’s Totentanz. Even more popular has been the Stabat mater, with settings by Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti, Pergolesi, Caldara, Vivaldi, Soler and Boccherini in the 17th and 18th centuries, Joseph and Michael Haydn in the late 18th (an early setting by Mozart is lost), Schubert, Rossini, Cornelius, Dvořák and Verdi in the 19th, and Poulenc, Dohnányi, Virgil Thompson, Penderecki and Pärt in the 20th. Fewer settings of the remaining three sequences exist by composers active after 1600: there are settings of Victimae paschali laudes by Giovanni Colonna (1687), continuing the tradition of setting the sequences for an eight-part double choir, and by Jommelli; of Lauda Sion by Grandi, Colonna, Buxtehude, Michael Haydn and Mendelssohn; and of Veni Sancte Spiritus by Colonna, Michael Haydn, Mozart, Kozeluh, Bruckner and Peter Maxwell Davies. Most of these are essentially self-contained cantatas written in the style prevalent at the time, but those of Colonna and Michael Haydn were intended as liturgical works.

See also Dies irae; Lauda Sion; Stabat mater dolorosa; Veni Sancte Spiritus; Victimae paschali laudes.

Sequence (i)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The starting-point for all modern research on the sequence is the edition of the texts in various volumes of Analecta Hymnica Medii Aevi edited by Dreves, Blume and Bannister (vols.vii and liii contain most of the early repertory). Nonetheless, Analecta Hymnica must be counted as a preliminary edition, its greatest value being in the conspectus of the manuscripts then known for each text. H.M. Bannister, before his death in 1919, was working on an edition of the melodies; his posthumous papers (in GB-Ob) remain an important resource for scholars. Because of a general lack of comprehensive studies, Moberg’s work on Swedish sequences (albeit on a peripheral aspect) is valuable because it is careful and thorough. For a long time, the most significant work on the early sequence was that of the literary historian Wolfram von den Steinen, especially his Notker der Dichter und seine geistige Welt (1948). A number of valuable studies appeared from the 1950s onwards, notably by Crocker (1957, 1977), De Goede (1965), Brunner (1985) and Fassler (1993). A further basic tool is Husmann’s Tropen- und Sequenzenhandschriften (1964), which, however, embodies the arguments concerning the genesis of the sequence that have rendered Husmann’s several articles provocative without being conclusive.

catalogues of manuscripts

editions of manuscripts

anthology editions

collected editions

studies

Sequence (i): Bibliography

catalogues of manuscripts

monophonic and polyphonic repertories

F. Ludwig: Repertorium organorum recentioris et motetorum vetustissimi stili, i: Catalogue raisonné der Quellen, pt.1: Handschriften in Quadrat-Notation(Halle, 1910); repr. with preface by L. Dittmer in Musicological Studies, vii (1964); pt.2: Handschriften in Mensural-Notation, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, vii (1961)

F. Ludwig: Repertorium organorum recentioris et motetorum vetustissimi stili, ii: Musikalisches Anfangs-Verzeichnis des nach Tenores geordneten Repertorium, ed. F. Gennrich, SMM, viii (1962); repr. with preface by L. Dittmer in Musicological Studies, xvii (1972)

H. Husmann, ed.: Tropen und- Sequenzenhandschriften, RISM, B/V/1 (1964)

M. Bernard, ed.: Répertoire de manuscrits médiévaux contenant des notations musicales, i: Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (Paris, 1965); ii: Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris, 1966); iii: Bibliothèque de l’Arsenal, Bibliothèque nationale (musique), Ecole des beaux-arts, de l’Université et petits fonds (Paris, 1974) [indexed by chant-types, incl. index of proses]

K. von Fischer and M. Lütolf, ed.: Handschriften mit mehrstimmiger Musik des 14., 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts, RISM, B/IV/3–4 (1972)

Sequence (i): Bibliography

editions of manuscripts

monophonic

U. Chevalier, ed.: ‘Prosolarium ecclesiae aniciensis: office en vers de la circoncision dans l’église du Puy’, Bibliothèque liturgique, v (1894), 163 [text edn of a lost MS]

W.H. Frere, ed.: The Winchester Troper, from MSS of the Xth and XIth Centuries (London, 1894/R) [text edn, some facs. and music]

C. Daux, ed.: ‘Le tropaire-prosaire de l’abbaye Saint-Martin de Montauriol’, Bibliothèque liturgique, ix (1901) [text edn of F-Pn n.a.lat.1871]

O. Drinkwelder, ed.: Ein deutsches Sequentiar aus dem Ende des 12. Jahrhunderts (Graz and Vienna, 1914) [facs. and text edn]

J.H. Baxter, ed.: An Old St. Andrews Music Book (Cod. Helmst. 628) (London, 1931/R)

G. Zwick, ed.: Les proses en usage à l’église de Saint-Nicolas à Fribourg jusqu’au dix-huitième siècle (Immensee, 1950)

R.-J. Hesbert, ed.: Le prosaire de la Sainte-Chapelle: manuscrit du chapitre Saint-Nicolas de Bari (vers 1250), Monumenta musicae sacrae, i (Mâcon, 1952) [facs. and text edn of MS in I-BAca]

G. Vecchi, ed.: Troparium sequentiarium nonantolanum, Cod. Casanat. 1741: pars prior, MLMI, Latina, i (1955) [facs.]

F. Labhardt, ed.: Das Sequentiar Cod. 546 des Stiftsbibliothek von St. Gallen und seine Quellen (Berne, 1959)

R.-J. Hesbert, ed.: Le prosaire d’Aix-la-Chapelle: manuscrit 13 du chapitre d’Aix-la-Chapelle (XIIIe siècle, début), Monumenta musicae sacrae, iii (Rouen, 1961) [facs. of D-AAm 13]

N. de Goede, ed.: The Utrecht Prosarium … Codex Ultraiectensis universitatis bibliotheca 417, MMN, vi (1965) [text and music]

polyphonic

J.H. Baxter, ed.: An Old St. Andrews Music Book (Cod. Helmst. 628) (London, 1931/R)

J. Monios, ed.: The Polyphonic Sequences of Trent 91: a Critical Edition and Commentary (diss., U. of California, Santa Barbara, 1987)

M. Staehelin, ed.: Die mittelalterliche Musik-Handschrift W1: vollständige Reproduktion des ‘Notre Dame’-Manuskripts der Herzog August Bibliothek-Wolfenbttel Cod. Guelf. 628 Helm (Wiesbaden, 1995)

Sequence (i): Bibliography

anthology editions

monophonic

F.J. Mone, ed.: Lateinische Hymnen des Mittelalters (Freiburg, 1853–5/R) [text edns]

F. Clément: Choix des principales séquences du Moyen Age (Paris, 1861) [text and music]

K. Bartsch, ed.: Die lateinischen Sequenzen des Mittelalters in musikalischer und rhythmischer Beziehung (Rostock, 1868/R) [text edn]

J. Kehrein, ed.: Lateinische Sequenzen des Mittelalters aus Handschriften und Drucken (Mainz, 1873/R) [text edn]

C. Blume, G.M. Dreves and H.M. Bannister, eds.: Analecta hymnica medii aevi (Leipzig, 1886–1922/R), vii–x, xxxiv, xxxvii, xxxix, xl, xlia, xlii, xliv, and esp. liii-lv [text edn]

H. Reich, ed.: Deutsche Dichter des lateinischen Mittelalters in deutschen Versen von Paul von Winterfeld (Munich, 1913)

C.A. Moberg, ed.: Über die schwedischen Sequenzen: eine musikgeschichtliche Studie, ii: 69 Sequenzweisen mit melodischen Varianten (Uppsala, 1927) [comparative edn of melodies]

A. Hughes, ed.: Anglo-French Sequelae, Edited from the Papers of the Late Dr. Henry Marriot Bannister (London, 1934/R) [music edn]

B. Rajeczky, ed.: Melodiarum hungariae medii aevi, i: Hymni et sequentiae (Budapest, 1956, 2/1982) [text and music]

G. Vecchi, ed.: Poesia latina medievale (Parma, 2/1958), 81ff, 203ff [text edn, some melodies]

J. Szövérffy, ed.: Die Annalen der lateinischen Hymnendichtung: ein Handbuch (Berlin, 1964–5), i, chaps.6–10; ii, chap.1 [text edn]

Sequence (i): Bibliography

collected editions

monophonic

PL, cxcvii, 457ff [edn of Hildegard]

F.W.E. Roth, ed.: Die Lieder und die unbekannte Sprache der heiligen Hildegardis (Wiesbaden, 1880) [text edn]

J.B. Pitra, ed.: Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis opera spicilegio solesmensi parata (Paris, 1882/R) [text edn]

G.M. Dreves, ed.: Godescalcus Lintpurgensis: Gottschalk, Mönch von Limburg an der Hardt und Probst von Aachen, ein Prosator des XI. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1897) [text edn, some music]

E. Misset and P. Aubry, eds.: Les proses d’Adam de Saint-Victor: texte et musique (Paris, 1900/R)

H. Prévost, ed.: Recueil complet des célèbres séquences du vénérable maître Adam le Breton (Ligugé, 1901) [edn of Adam of St Victor]

J. Gmelch, ed.: Die Kompositionen der heiligen Hildegard (Düsseldorf, 1913) [facs. and music edn]

L. Bronarski, ed.: Die Lieder der hl. Hildegard: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der geistlichen Musik des Mittelalters (Zürich, 1922/R)

A.K. Henschel, ed.: Zehn Sequenzen des Notker Balbulus nach den ältesten Quellen übertragen und mit der Überlieferung verglichen (diss., U. of Erlangen, 1925)

M. David-Windstosser, ed.: Carmina Sanctae Hildegardis: die Lieder der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen (Munich, 1928) [text edn]

W. von den Steinen: Notker der Dichter und seine geistige Welt, ii:Editionsband (Berne, 1948)

J.M. Hanssens, ed.: Amalarii episcopi opera liturgica omnia, iii: Liber de ordine antiphonarii (Rome, 1950)

F. Wellner, ed.: Adam von Sankt Victor: sämtliche Sequenzen: lateinisch und deutsch (Munich, 1955) [text edn]

M.I. Ritscher and J. Schmidt-Görg, eds.: Hildegard von Bingen: Lieder(Salzburg, 1969) [text and music]

Sequence (i): Bibliography

studies

monophonic

polyphonic

Sequence (i): Bibliography

monophonic

MGG1(‘Saint-Martial’, ‘Sequenz’; B. Stäblein)

F. Wolf: Über die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der rhythmischen Formen und Singweisen der Volkslieder und der volksmässigen Kirchen- und Kunstlieder im Mittelalter (Heidelberg, 1841/R)

A. Schubiger: Die Sängerschule St. Gallens vom achten bis zum zwölften Jahrhundert: ein Beitrag zur Gesanggeschichte des Mittelalters (Einsiedeln and New York, 1858/R)

J.P. Schmelzeis: Das Leben und Wirken der heiligen Hildegard nebst einem Anhang hildegard’scher Lieder mit ihren Melodien (Freiburg, 1879)

L. Gautier: Histoire de la poésie liturgique au Moyen Age, i: Les tropes (Paris, 1886/R)

E. Bernoulli: Die Choralnotenschrift bei Hymnen und Sequenzen … im späteren Mittelalter (Leipzig, 1898)

E. Norden: Die antike Kunstprosa vom VI. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bis in die Zeit der Renaissance (Leipzig, 1898/R)

P. Wagner: Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien: ein Handbuch der Choralwissenschaft, i: Ursprung und Entwicklung der liturgischen Gesangsformen bis zum Ausgange des Mittelalters (Fribourg, 2/1901, 3/1911/R; Eng. trans., 1901/R)

P. von Winterfeld: ‘Rhythmen- und Sequenzenstudien’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, xlv (1901), 133–49; xlvii (1904), 73–100, 321–99

H.M. Bannister, ed.: ‘Un tropaire-prosier de Moissac’, Revue d’histoire et de littérature religieuse, viii (1903), 554–81 [concerning Daux, 1901]

W. Meyer: ‘Anfang und Ursprung der lateinischen und griechischen rhythmischen Dichtung’, Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur mittellateinischen Rhythmik, ii (Berlin, 1905/R), 1–201

W. Meyer: ‘Die rhythmische lateinische Prosa’, ibid., 236–86

P. Wagner: Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien: ein Handbuch der Choralwissenschaft, ii:Neumenkunde: Paläographie des liturgischen Gesanges (Fribourg, 1905, 2/1912/R)

A. Gastoué: ‘Sur les origines de la forme “sequentia” du VIIe–IXe siècles’, IMusSCR II: Basle 1906, 165–9

C. Blume: ‘Vom Alleluia zur Sequenz’, KJb, xxiv (1911), 1–20

A. Hammerich: Mediaeval Musical Relics of Denmark (Leipzig, 1912/R)

P. Wagner: Einführung in die gregorianischen Melodien: ein Handbuch der Choralwissenschaft, iii:Gregorianische Formenlehre: eine choralische Stilkunde (Leipzig, 1921/R)

T. Haapanen and A. Malin: Zwölf lateinische Sequenzen aus den mittelalterlichen Quellen Finlands (Helsinki, 1922)

R. van Doren: Etude sur l’influence musicale de l’abbaye de Saint-Gall (VIIIe au XIe siècle) (Brussels, 1925)

C.A. Moberg: Über die schwedischen Sequenzen: eine musikgeschichtliche Studie, i:Darstellungsband (Uppsala, 1927)

F.J.E. Raby: A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to the Close of the Middle Ages (Oxford, 1927, 2/1953), 210ff, 345ff

J. Handschin: ‘Über Estampie und Sequenz’, ZMw, xii (1929–30), 1–20; xiii (1930–31), 113–32

H. Spanke: ‘Rhythmen- und Sequenzenstudien’, Studi medievali, new ser., iv (1931), 286–320

H. Spanke: ‘Über das Fortleben der Sequenzenform in den romanischen Sprachen’, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie, li (1931), 309–34

F. Gennrich: Grundriss einer Formenlehre des mittelalterlichen Liedes als Grundlage einer musikalischen Formenlehre des Liedes (Halle, 1932/R), 96–148

H. Spanke: ‘Zur Geschichte der lateinischen nichtliturgischen Sequenz’, Speculum, vii (1932), 367–82

H. Spanke: ‘Fortschritte in der Geschichte mittelalterlicher Musik: zur Geschichte der Sequenz und ihrer Nebenformen’, Historische Vierteljahrsschrift, xxvii (1932), 374–89

H. Spanke: ‘Aus der Vorgeschichte und Frühgeschichte der Sequenz’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, lxxi (1934), 1–39

J. Handschin: ‘Sequenzprobleme’, ZMw, xvii (1935), 242–50 [review of Moberg, 1927]

J. Handschin: ‘The Two Winchester Tropers’, Journal of Theological Studies, xxxvii (1936), 34–49, 156–72

K.G. Fellerer: ‘Die Mariensequenzen im Freiburger Prosarium’, Festschrift Arnold Schering, ed. H. Osthoff (Berlin, 1937), 61–7

H. Spanke: ‘Sequenz und Lai’, Studi medievali, new ser., xi (1938), 12–68

A. Stalzer: Das Variantenproblem in die Sequenzmelodien: eine musikwissenschaftliche Studie aus liturgischen Handschriften und Frühdrücken des Wiener Kulturkreises (diss., U. of Vienna, 1939)

H. Spanke: ‘Die Kompositionskunst der Sequenzen Adams von St. Victor’, Studi medievali, new ser., xiv (1941), 1–29

L. Kunz: ‘Rhythmik und formaler Aufbau der frühen Sequenz’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, lxxix (1942), 1–20

J. Handschin: ‘Über einige Sequenzen-Zitate’, AcM, xv (1943), 15–23

H. Spanke: Deutsche und französische Dichtung des Mittelalters (Stuttgart, 1943)

G. Vecchi: ‘Sequenza e lai: a proposito di un ritmo di Abelardo’, Studi medievali, new ser., xvi (1943–50), 86–101

M. Thelen: Die Sequenzen in den Kölner Cunibert Handschriften (diss., U. of Cologne, 1945)

W. von den Steinen: ‘Die Anfänge der Sequenzendichtung’, Zeitschrift für schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, xl (1946), 190–212, 241–68; xli (1947), 19–48, 122–62

O. Jaeggi: Il Codice 366 di Einsiedeln e il suo posto nella storia musicale di Einsiedeln (diss., U. of Rome, 1947)

E. Wellesz: Eastern Elements in Western Chant, MMB, Subsidia, ii (1947/R)

H. Pfaff: Die Tropen und Sequenzen der Handschrift Rom Naz. Vitt. Em. 1343 (Sessor. 62) aus Nonantola (diss., U. of Munich, 1948)

G. Reichert: ‘Strukturprobleme der älteren Sequenz’, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, xxiii (1949), 227–51

H. Naumann: ‘Der Modus Ottinc im Kreis seiner Verwandten’, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, xxiv (1950), 470–82

T. Thelen: ‘Kölner Sequenzen’, KJb, xxxiv (1950), 15–26

L. Brou: ‘Séquences et tropes dans la liturgie mozarabe’, Hispania sacra, iv (1951), 27–41

E. Jammers: ‘Rhythmische und tonale Studien zur älteren Sequenz’, AcM, xxiii (1951), 1–40

J.A.O. Stulle: Die mehrstimmigen Sequenzen des Cod. Wolfenbüttel 677 (olim Helmstad. 628) (diss., U. of Bonn, 1951)

N. de Goede: Die Sequenzen der mittelalterlichen Diözese Utrecht (diss., U. of Rome, 1952)

J. Duft: ‘Le “presbyter de Gimedia” apporte son antiphonaire à Saint-Gall’, Jumièges … XIIIe centenaire: Rouen 1954, 925–36

J. Handschin: ‘Trope, Sequence and Conductus’, NOHM, ii (1954), 128–74

H. Husmann: ‘Die St. Galler Sequenztradition bei Notker und Ekkehard’, AcM, xxvi (1954), 6–18

H. Husmann: ‘Sequenz und Prosa’, AnnM, ii (1954), 61–91

E. Jammers: Der mittelalterliche Choral: Art und Herkunft, Neue Studien zur Musikwissenschaft, ii (Mainz, 1954)

L. Kunz: ‘Die Textgestalt der Sequenz “Congaudent angelorum chori”’, Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, xxviii (1954), 273–86

B. Stäblein: ‘Una sconosciuta sequenza dello stile arcaico in Italia’, Musiche popolari mediterranee: Convegno dei bibliotecari musicali: Palermo 1954, 289–94

B. Stäblein: ‘Von der Sequenz zum Strophenlied: eine neue Sequenzenmelodie “archaischen” Stiles’, Mf, vii (1954), 257–68

H. Husmann: ‘Das Alleluia Multifarie und die vorgregorianische Stufe des Sequenzengesangs’, Festschrift Max Schneider zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. H.J. Zingel (Leipzig, 1955), 17–23

H. Thomas: ‘Der altdeutsche Strophenbau und die unliturgische Sequenz’, Festgruss für Hans Pyritz (Heidelberg, 1955), 14–20

H. Husmann: ‘Die Alleluia und Sequenzen der Mater Gruppe’, Musikwissenschaftlicher Kongress: Vienna 1956, 276–84

H. Husmann: ‘Alleluia, Vers und Sequenz’, AnnM, iv (1956), 19–53

H. Husmann: ‘Die älteste erreichbare Gestalt des St. Galler Tropariums’, AMw, xiii (1956), 25–41

H. Husmann: ‘Justus ut palma: Alleluia und Sequenz in St. Gallen und St. Martial’, RBM, x (1956), 112–28

J. Schmidt-Görg: ‘Die Sequenzen der heiligen Hildegard’, Studien zur Musikgeschichte des Rheinlands: Festschrift zum 80. Geburtstag von Ludwig Schiedermair, ed. W. Kahl, H. Lemacher and J. Schmidt-Görg (Cologne, 1956), 109–17

J. Chailley: ‘Les anciens tropaires, et séquentiaires de l’Ecole de Saint-Martial de Limoges (Xe–XIe siècles)’, EG, ii (1957), 163–88

R. Crocker: The Repertoire of Proses at Saint Martial de Limoges (Tenth and Eleventh Centuries) (diss., Yale U., 1957)

M. Huglo: ‘Un nouveau prosaire nivernais’, Ephemerides liturgicae, lxxi (1957), 3–30

H. Husmann: ‘Zum Grossaufbau der Ambrosianischen Alleluia’, AnM, xii (1957), 17–33

A. Seay: ‘Le manuscrit 695 de la Bibliothèque communale d’Assise’, RdM, xxxix–xl (1957), 10–35

J. Smits van Waesberghe: ‘Over het ontstaan van sequens en prosula en beider oorsprenkelijke uitvoeringswijze’, Orgaan K.N.T.V., xii/Sept (1957), 1–57, esp. 49

W. Apel: Gregorian Chant (Bloomington, IN, 1958, 2/1990)

R.L. Crocker: ‘The Repertory of Proses at Saint Martial de Limoges in the 10th Century’, JAMS, xi (1958), 149–64

N. de Goede: ‘Utrechter Sequenzen’, KJb, xlii (1958), 26–31

J. Smits van Waesberghe: ‘Zur ursprünglichen Vortragsweise der Prosulen, Sequenzen, und Organa’, IMSCR VII: Cologne 1958, 251–4

H. Husmann: ‘Alleluia, Sequenz und Prosa im altspanischen Choral’, Miscelánea en homenaje a Monseñor Higinio Anglés (Barcelona, 1958–61), 407–15

J. Rau: Tropus und Sequenz im ‘Mainzer Cantatorium’ (Cod. Lond. Add. 1976–8) (diss., U. of Heidelberg, 1959)

J. Chailley: L’école musicale de Saint-Martial de Limoges jusqu’à la fin du XIe siècle (Paris, 1960)

H. Anglès: ‘Die Sequenz und die Verbeta im mittelalterlichen Spanien’, STMf, xliii (1961), 37–47

H. Husmann: ‘Ecce puerpera genuit: zur Geschichte der teiltextierten Sequenzen’, Festschrift Heinrich Besseler, ed. E. Klemm (Leipzig, 1961), 59–65

B. Stäblein: ‘Die Unterlegung von Texten unter Melismen: Tropus, Sequenzen und andere Formen’, IMSCR VIII: New York 1961, i, 12–29

B. Stäblein: ‘Zur Frühgeschichte der Sequenz’, AMw, xviii (1961), 1–33

W.G. Waite: ‘The Era of Melismatic Polyphony’, IMSCR VIII: New York 1961, i, 178–83

J.F. Benton: ‘Nicolas of Clairvaux and the Twelfth-Century Sequence’, Traditio, xviii (1962), 149–79

J. Duft: ‘Wie Notker zu den Sequenz kam’, Zeitschrift für schweizerische Kirchengeschichte, lvi (1962), 201–14

L. Elfving: Etude lexicographique sur les séquences limousines (Uppsala, 1962)

H. Husmann: ‘Die Sequenz Duo tres: zur Frühgeschichte der Sequenzen in St. Gallen und in St. Martial’, In memoriam Jacques Handschin, ed. H. Anglés and others (Strasbourg, 1962), 66–72

E. Jammers: Musik in Byzanz, im päpstlichen Rom und im Frankenreich: der Choral als Musik der Textaussprache (Heidelberg, 1962)

J. Smits van Waesberghe: ‘Die Imitation der Sequenzentechnik in den Hosanna-Prosulen’, Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. H. Hüschen (Regensburg, 1962), 485–90

B. Stäblein: ‘Die Schwanenklage: zum Problem Lai – Planctus – Sequenz’, Festschrift Karl Gustav Fellerer zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. H. Hüschen (Regensburg, 1962), 491–502

B. Stäblein: ‘Das sogenannte aquitanische Alleluia Dies sanctificatus und seine Sequenzen’, Hans Albrecht in memoriam, ed. W. Brennecke and H. Haase (Kassel, 1962), 22–6

B. Stäblein: ‘Notkeriana’, AMw, xix–xx (1962–3), 84–99

M. Bevenot: ‘St. Cyprian and Moissac: a Thirteenth-Century Sequence’, Traditio, xix (1963), 147–66

W. Irtenkauf: ‘Abecedar-Sequenzen’, Mf, xvi (1963), 32–4

G. Birkner: ‘Psaume hébraïque et séquence latine’, JIFMC, xvi (1964), 56–60

B. Stäblein: ‘Die Sequenzenmelodie Concordia und ihr geschichtlicher Hintergrund’, Festschrift Hans Engel, ed. H. Heussner (Kassel, 1964), 364–92

P. Dronke: ‘The Beginnings of the Sequence’, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur [Tübingen], lxxxvii (1965), 43–73

P. Dronke: Medieval Latin and the Rise of the European Love-Lyric (Oxford, 1965–6, 2/1968), 334–421

H. Brinkmann: ‘Voraussetzungen und Struktur religiöser Lyrik im Mittelalter’, Mittellateinisches Jb, iii (1966), 37–54

R.L. Crocker: ‘The Troping Hypothesis’, MQ, lii (1966), 183–203

J.-P. Sitterle: ‘Dans la joie, les frères célèbrent François: études sur la séquence “Laetabundus Francisco decantet chorus”’, Etudes franciscaines, xvi, suppl. (1966), 80–138

H. Anglès: ‘Die volkstümlichen Melodien in den mittelalterlichen Sequenzen’, Festschrift für Walter Wiora, ed. L. Finscher and C.-H. Mahling (Kassel, 1967), 214–20

R.L. Crocker: ‘Some Ninth-Century Sequences’, JAMS, xx (1967), 367–402

P. Damilano: ‘Sequenze bobbiesi’, RIM, ii (1967), 3–35

J. Dutka: ‘A 12th-Century Sequence: Text and Music’ [Laetabundi jubilemus], Medieval Studies, xxix (1967), 344–50

J. Höfler: ‘Rekonstrukcija srednjeveškega sekvenciarija v osrednji Sloveniji’ [Reconstruction of the medieval sequencer in Central Slovenia], MZ, iii (1967), 5–15 [with Eng. summary]

H. Hofmann-Brandt: ‘Eine neue Quelle zur mittelalterlichen Mehrstimmigkeit’, Festschrift Bruno Stäblein zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. M. Ruhnke (Kassel, 1967), 109–15

H. Husmann: ‘Die Handschrift Rheinau 71 der Zentralbibliothek Zürich’, AcM, xxxviii (1966), 118–49, see also xxxix (1967), 101–2

J. Morawski: ‘Sekwencja “Grates nunc omnes” w polskich zabytkach chorałowych’ [The sequence ‘Grates nunc omnes’ in Polish choral collections], Studia Hieronymo Feicht septuagenario dedicata, ed. Z. Lissa (Kraków, 1967), 120–28

M.I. Ritscher: ‘Zur Musik der heiligen Hildegard’, Colloquium amicorum: Joseph Schmidt-Görg zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. S. Kross and H. Schmidt (Bonn, 1967), 309–26

K.-H Schlager: ‘Eine beneventanisches Alleluia und seine Prosula’, Festschrift Bruno Stäblein zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. M. Ruhnke (Kassel, 1967), 217–25

B. Stäblein: ‘Psalle symphonizando’, Festschrift für Walter Wiora, ed. L. Finscher and C.-H. Mahling (Kassel, 1967), 221–8

G. Stefani: ‘Strutture ritmiche e metriche popolari della sequenza’, Musica sacra, xci (1967), 4–13

G. Anderson: ‘Addendum to Hans Tischler’s “Another English Motet of the 13th Century”’, JAMS, xxi (1968), 381–3

P. Dronke: The Medieval Lyric (London, 1968, 3/1996), 39ff, 233ff

P. Evans: ‘The Tropi ad sequentiam’, Studies in Music History: Essays for Oliver Strunk, ed. H.S. Powers (Princeton, NJ, 1968), 73–82

M. Huglo: ‘Une composition monodique de Latino Frangipane’, RdM, liv (1968), 96–9

F. Bak: ‘Średniowieczne graduały franciszkańskie’ [Medieval Franciscan graduals], Musica medii aevi, iii (1969), 91–112

W. Danielski: ‘Sekwencje mszalne ku czci św. Wojciecha jako utwory liturgiczne i hagiograficzne’ [Mass sequences in honour of St Adalbert as liturgical and hagiographical pieces], Roczniki teologiczno-kanoniczne, xvi (1969), 5–22

H. Kowalewicz and J. Pikulik: ‘Najstarsza sekwencja o św. Wojciechu: Annua recolamus – I. tekst, II. melodia’ [The oldest sequence about St Wojciech], Musica medii aevi, iii (1969), 30–42

J. Pikulik: ‘Sekwencje Notkera Balbulusa w polskich rękopisach muzycznych’ [The sequences of Notker Balbulus in Polish musical MSS], Archiwa, biblioteki i muzea kościelne, xviii (1969), 65–80

J. Smits van Waesberghe: ‘Einleitung zu einer Kausalitätserklärung der Evolution der Kirchenmusik im Mittelalter (von etwa 800 bis 1400)’, AMw, xxvi (1969), 249–75

W. Arlt: Ein Festoffizium des Mittelalters aus Beauvais in seiner liturgischen und musikalischen Bedeutung (Cologne, 1970), i, 219ff

I.D. Bent: ‘A New Polyphonic “Verbum bonum et suave”’, ML, li (1970), 227–41

P. Dronke: Poetic Individuality in the Middle Ages: New Departures in Poetry, 1000–1150 (Oxford, 1970, 2/1986), 150ff, 202ff

J. Pikulik: ‘Sekwencje Adama z St. Victor w Paryżu w polskich rękopisach muzycznych’ [Sequences of Adam of St Victor in Paris in Polish musical MSS], Archiwa, biblioteki i muzea kościelne, xx (1970), 163–77

D. Stevens: ‘Music in Honor of St. Thomas of Canterbury’, MQ, lvi (1970), 311–48

J. Gołos: ‘Elementy menzuralne i wielogłosowe w graduale Tynieckim’ [Mensural and polyphonic elements in the gradual of Tyniec], Muzyka, xvi/1 (1971), 86–92

K. Levy: ‘Lux de luce: the Origin of an Italian Sequence’, MQ, lvii (1971), 40–61

J. Smits van Waesberghe: ‘Studien über das Lesen (pronuntiare), das Zitieren und über die Herausgabe lateinischer musiktheoretischer Traktate (9.–16.Jh.)’, AMw, xxix (1972), 64–86

H. Vogt: Die Sequenzen des Graduale Abdinghof aus Paderborn (Münster, 1972)

R.L. Crocker: ‘The Sequence’, Gattungen der Musik in Einzeldarstellungen: Gedenkschrift Leo Schrade (Berne and Munich, 1973), 269–322

E.L. Waeltner: Die Lehre von Organum bis zur Mitte des 11. Jahrhunderts (Tutzing, 1975)

B.R. Gillingham: A History of the Polyphonic Sequence in the Middle Ages (diss., U. of Washington, 1976)

R. Crocker: The Early Medieval Sequence (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1977)

K.H. Kors: Die aparallelen Sequenzen: Repertoire, liturgische Ordnung, musikalischer Stil (Munich and Salzburg, 1978)

C. Bower: ‘An Alleluia for Mater’, Essays on the Music of J.S. Bach and Other Divers Subjects: a Tribute to Gerhard Herz, ed. R.L. Weaver (Louisville, 1981), 98–116

L. Brunner: ‘A Perspective on the Southern Italian Sequence: the Second Tonary of the Manuscript Monte Cassino 318’, EMH, i (1981), 117–64

D. Hiley: ‘The Rhymed Sequence in England: a Preliminary Survey’, Musicologie médiévale: Paris 1982, 227–46

D. Hiley: ‘The Sequentiary of Chartres, Bibliothèque Municipale MS 47’, La sequenza medievale: Milan 1984, 105–17

M. Fassler: ‘Who Was Adam of St. Victor? The Evidence of the Sequence Manuscripts’, JAMS, xxxvii (1984), 233–69

L. Brunner: ‘Catologo delle sequenze in manoscritti di origine italiana’, RIM, xx (1985), 191–276

D. Hiley: ‘Cluny, Sequences and Tropes’, La tradizione dei tropi liturgici: Paris 1985 and Perugia 1987, 125–38

D. Hiley: ‘Editing the Winchester Sequence Repertory of ca. 1000’, Cantus Planus III: Tihány 1988, 99–113

M. Fassler: Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century Paris (Cambridge, 1993)

D. Hiley: ‘The Repertory of Sequences at Winchester’, Essays on Medieval Music in Honor of David G. Hughes, ed. G.M. Boone (Cambridge, MA, 1995), 153–93

Sequence (i): Bibliography

polyphonic

A. Holschneider: Die Organa von Winchester: Studien zum ältesten Repertoire polyphoner Musik (Hildesheim, 1968)

S. Fuller: Aquitanian Polyphony of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (diss., U. of California, Berkeley, 1969)

E. Roesner: The Manuscript Wolfenbüttel, Herzog-August Bibliothek, 628 Helmstadtiensis: a Study of its Origins and of its Eleventh Fascicle (diss., New York U., 1974)

I. Godt: ‘The Restoration of Josquin’s Ave mundi spes, Maria, and Some Observations on Restoration’, TVNM, xxvi (1976), 53–83

E. Roesner: ‘The Origins of W1’, JAMS, xxix (1976), 337–80

Le polifonie primitive di Cividale: Cividale del Friuli 1980 [incl. M. Grattoni: ‘Il Missus ab arce nella tradizione e nelle fonti di Cividale’, 131–7; R. Della Torre: ‘Il Submersus iacet Pharao’, 139–42; C. Ruini : ‘Lo strano caso del tropo Verbum patris hodie’, 295–310]

N. Phillips and M.Huglo: ‘The Verse Rex caeli: Another Look at the So-Called Archaic Sequence’, JPMMS, v (1982), 36–43

N.C. Phillips: Musica and Scolica enchiriadis: the Literary, Theoretical and Musical Sources (diss., New York U., 1984)

C. Hospenthal: ‘Zur mehrstimmigen Sequenz des 13. und 14. Jahrhunderts in Frankenreich’, IMSCR XIV: Bologna 1987, 637–83

A.E. Planchart: ‘What’s in a Name? Reflections on Some Works of Guillaume Du Fay’, EMc, xvi (1988), 165–75

A. Peck Leverett: A Paleographical and Repertorial Study of the Manuscript Trento, Castello del Buonconsiglio, 91 (1478) (diss., Princeton U., 1990)

B. Schmid: ‘Das Alle Dei filius aus dem Mensural-Codex St. Emmeram der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek München (Clm 14274) und sein Umfeld’, Musik in Bayern, xlii (1991), 17–50

T. Karp: The Polyphony of Saint Martial and Santiago de Compostela (Oxford, 1992)

H. van der Werf: The Oldest Extant Part Music and the Origins of Western Polyphony (Rochester, NY, 1993)

R. Erickson, trans.: Musica enchiriadis and Scolica enchiriadis, ed. C.V. Palisca (New Haven, CT, 1995)

M. Huglo: ‘Du répons de l’office avec prosule au répons organisé’, Altes im Neuen: Festschrift Theodor Göllner, ed. B. Edelmann and M.H. Schmid (Tutzing, 1995), 25–36