Note 95 — CHAP. V.
Reading edition
Footnote 95:
(return)
Baini observes, that the chant of this hymn is one of the few instances of rhythmical chant preserved by uninterrupted tradition in the papal chapel and adorned with the ancient ornaments. (See his Saggio sopra l'indentità dei ritmi musicale e poetico. Firenze, 1820). "The chant of that hymn" says Eximano (quoted by Baini, Mem. Stor.) is a true plain chant, that is, a chant of unison, such as it is found in all choral books: but the mode of singing it in the pontifical chapel makes it appear different from what is sung in other churches—Above all, the distribution of the notes, which are sung (not of those which are written) adapted to express the length and shortness of the syllables which compose the rhythm of the hymn, ought to be studied. "Se si dà quell'inno ad un maestro di cappella per metterlo in musica concertata ed in battuta sensibile, verrà subito distrutto il ritmo, e se la cantilena della cappella pontif. si scrive in battuta, si vedranno cadere nel battere alcune sillabe brevi, senza pregiudizio della loro quantità". Dubbio di D. Antonio Eximeno sopra il saggio fondamentale pratico di contrappunto del R.P.M. Martini. Roma, 1773.