Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/93

 TROPE

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TROPE

burierl in tho oalliptlral, and thpplarc fdrgotton. Rut when Norway regained its lihorly and resumed its place among independent nations (ISl-l), the memory of the glory of its ;ineestors awoke. It was resolved to rebuild the ancient dome, and the cathedral stands once more renewed, allliougli not in po.ssession of the religion which created it. But new churches have arisen in the city of St. Olaf, bearing witness that the Catholic Faith still li\es in Scandinavia in spite of all its trials.

Besides the works cited above see: MnscH, Throndhjcms Domkirke (Cliristiania, 1859): Kbefting, Om Throndhjems 'Dnm- kirkt (Trondhjem. 1885); Schibmer, Kristkirken: Niilarns (Chris- tiania, 188.5); Mathiesen, Del gamle Thmrutlijcm (Cliristiania, 1897).

GnsTAF Armfei.t.

Trope. — Definition and Description. — Trope in the liturgico-hymnological sense is a collective name which, since about the close of the Middle Ages or a little later, has been applied to texts of great variety (in both pnetrj' and prose) written for the punwse of amplifving and embellishing an independently com- plete iitm-gical text (e. g. the Introit, the Kyrie, Gloria, Gradual, or other parts of the Mass or of the Office sung by the choir). These additions are closely attached to the official liturgical text, but in no way do they change the essential chanicter of it; they are entwined in it, augmenting, ;it>(l elucidating it; they are, as it were, a more or Ic-^s jioetical commentary that is woven into the liturgic;il text, forming with it a complete unit. Thus in France and England, in- stead of the liturgical text "Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanc- tus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth" the lines sung were: 1. Sanctus ex quo 2. Sanctus, per quern sunt omnia; sunt omnia;

3. Sanctus, in quo sunt omnia; Dominus IJcus Sahaoth, tibi gloria sit in saecula.

The most accurate definition, applicable to all the difTerent kinds of Trojies, might be the following: A Trope is an interpolation in a liturgical text, or the embellishment brought ;d)out by intei^iolation (i. e. by introductions, insertions, or additiims). Herein lies the dilTerence between the Trope and the closely- related Sequence or Prose. The Sequence also is an embellishment of the liturgy, an insertion between liturgical chants (the Gradual and the Gospel), originating about the eighth centurj'; the Sequence is thus an interpolation in the hturgy, but it is not an interpolation in a liturgical text. The Sequence is an independent unit, complete in itself; the Trope, how- ever, forms a unit only in connexion with a liturgical text, and when separated from the latter is often de- void of any meaning. Accordingly the several Tropes are named after that liturgical text to which they be- long, viz. Trope of the Kyrie, Trope of the (iloria, Trope of the Agnus Dei, etc.

Originally there existed no uniform name for that which is now combined under the idea and name of Tropus. Only the interpolations of the Introit, the Offertory, and the Communion were called Tropi (Irophi, tropos, trophos), and even that not exclusively but only predominantly; for the Introit Trope was frequently c:dled "Versus in psalmis", the Offertory Trope also " Prosa [or prosula] ad [or ante] OfTerenda". To all the other interpolations a great variety of names was applied, as "Pro.sse de Kyrieleison ', or "Versus ad Kyrieleison", = Kyrie Tropes; "Laudes" {Lauda, laus), "Gloria cum laudes", "Laudes cum tropis", or simply "Ad Gloria", = Gloria Tropes; "Laudes ad Sanctus", "Versus super Sanctus", = Sanctus Tropes; "Laudes de Agnus Dei", "Prosa ad Ag:nus Dei", = Agnus Tropes; "Epistola cum Ver.sibus", "Versus super epistolam", = Epistle Trope {EjAtre farcie); "Verba", or "Verbeta", or "Pro.sclla", = Breviary Trope. How and when the XV.— 5

gener;il n:inie nf Tropus spr.ang up, h.as not yet been exactly ;iscerl;iined. .\nd just as little has the priority been cslitblished of th(^ different kinds of interpolations, whether that in the Introit is the old- est, or that in the Gloria, or the Kyrie, or in any other part of the Mass; for that very reason it is not known yet which of the various designations (Versus, Prosa;, Tropi, or Laudes) is the oldest and most original.

One thing is certain: the Latin Tropus is a word borrowed from the Greek Tpbiroi. The latter w:is a musical term, and denoted a melody (t/jAitos XiJiiot, piyui% = Lydian, Phrygian, Doric melody), or in general a musical change, like the Latin modus or modulus, similar to the international "modulation". It is quite conceivable that the name of the melody was transferred to the text which had been composed to it, as is the case with the word Scquentia. In reasoning thus, one would have to presuppose that over one syllable of a liturgical text, e. g. over the e of the Ivyrie, a longer melisma was sung, which bore the name of tropus; furthermore, that to such a melisma a text was composed later on, and that this text was also called "Tropus". And it is an actual fact that from early times such melismata existed over a vowel of the Kyrie, the Gloria, the Sanctus, etc.; likewise there were many texts which were pro- duced for these melismata, consequently they were interpolations. But the date when these melismata of the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, etc., were first called "Tropi" is still a matter of re.search; what we know is that the texts under that kind of melisma which has just been described were not called "Tropi" from the e:i.rliest times. On the contrary, by the name of "Tropi" were originally designated the in- ter])olations cf precisely those parts of the Mass which do not exhibit any long melismata, as the Introit and OITertory. To give an example, an interpolation of the Christmas Introit written in prose, reads: Ecce, adest de quo prophets; cecinerunt dicentes;

Puer natus est nobis, Quem virgo Maria genuit,

Et filius dattis est nobis, etc. The first introductory phrase of this and similar in- terpohitions, particularly when it compiises an entire stanza, as, e. g.,

Laudemus omnes Dominum,

Qui virginis per uterum

Parvus in mundum venerat

Mundum regens, quem fecerat,

Puer natus est nobis, etc.

cannot possibly be considered as text to an already

existing melisma which was called "Tropus", and

which then gave its name to the text that was put to

it. And yet, just such interpolations of the Introit

and the Offertory were called "Tropi". In this

article it must suffice to allude to the.se difficulties,

on the solution of which will depend the theory of the

origin and the early development of the "Tropi".

As yet no definite theory can be advanced, ;dt hough

several writers on liturgy, music, and hymnology have

been so confident as to make assertions for which

there is absolutely no ground.

Division. — On the basis of the two choir books for the Mass and the Breviary, namely the Giadual and the Antiphonal, Tropes are divided into two large classes: "Tropi Graduales" and "Tropi .Vntiphonales," i.e. Tropes of such parts of the ^I;i.ss and of the Breviary as are chanted. The latter are of slightly later date, are chiefly limited to interi)olations of the Responsory .after the Lessons, and are .almost ex- clusively insertions into one of the concluding words of such Responsory. Their ent ire st ruct ure resembles so much the structure of tho Sequences of the first epoch, upon which they were undoubtedly modelled, that later on they were often used as independent Sequences. Such is the case with the oldest Breviary