Tonus Peregrinus: The History of a Psalm-tone and its use in Polyphonic Music.

Peters, Mark A.

Tonus Peregrinus: The History of a Psalm-tone and its use in Polyphonic Music. By Mattias Lundberg. Farnham, Ashgate, 2011. [xiv, 323 p. ISBN 978 1409407867. $124.95.] Music examples, bibliography, index.

In his preface to Twills Peregrinus: The History of a Psalm Tone and Its Use in Polyphonic Music, Mattias Lundberg recognizes the distinctive, and challenging. approach that he undertakes in this volume: "The chronological ambit of this monograph] exceeds 1,000 Years, taking in around 100 works but only a single melody(or, better, family of melo(lies). I realize, of course, that a typical music monograph would have exactly the reverse proportions: if not a single year, then at least a Single shorter historical period around 100 works and over 1,000 melodic items"(p. vii). Ltmdberg's Tonus Peregrinus traces the history of polyphonic settings of' the ninth psalm tone, the ton its peregrinus, over more than 1,000 years and throughout Western Europe, with a particular focus on compositional procedures employed in setting it,

As Lundberg explains, the tonus peregrinus existed in several variants delineated primarily by geographic region. But in all its permutations, the tonus peregrinus--or "wandering tone"--is distinguished by the fact that its reciting tone changes from one half-verse to the next. Of particular import for Lundberg's study is the ways in which this distinctive psalm tone presented compositional challenges for the composer both melodically and harmonically as well as structurally. Lundberg does an admirable job of identifying and analyzing a large body of works over a wide chronological period: consider the challenge, for example, of analyzing the same melody set polyphonically within the modal system of the fifteenth century, the emerging major/mint tonal system of the seventeenth century, and the same tonal system as established iii the eighteenth century (Lundberg helpfully references several tonus peregrinus settings in the nineteenth arid twentieth centuries, but does not analyze them). He states in chapter I that the hook is "centered on the analysis of compositional procedures" (p. 2), and he dedicates most of the volume to description of in compositions. He treats a wide variety of compositional voices, all charging themselves with the same task, a polyphonic setting of the ninth psalm tone.

In discussing Polyphonic settings of the tonus peregrinus, Lundberg naturally discusses as well several key liturgical texts in the Western Christian tradition, patrticularly Psalm 113 (Vulgate numbering: Psalms 114 and 115 in most other versions and translations) and the Magnificat the Son.g of Mary, Luke 1:46-55), as well several other psalms and canticle', focusing on compositional techniques, Lundberg provides valuable reference to how pieces fit within the liturgy the Christian church, especially the Vespers service, and how liturgical usage of the tonus peregrinus changed over time and in different geographic regions and different Christian traditions. For example, it appeared most often to the text of Psalm 113 in the pre-Reformation period and in later settings for the Roman Catholic Church, but was most closely associated with the Magnifica, in the German Lutheran tradition and with the Benedicite and other canticles in England.

Tonus Peregrinus: The History of a Psalm Tone and Its Use in Polyphonic Music is a reworking of Lundberg's doctoral dissertation, "The Tonus Peregrinus in the Polyphony of the Western Church" (Ph.D. (1iss., University of Liverpool, 2007), and in many ways still, unfortunately, comes across as a dissertation. This problem is evident from the very first chapter, in which Lundberg lays out his research methodology and process in such a way that seems important for a dissertation but not for a monograph. And Lundberg does not include in the monograph an introduction or opening chapter to frame his study and argue for its significance; Lundberg's research goal seems to have been to discover and describe all polyphonic settings of the ton us peregrinus. but his larger purpose for the volume remains unclear. Furthermore, both text and footnotes contain an overwhelming number of rabbit trails, with far too much information included that is not directly pertinent to the discussion. The volume would have benefitted greatly from an opening chapter laying out a clear thesis and mode of argument and a subsequent editing of the remaining chapters around a central thesis. As published, Tonus Peregrinus offers much valuable information, but little guidance on how to process or organize it and even less on why we should believe this would be important to do.

The reader is further challenged by the book's organization. While its large-scale structure is easy to follow, with chapters laid out in clear and sensible fashion, the discussion is often confusing and hard to follow. For example, Lundberg begins a section on the German Magnificat cantata in the eighteenth-century Lutheran church (pp. 247-60) with discussion of Bach's Magnificat in E-flat Major, which is not a Magnificat cantata but rather a verse-by-verse Magnificat setting of the type he had just discussed in the previous section. He goes on to discuss a Magnificat cantata by Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow; movement 1 of Bach's Cantata no. 10; a Telemann German Magnificat setting; and movement 5 of Bach's Cantata no. 10. Furthermore. throughout the book, I In discussion often jumps from one piece the next with no attempt to relate pieces to each other. Further challenges include the music examples, which ice not clearly labeled and the index, which does not list titles of compositions.

Despite its many shortcomings, Tonus peregrinus has much to of let to scholars. As .1 study of the history of compositional techniques, the volume presents a valuable case study of the compositiontal treatment of a psalm tone across a wide range of time, place, text, and Christian tradition. The tonus peregrinus was both important and prominent in the liturgy of the Western Christian church from before the notation of music until the mid-eighteenth century. Moreover, it. is one of the most distinctive of the psalm tones due to both its changing recitation tone and its regional variants (Lundberg traces these variants in Chapter 2, discussing them in two primary families, the Germanic and the Roman). 'The tonus peregrinus was also significant because of the high number of polyphonic settings .composers made of it particularly in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries: Lundberg dedicates one chapter to fifteenth-century settings and six chapters to sixteenth-century settings. One particularly interesting thesis Lundberg presents is the possibility that the preponderance of Psalm 113 settings in the early sixteenth century was directly related to political trends in France: "The information available to us seems to indicate that the French royal chapel ascribed some special significance to Psalm 113, plausibly from nationalistic and geopolitical motives and this stimulated the composition of the three large-scale elaborate motets or Mouton, Josquin, and Sermisy" (p.74)

Lundberg's Tonus Peregrinus is also valuable for its discussion of major works in the current Western concert if repertory, most notably Gregorio Allegri's Miserere mei and J. S. Bach's Magnificat Lundberg further treats compositions of well-known composers such as Mouton, Josquin, Sermisy, La Rue, Byrd, Michael Praetorius, Zelenka, and Telemann, and introduces readers to works of lesser-known composers such as Pedro de Cristo, Martin Agricola, Johann Kugelmann, Giovanni Battista Francesco Servi. Johann Stadlmayr, and Diego de Pontac Lundberg further contributes to the history music theory, treating not only compositions but also the many discussions of the tonus peregrinus in theoretical treatises.

Lundberg's task of tracing polyphonic settings of the tonus peregrinus over four centuries (with introduction to both earlier and later settings) is rather too extensive given his approach. Lundberg discusses such a large number of pieces that the results can be overwhelming. More beneficial would have been analysis of fewer representative _examples, discussed in relation to an articulated central thesis; Lundberg could in this way have more clearly presented the many fascinating details of compositional treatment of the tonus peregrinus across the wide range of time, geographic location. liturgical context, and Christian tradition. While there is much of value in the book, the reader is challenged to silt through copious and sometimes not especially relevant material 1.0 discover

MARK A. PETERS

Trinity Christian College