The Chantword Dictionary
Click here for information on obtaining the Dictionary..
(Should you wish to find the word in all numbers and cases, domine, dominum, domini, domino etc, use the root domin- with the wildcard *, thus: 'domin*'). All chantwords that have 'Dominus' will be displayed.
They may not appear to be in any order, so let's sort them. Press Control-S, or go to the menu Records | Sort Records. A window will appear. The left column gives a list of fields, nearly all of which we have not yet encountered. Click chantword, then click the » Move » button. chantword will appear in the right column, which displays the fields you want to sort by.
Now click mode_f, and move it over in the same way. The right column now indicates that we will search first by chantword, then by mode (5f, for instance, represents mode 5 with f as the Final). Press Sort.
The results will be sorted.
The setting 1.1.1 seems quite common. Is it common as a setting of other words, particularly in Matins chants? Press Ctrl-F to go into Find mode, then enter the pitches '1.1.1' alone into the chantword, and 'M' into the grey Service field, marked 's'. Then click the Find button.
The results display.
The green field showing 'CSs' here is the 'Section' field, which indicates the location of the chantword: Temporale (Temp), Sanctorale (Sanct), Common (CSs). To the right is the field 'St_type_season': a for One Apostle, mm for Several Martyrs, Epi for Epiphany, LXX for Septuagesima, and so on. One could add these fields to the Sort list, or specify a value in a search, to make results even more specific.
A full specification of possibilities in each field is forthcoming, as is a description of what can be done with the Set Searches layout: meanwhile, here is a listing of some of the most important fields in the main layout and brief notes on their functions.
Click to go to the listing
An introductory tutorial
The Chantword Dictionary is a tool whose applications can be inferred from its name. It allows the user to peruse a population of some 84,000 chantwords from the Office liturgy (each one a word of text and the melodic motive to which it is set) for any number of purposes. For most simple enquiries, the user enters the desired parameters into a search window, and the database retrieves matching records. Some of the simpler tasks are enumerated here:- to identify unknown melodies or to ascertain the frequency of some given motive
- to compare musical settings of a word
- to view the liturgical context of a melody or text, and to see the items that surround it
- to look up the complete text or music associated with an incipit
- to identify the chant tenor of a polyphonic work
- to explore whether a melisma is compiled from otherwise familiar formulae or shorter settings of other words
- to determine whether a melodic motive used for one proper text is copied from the Common or elsewhere
- to find all final words of items set to melodies in mode 1 within the Advent season
- to identify all Magnificat antiphons in Dominican feasts of confessors whose melodies begin on the Final
- ...et cetera.
An example for simple operations: main view
Perhaps there is something interesting about the musical settings of the significant word Dominus. Let's search for every example of that word in the repertory. Important: First, press Ctrl-F to go into Find mode. Enter the word 'dominus' into the Chantword field, shown here, then press the Find button:(Should you wish to find the word in all numbers and cases, domine, dominum, domini, domino etc, use the root domin- with the wildcard *, thus: 'domin*'). All chantwords that have 'Dominus' will be displayed.
They may not appear to be in any order, so let's sort them. Press Control-S, or go to the menu Records | Sort Records. A window will appear. The left column gives a list of fields, nearly all of which we have not yet encountered. Click chantword, then click the » Move » button. chantword will appear in the right column, which displays the fields you want to sort by.
Now click mode_f, and move it over in the same way. The right column now indicates that we will search first by chantword, then by mode (5f, for instance, represents mode 5 with f as the Final). Press Sort.
The results will be sorted.
The setting 1.1.1 seems quite common. Is it common as a setting of other words, particularly in Matins chants? Press Ctrl-F to go into Find mode, then enter the pitches '1.1.1' alone into the chantword, and 'M' into the grey Service field, marked 's'. Then click the Find button.
The results display.
The green field showing 'CSs' here is the 'Section' field, which indicates the location of the chantword: Temporale (Temp), Sanctorale (Sanct), Common (CSs). To the right is the field 'St_type_season': a for One Apostle, mm for Several Martyrs, Epi for Epiphany, LXX for Septuagesima, and so on. One could add these fields to the Sort list, or specify a value in a search, to make results even more specific.
Next steps
You can find a full specification of the format of the chantword data in LMLO. It might also be useful to peruse some of the records to determine some venues for exploration. Press Ctrl-J to display all chantwords.A full specification of possibilities in each field is forthcoming, as is a description of what can be done with the Set Searches layout: meanwhile, here is a listing of some of the most important fields in the main layout and brief notes on their functions.
Click to go to the listing
