Heinrich Loris (1488-1563), who was known as Henricus Glareanus after 1511, was a Swiss monk and music

theorist as well as a mathematician, poet and philosopher. In the year directly following his assumption of his Latin name (1512) he was made poet laureate by the Habsburg emperor Maximilian. He wrote commentaries on the Roman and Greek authors, the mathematics of geography (including the creation of maps) and several treatises on music. For over twenty years, Glareanus analysed each of the modes of ecclesiastical music - a task that he almost certainly finished by 1539. Some eight years later, in 1547, he published the book Dodecachordon in which he postulates that the eight modes of medieval music are by no means a complete picture of the modal system for the Pythagorean scale. In a seven note scale, each note could be the Final and each of these final notes requires both an authentic and a plagal variant. This suggests that there are a total of fourteen modes in the heptatonic scale, which is indeed the case. One of these modes, the Locrian, began on the note B and as such involved a flattened fifth (or Tritone). Because of the distaste for this interval within the church, who referred to it as Diabolus in Musica, Glareanus discounted the Locrian and its plagal cousin the Hypolocrian from consideration.
Type No. I III V VII IX XI II IV VI VIII X XII Byzantine/Greek

Henricus Glareanus

The remaining four modes all contaned an harmonic fifth and thus were deemed usable. Glareanus called the authentic modes the Aeolian and Ionian, hence their plagal variants were known as the Hypoaeolian and Hypoionian. The Final, Ambitus and Tenor of each followed the sequence established for the eight Church Modes and the rules governing the Tenor. Because the church modes were numbered, the added modes were also assigned a number. Mode IX was the Aeolian, with the Hypoaeolian taking the X position. The Ionian was assigned the number XI and the Hypoionian the XII. Neither the Locrian nor the Hypolocrian is given a mode number as neither was considered suitable for church use. Although modern music no longer recognises the need for either a Final or a Tenor note, they have fallen from general use in composition. Not so the modes themselves which remained unchanged since Glareanus, except that the Locrian mode is now considered acceptable - as is the use of the Tritone. The Ionian mode starts on the note C in the Glarean system, which is also the starting note of the natural hexachord. Its addition into the lexicon of music enabled theorists to once more alter the note from which the Pythagorean values were calculated.

Authentic

Plagal

Protus Authenticus Deuterus Authenticus Tritus Authenticus Tetrardus Authenticus Protus Plagalis Deuterus Plagalis Tritus Plagalis Tetrardus Plagalis -

Mode Name

Dorian Phrygian Lydian Mixolydian Aeolian Locrian Ionian Hypodorian Hypophrygian Hypolydian Hypomixolydian Hypoaeolian Hypolocrian Hypoionian

Final D E F G A B C D E F G A B C

Ambitus D-D E-E F-F G-G A-A B-B C-C A-A B-B C-C D-D E-E F-F G-G

Tenor A C C D E F G F A A C C D E

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Fig 2.13: The Glarean System - The Church Modes and the additions from the Dodecachordon.

Chapter 2: A Condensed History