Modern ideas of the trope are an ill-informed effort to provide a single definition to the variety of musical forms introduced in the ninth and tenth centuries. What are today called "tropes" actually served different functions and may be grouped into different types. Fourteen early troper manuscripts are listed. Introit tropes (as well as those for Offertory and Communion) are new compositions, both in text and melody, added to the official chant. Often these are of considerably greater size and complexity than the original chant. Gloria and Sanctus tropes involve new compositions, but the official melodies may be roughly the same age as the tropes. The Agnus Dei is such a new liturgical form that it is difficult to separate the "official" text, much less the melody. So-called Kyrie tropes may well be integral parts of the composition of the Kyrie itself. Texting of pre-existing melismas did occur, especially in the Alleluia, but these instances are infrequent and usually of later origin. It is particularly erroneous to describe the sequence as a trope of its Alleluia.

Index Classifications: Monophony to 1300

Contributed by: Felix Cox