euouae

alternative evovae

1. no pluralentertainmentIn medieval music, a mnemonic for the Latin words saeculōrum and āmēn (from “ […] in saecula saeculōrum. Āmēn.” from the Gloria Patri doxology), used in liturgical works to indicate how the words should be sung with various cadences.

   [H]er leaves, my darling dearest, sinsinsinning since the night of time and each and all of their branches meeting and shaking twisty hands all over again in their new world through the germination of its germination from Ond's outset till Odd's end. And encircle him circuly. Evovae!

   [1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part III, page 505

   5 more examples

   In the publicke ſervice of the Romiſh Maſſe there are words truly ridiculous, and which never were other then worthleſſe, as Evovae, Miſerere nobis, & Stabat mater doloroſa, and many the like, which nevertheleſſe in the Church of Rome are not ridiculous, becauſe they are authoriſed by the divine ſervice.

   [1630, Peter du Moulin, “An Examination of Our Adversaries Reasons: Especially of Those of Mounsieur the Cardinal du Perron”, in Richard Baylie, transl., The Antibarbarian: Or, A Treatise Concerning an Unknowne Tongue. […], London: […] George Miller, for George Edwards, […], →OCLC, pages 211–212

   The above characters exhibit the eſſential parts of each of the tones, that is to ſay, the beginning, the meditation, and the cloſe, which is generally contained in the Euouae, […] [W]henever it [the word Euouae] occurs, as it does almoſt in every page of the antiphonary, [it] is meant as a direction for ſinging thoſe words [saeculōrum and āmēn] to the notes of the Euouae.

   1776, John Hawkins, chapter IX, in A General History of the Science and Practice of Music, […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Payne and Son, […], →OCLC, book III, page 358

   In the ancient breviaries and antiphonies, &c., the word EVOVAE frequently occurs, written under certain notes preceding the psalms appropriated to certain offices. […] Now to find the tone of the chant, we must take the first note of the Evovae, which is the dominant, or the prevailing, or reciting note of the chant (not the dominant as now technically understood by musicians): and we must take the last note of the Antiphon which follows the Psalm at length: […]

   1854, William Farquhar Hook, “GREGORIAN CHANT”, in A Church Dictionary, 7th edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 361, column 2

   The first note of the evovae—the prevailing or reciting note of the chant—and the final note of the antiphon give the tone of the chant. This word, or rather this compages of letters, has, of course, no connexion whatever with the Bacchic shout of Io or Evoe. I should not allude here to this silly story were it not that on several occasions I have heard it repeated by persons who noticed the presence of the evovae in one or other of the books exhibited, and who evidently believed in its truth.

   1886 November, W[illiam] H[enry] James Weale, “Liturgical Books. (Without Musical Notation.)”, in Historical Music Loan Exhibition, Albert Hall, London. June–October, 1885: A Descriptive Catalogue of Rare Manuscripts & Printed Books, Chiefly Liturgical, […], London: Bernard Quaritch, […], →OCLC, footnote 3, page 31

   The place where psalm incipits or evovae words or both should appear is particularly susceptible to confusing format. We have so far assumed the presence of a psalm, either incipit or evovae, for every antiphon; but there may be several psalms 'under' a single antiphon. […] In some sources neither psalm incipit or evovae may appear, and lacking these lesser points of reference the manuscript may employ a simpler scheme of initials.

   1982, Andrew Hughes, “Office Books”, in Medieval Manuscripts for Mass and Office: A Guide to Their Organization, Toronto, Ont.; Buffalo, N.Y.: University of Toronto Press, published 2004, →ISBN, page 166

2. broadlyno pluralentertainmentA cadence used to sing those words of the Gloria Patri.

   The evovae, commences always upon the dominant of the key, and terminates upon the tonic.

   1825, J[ohn] F[eltham] Danneley, “EVOVAE, or EUOUAE”, in An Encyclopædia, or Dictionary of Music; […], London: […] [F]or the Editor, […] by Preston, […], →OCLC

   5 more examples

   The euouae, initials, and finials of all the modes, are given in this kind of notation very amply, and always on five lines, and ſpaces.

   1819, Abraham Rees, “ODINGTON, Walter”, in The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. […], volume XXV, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, […] [et al.], →OCLC, column 1

   Thus the Antiphonies of the first and second tones terminate in the final Re; if the first note of the evovae is La, the Antiphony is of the first tone; if the first note is Fa, the Antiphony is of the second tone, and so forth.

   1858, Eugene Vetromile, chapter III, in Ahiamihewintuhangan; the Prayer Song, New York, N.Y.: Edward Dunigan & Brother, (James B. Kirker,) […], →OCLC, section II (Further Directions for Finding the Tone to which a Text Belongs), pages 19–20

   [D]ifferent forms of the same mode or tone would arise, and these were called Evovae and sometimes differentiae, finitiones, conclusiones, and species seculorum. […] [T]he Evovae must be regarded as containing the germ of the present accepted views respecting accent, as may be seen by comparing the following forms.

   1875, John Robert Lunn, “EVOVAE”, in William Smith, Samuel Cheetham, editors, A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 635, column 3

   Though not every composer so rigorously follows the rule of the euouae as to use all the notes that belong to the euouae of a given mode (nor need he always do so in order to write good music), still composers do tend to begin their head-motives in imitative points with the first note of the euouae.

   1960, R[obert Murrell] Stevenson, Juan Bermudo, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →OCLC

   And you will find, in this manner, almost all the moderns, after having explained the nature of the modes, do not have any example at hand better suited to proving their statement than the intonation, mediation, and Euouae of the psalms; showing manifestly thereby that they do not make any distinction between tone and mode, seeing as the one is explained by the other.

   1994, David Crook, “The Representation of Psalm-Tone Categories in Imitation Magnificats”, in Orlando di Lasso’s Imitation Magnificats for Counter-Reformation Munich, Princeton, N.J.; Chichester West Sussex: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, part II (Compositional Practice), page 101